Local teen bowler draws attention, support

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Anchor - Laura Emerson
Chief Photojournalist - Mike Spissinger

Story Created: Thu Aug 9, 2012 4:01 PM

Story Updated: Thu Aug 9, 2012 4:01 PM

PADUCAH — A local Special Olympian is drawing attention at the state level and hopes to do the same at the national one. 

Sixteen year-old Morgan Elliot is an avid bowler who competes in the Special Olympics and serves on the Graves County High School Bowling team. 
 
"Little things in life that people take for granted, we don't take those things for granted," Elliot's mother Amy said. "We know how much those little things mean.  I wouldn't trade him for any kid in the world, any kid that some parent call 'normal'.  To us, he's normal.  He's everything I want him to be."
 
Elliot's classmates have rallied around the young bowler. 
 
Amy Elliot added, "I think that the high school kids have learned just as much from Morgan as Morgan has learned from them.  It's really neat to be a part of that."
 
Morgan won Kentucky's 'Yes I Can' award for athletics which is family says is a sign of his determination and good attitude.  
 
"When Morgan was born we were told that he wouldn't be able to do very many things," Amy Elliot said.  "That he would be loving but that he would be unable to play a lot of sports and things.  And we decided right then and there never to set limits for Morgan, that Morgan can do anything he sets his mind to."
 
Morgan is in the running for a national award from the Council for Exceptional Children.  He won the state 'Yes I Can' Award for athletics thanks to nominations from some of his teachers and coaches.