At Westside High School, athletics are meant to be for everyone. Unified sports reflect that belief by bringing students of all abilities together, creating opportunities for participation, connection, and belonging. For many students, unified teams provide a meaningful chance to compete in a sport they enjoy while feeling fully included in the school community. Within that mission, the Westside Warrior unified bowling team continues to serve as a strong example of inclusive athletics in action.
Unified bowling emphasizes teamwork and shared experience over individual results. Students bowl alongside one another, offering encouragement through every frame and celebrating effort as much as outcome. The bowling alley becomes a space centered on confidence, friendship, and community, one that keeps students coming back year after year because of the environment it creates.
That sense of togetherness defines the experience for many athletes on the team.
“My favorite part about unified bowling is being with my friends,” Cole Buehring said.
Those relationships are especially visible during larger meets, where energy fills the lanes and teammates support one another from start to finish.
“My favorite bowling meet was bowling metros,” Buehring said.
Moments of excitement also come in simple victories that light up the lanes.
“My favorite part is when I get a strike!” Janessa Kimminau said.
The impact of unified bowling extends beyond competition. Zane Cozad, a teacher at Westside who works closely with unified students, emphasized the deeper purpose of the program and its role within the school community.
“I would say that the program, along with all of our Unified Sports, means a lot to all of our students who participate along with all of our people invested in the Unified program,” Cozad said. “It is an opportunity for our students to be involved in a varsity, NSAA sanctioned sport. While it’s easy to value our sports teams that bring home state championships in the most popular sports, at the foundational level, sports are supposed to be about physical health, social connection, character development, and a sense of belonging to & being an important part of something bigger than yourself. Unified Bowling allows our students to take part in that. Whether or not you see a gutter ball, a strike, or everything in between, our students will exhibit a plethora of smiles and it is easy to see how much fun they have being involved in the program.”
Within the Westside community, unified bowling represents inclusion put into practice. It brings students together who might not otherwise cross paths and reinforces the idea that athletics are about more than wins and losses. Measured not by scores but by smiles, friendships, and belonging, the Westside Warrior unified bowling team continues to show what sports are truly meant to be.
