Eighth-grader Farrell experienced Tour de Holland
BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer
It's a long way from Brunswick Lanes in Manalapan to Amsterdam, Holland. But it was bowling prowess that took Manalapan's Heather Farrell there this summer.

PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff Above: Heather Farrell, a 13-year-old from Manalapan, traveled to Amsterdam last month as part of a national bowling team. Below: While in Europe she made wooden shoes.

"The funny thing, I didn't think [bowling] would get me anywhere," she said.

Farrell, who will be an eighthgrader at the Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School (MEMS) next month, was a member of the U.S. contingent that participated in the Youth Friendship Games in Amsterdam July 22-27.

The Games are part of the People to People Sports Ambassadors program created in 1956 by President Dwight Eisenhower. The idea was to break down the perceived cultural and historical barriers separating countries. The best way to bring the world closer is contact between American and other countries and cultures via exchange studies and athletic events like the Friendship Games.

Prior to competing in Amsterdam, Farrell and the other athletes were informed on what it meant to be a sports ambassador.

"We had a meeting to prepare us for the trip, the way to behave and what it means to be an American," she remarked.

Participants have to go through a nominating process that includes a background check and interview before being accepted. Being a sports ambassador gives the athlete the opportunity to develop leadership skills through sport and learn about other cultures through travel.

The Youth Friendship Games are an Olympic-style event that involved 72 nations from around the world. Like the Olympics, the athletes marched under the country's banner in the opening ceremonies. Farrell said she had "mixed emotions" during the event, ranging from excitement, pride in representing her country, awed by the spectacle to eagerness to start the bowling competition.

The bowling itself was an adventure. The lanes there are less oiled than the U.S. bowlers were accustomed to, and it caught the Americans offguard. Farrell said one of her teammates, who likes to hook the ball, had one of her throws do a Uturn and actually turn backward before finding the gutter.

Farrell said that a lot of "7-pins" were left standing before she made an adjustment.

"I moved a couple of lanes over," she said. "It was easy to adjust once you knew what was happening."

Away from the bowling, the experience was exactly what Eisenhower had in mind when he started the program. Farrell, who roomed with teammates from Texas and Florida, learned just how much teens from all over this country and the world share.

"We shared stories," she said. "We had a lot in common and shared a lot of similar experiences."

Music was one of the things the teens shared. Farrell said that some songs that are hits in Europe now originated in America, while to her surprise some of the hits they are familiar with in the U.S. started there.

Farrell, and her parents, Rich and Christine, did find time to take in the sights.

"Amsterdam is a beautiful city," she said. "There were a lot of bicycles everywhere. I got to go on a bike tour [of the city].

"The best part was going to a wooden shoe factory and seeing a demonstration of how they are made," she said.

One of her prized possession from the trip is the pair of wooden shoes she brought home from the city along with the delicious Stroopwafels (Dutch caramel cookie waffles).

All in all, her 10 days in Holland were very educational.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I learned so much," she pointed out.

Farrell's adventures are not over. Next month, she and her parents are going to compete in the War at the Shore triathlon that starts and finishes in Long Branch, Sept. 21. Heather runs cross country at MEMS.