IKAN
Puts Bowlers In A New League
Quest Magazine
May-June 2005
By Tara Wood
As a youngster, Michael Pizzurro
participated in a variety of sports, from soccer
to karate to playing in a bowling league. But
as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease slowly stole
his athletic abilities, Pizzurro, now 21, figured
he was “out of the game” for good.
Not so anymore. A gizmo called
the IKAN Bowler® is enabling Pizzurro, of Tampa,
Fla., and many people with disabilities to enjoy
the sport of bowling, and often, to get a new
outlook on life at the same time.
The innovative device allows wheelchair
users to compete on an even-as-possible field
with able-bodied bowlers. It’s engineered
to mimic a ball being released from someone’s
hand.
The only real difference is the
use of a caddy – someone to place the
ball according to the bowler’s direction.
The bowler then controls the speed, direction
and timing of the ball’s release by moving
his or her wheelchair.
News is spreading about the IKAN,
which is being promoted nationwide by the IKAN
Sports Foundation, a nonprofit founded last
year. The IKAN Bowler® is even approved for league
play by the American Bowling Congress and the
Women’s International Bowling Congress.
But something was different about
Pizzurro’s reaction to the “barrier-free
bowler” (IKAN comes from the Greek work
ikanos, meaning enable).
His enthusiasm for the bowler,
not to mention his personality and charm that
he hopes to parlay into an acting or comedy
career, was so evident he was hired on the spot
to become a spokesman for the product.
“Michael is a delightful
young man, and embodies everything we seek in
an ambassador. He displays good sportsmanship,
is witty and kind, and has an unquenchable desire
to be his best,” said Jennifer Frazier,
vice president and director of communications
for the foundation.
The IKAN was invented b y Claude
Giguere, a retired engineer who wanted to help
a young man named Bill Miller, who had recently
become a quadriplegic, to enjoy his favorite
sport. It retails for $1,875.
A member of the Tampa Thunder,
Pizzurro readily admits that power soccer is
his favorite sport to play (“I have such
a passion for it,” he says).
But he’s thrilled to be
helping spread the word about his other passion,
and this exciting sports opportunity for wheelchair
users.
He sees dramatic potential for
the IKAN Bowler® to revolutionize the sport of
bowling on a worldwide basis, Pizzurro said.
“All these people think
that because they are in a wheelchair that they
can’t play, well, hey, they can get back
in the game,” he said.
Plus, anyone who has become disabled,
or is looking for a competitive outlet, now
has a new opportunity to compete in a physical
sport, just as he has.
“Thanks to the IKAN, I can
get back to the things I once did when I was
an ablebodied person,” Pizzurro said.
In addition to being paid for
occasional public appearances on behalf of the
foundation, Pizzurro was given his own bowler
so he could introduce it to his friends.
Photos of him are prominently
displayed on the sports foundation’s website
(www.ikansportsfoundation.org) and on some of
its printed materials.
Frazier said the foundation will
look to Pizzurro in the future when it introduces
equipment tailored to enable people with severe
physical disabilities to play sports such as
boccia, lawn bowling and croquet.
Meantime, Pizzurro has a message
for those who might have thought their sporting
days were over, or would never come:
“Hey, wake up! This is a
sport that you can actually play!”
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