BOWLING FOR SMILES : Special Olympics Athletes and Their Coach Learn About Competition, Sportsmanship and More

The bowling tournament was finished, the awards had been presented, and coach Therese Cavalcante was turning her attention toward going home when she noticed 30-year-old Elizabeth Cook sitting by herself, sobbing.

“Elizabeth, what’s the matter?” Cavalcante asked.

“Nothing,” was the reply.

The conversation continued:

“Elizabeth, just because you didn’t win a trophy does not mean you’re not a winner.”

“I know that,” came the answer. “I’m crying for my friends, because they didn’t get a trophy.”

You hear the words “Special Olympics,” and maybe some special thoughts come to mind.

They certainly flourish in the mind of Therese Cavalcante, who has been a Special Olympics coach for three years and will accompany a group of San Diego athletes to the California Special Olympics State Games, which begin today at UCLA.

Cavalcante, who works as a U.S. mail-carrier, first became involved in the program through a former roommate. Janet Clarke coached soccer, and Cavalcante asked if she needed help.

“It was real easy for me, probably because I’ve been real familiar with the retarded,” she said.

Cavalcante’s 18-year-old sister, Stephanie Spencer, is retarded.

“When she was in junior high school, she was mainstream--in classes with the other kids,” Cavalcante said. “She’d come home real upset, because the other kids would call her names. She’d come home saying, ‘I’m not retarded, am I?’

“It really crushed me. What do you tell a kid? She wasn’t at a high enough level to know she was retarded, but she knew enough to know that the other kids were making fun of her and calling her names.”

Spencer is in her sister’s Special Olympics bowling group and will be joining her at UCLA. They practice once a week during the season, from October through May, and participate in various tournaments in February, March and May, as well as the State Games in June.

“Theresa is real good with the kids,” said Wanda Love, whose son, Pee Wee, also is in Cavalcante’s group. “She spends a lot of time coaching them and a lot of time teaching them the right techniques.”

Cavalcante bowls in a league once a week and also plays women’s slow-pitch softball. For the Special Olympics in the past three years, Cavalcante has coached volleyball, soccer and bowling. She is just completing her first year as a head coach.

“The biggest thing I try to stress is sportsmanship,” Cavalcante said. “If they don’t get a trophy, sometimes they’ll blow up and get mad. And the younger ones will pick up on that.

“That’s the one thing I don’t like. I’ll pull them aside and tell them to straighten up or they’ll have to go home.”

Elizabeth Cook didn’t blow up. Worrying about her friends got her a trophy of her own--for sportsmanship.

“It’s a big social thing for them, which is great,” Cavalcante said. “A lot of times, unfortunately, they’re not looked upon as people.

“Coaching Special Olympics is a social thing for me, too. A lot of people don’t understand. But all of my friends are real accepting of retarded people. If not, it would be tough because of my sister.”

Cavalcante says her athletes range in age approximately from 13 to 35. There are an average of 18 bowlers in her group throughout the year.

“It’s a neat experience to be able to participate in something that is fun for them,” Cavalcante said. “There’s not much out there for them to do. The best thing, I’d have to say, is seeing the enjoyment they get out of it.”

But there’s more than that. For one thing, there’s improvement. Stephanie Spencer is now bowling in a regular league with Cavalcante and their mother. Pee Wee Love, 17, who has sickle cell disease, is also bowling in a league with his mother.

And then there’s 16-year-old Sylvia Esquivel. Last year, in the first game she ever bowled, she scored a 3. Soon she scored 13, then progressed into the 30s. That Christmas, her mother bought her a bowling ball. Last month, she placed first at the Special Olympics state bowling meet in Sacramento with games of 49, 54 and 62.

“They always know that anytime they’re in a tournament, they’re playing for ribbons, medals and trophies,” Cavalcante said.

But before you can win, you have to develop the right attitude. And Special Olympics participants sometimes need extra courage and determination.

Wanda Love tells a story of the trip to Sacramento for the state bowling tournament.

“The airplane cabin was not pressurized enough,” she said. “He had a sickle cell crisis on the way. We weren’t more than 30 minutes into the flight when he began to complain that his hips and legs were hurting.”

By the time they arrived in Sacramento, Pee Wee Love was very weak. His mother made sure he received plenty of fluids. The next day, Pee Wee, still weak, insisted on bowling. He put together a series of 57, 68 and 52.

“When he was finished bowling, he told me he wanted to go to the hospital,” Wanda Love said.

So they went to the hospital at UC Davis, where Pee Wee Love spent 11 1/2 hours in the emergency room. The next morning, with the help of an oxygen tank, he was able to make the return flight to San Diego. He went straight to the UC San Diego hospital and was there for eight days.

“Special Olympics has been good for him,” Wanda Love said. “Before Special Olympics, he had a lot of problems health-wise. But since he became involved in Special Olympics in September 1986, he’s had only two trips to the hospital.”

Pee Wee exercises both at home and at Mission Beach School. In addition to bowling, he has participated in basketball, track and field, softball, floor hockey and soccer.

Said his mother: “They had an exercise-agility test at his school, and he’s 84% physically fit.”