WEYBURN - Special Olympics bowler Robin Stelter is very excited for her first chance to bowl at the national level, and will be raising funds to help her make the trip to Calgary in 2024.
She qualified for the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games with a gold-medal finish at the Sask. Winter Games held earlier this year, and was named to Team Saskatchewan, as the only athlete from Weyburn to be going. She noted her highest score was 228.
Robin will be accompanied by her coach, Jo-Ann Paxman of Weyburn, who will be the head coach for the five-pin bowling team.
Team Sask will be comprised of 48 athletes, 21 coaches and seven mission staff, and the five-pin bowling team will have two players from Humboldt, one from Swift Current and one from Muenster.
As a fundraiser, Robin will be selling pies through the Harvest Pie Company, where she works. The pie company is based out of the Weyburn Wor-Kin Shop. She also hopes to do other fundraisers over the summer, such as barbecues.
Paxman noted that Robin is in training to stay in shape through the summer, and once the bowling lanes are open again in the fall, she will be playing three times a week to stay sharp.
“This is my first time going. I’m really excited about going to nationals,” said Robin. “It’s fun for me, because I love bowling.”
She noted she has met two of her teammates before at competitions, and is friends with them on Facebook. The team will be practicing together this fall and winter as they prepare for the nationals, said Paxman, with at least two tournament weekends planned so far.
Of Robin, she said she’s very focused when she’s bowling, and when she’s in the zone she does very well.
