Visually impaired girl wins medal in bowling

For 14-year-old Mesa resident Sarah Rowin, a strike in bowling and a shiny medal were enough to make her a big winner.

Rowin, who has been visually impaired since birth as a result of retinopathy of prematurity, competed in goalball (a game developed specifically for the blind and visually impaired) and bowling during the Junior Blind Olympics Saturday in Los Angeles."I am a big advocate of Sarah having all the experiences that any visual teenager would have," her mother Becky Rowin said.

Becky and husband Ken have adopted six children over the past 25 years, including Sarah, who is in the sixth grade at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind, and her twin brother Caleb, who is also visually impaired.According to Emily Schwartz, one of the event organizers, Sarah "did get a fabulous strike in bowling and went home with a shiny 'Believe It; Achieve It' participation medal."

Becky did not make the trip to Los Angeles, but was at home nervously awaiting word of how Sarah had done."I want her to experience life as it is and I don't want her to be held back because she has been treated like she was blind."