After joining team, Wii bowler sees condition improve
By JOAN G. LA BARRSpecial Contributor
Want to make life better? Try
Wii bowling.
Anyone who wants to challenge that "virtual" bowling can be a life-changing experience would have a hard time making the point at C.C. Young Retirement Community.
The longtime United Methodist-related institution made news when its "Young Strikers" team advanced to the championship playoffs of the Wii Bowling National Senior League.
A recent heartwarming story in The Dallas Morning News focused on a father-daughter duo, NTC retired Pastor Dr. Don Benton and his daughter, Donna.
The Bentons credit Wii bowling with helping rebuild a relationship that had been fractured by drug addiction that had left Donna nearly incapacitated.
With the support of her family, she is making great progress, and Wii bowling is playing a big role.
That isn't the only dramatic Wii bowling story at C.C. Young.
Another Young Striker, Fran Koeltzow, was once so affected by Parkinson's disease that she could hardly walk.
Fran had bowled a little as a girl growing up in Michigan's rural Lower Peninsula.
She was a pretty 16-year old selling popcorn at the movie theater when she caught the eye of 17-year-old Paul Koeltzow.
He asked her for a date, and they ended up going bowling. Fran won, decisively.
He didn't take defeat well. They never bowled again – until her physical therapist suggested Wii bowling would be good for her.
At first Paul didn't want to participate because he was afraid that his chagrin as a teenager would keep Fran from doing her best. But the team needed "a body." He joined on the condition that Fran would really try to do well.
Before joining the Young Strikers, Fran Koeltzow could hardly walk because of Parkinson's disease. Wii bowling has helped her concentrate enough that her shaking is almost gone and she uses a cane far less.
Best of all, Fran's therapist was right. After several months of Wii bowling, she is much stronger and rarely needs a cane. She and Paul now walk hand-in-hand in the halls of their building and on the C.C. Young grounds.
Wii bowling helped Fran concentrate enough that her shaking has almost disappeared.
She got her own Wii for Christmas and practices in their apartment. Her highest practice score is 288 out of a perfect 300.
The Koeltzows, longtime members of Lake Highlands UMC in Dallas, have been married 60 years. In the early years of their marriage, Paul was a military pilot.
He served all over the world, eventually ending up flying more than 100 missions over North Vietnam.
Paul and Fran Koeltzow can now walk hand-in-hand after her improvement since joining the Young Strikers. He pushed her to participate, but only if she tried hard.
When he could walk again, Paul pushed himself to work at his real estate business, purchasing houses and bringing them up to code. "The harder I worked, the stronger I got," he says.
They moved from their home to C.C. Young after Fran had some frightening falls, and they have made close friends there.
And, as they walk down the hall holding hands, it isn't hard to imagine those long-ago teenagers in love, wondering where life would take them.
