A couple of years ago, while looking for a sport to play as a Girls Preparatory School freshman, Allie Foropoulos called her father David to ask his thoughts about her joining the bowling team.
"My first thought was, 'I didn't know GPS had a bowling team,'" David recalled earlier this week. "My second was, 'Allie, how are you going to see the pins? You're legally blind.'"
Let those words soak in for a minute: legally blind. And not a blindness that can be lessened by glasses or contact lenses or surgery. Allie has a rare eye disorder known as cone dystrophy, which affects the cone cells of the retina. She received the diagnosis when she was 8 years old and in the third grade in Memphis.
"I had glasses, but I kept having to sit closer and closer to the television," the 16-year-old junior said Wednesday. "I couldn't read the board during class. The doctor finally said, 'Nothing's working.' That's when we learned about the disease."
The good news is cone dystrophy almost never results in total blindness, though there is no cure and it typically worsens over time, though often quite slowly. So whatever Allie sees today is the best she'll be able to see it for the rest of her life.
The most remarkable news from a bowling perspective is that when the individual portion of the TSSAA Division II bowling state tournament begins Thursday afternoon at the Smyrna Bowling Center - team competition gets underway Friday - Foropoulos will be among the 24 qualifiers. Joining her from the Chattanooga area in the Division II individual competition will be GPS teammates Katelyn Beach and Molly Burnett as well as Baylor qualifiers Reed Petty and Sophie Piskos.
"Allie finished 10th last year," GPS bowling coach Jenny Bullard said. "You have to be in the top six after Thursday to bowl in Friday morning's finals. She's got the talent to do that."
If her past numbers are any indication, Foropoulos has the talent to do that and more.
"I averaged around 105 my freshman year," she said. "Then 136 last year. My average is 149 this year, but I've been a lot better the last month or so. I got off to a slow start."
This is how much better: In the regional final against archrival Baylor, she averaged 180.
"When I'm receiving pressure from other people, I bowl better," she said. "I like to win."
GPS junior bowler Allie Foropolous practices Tuesday at Spare Time Entertainment in Hixson. Foropolous is among the top 24 Division II bowlers in the state despite being legally blind, the result of a disorder known as cone dystrophy. / Staff photo by Patrick MacCoonThat positive pressure doesn't always translate to immediate family, however. While David has often watched her bowl, she said her mother Kerry and sister Sarah, a GPS senior, often make her nervous.
But how does she do it? How does someone who can't read the video screen posting her score or the score of her opponent compete at such a high level? How does someone who will never be able to drive a car see the pins well enough to have twice bowled a career high of 223 in area tournaments?
"It's the contrast," Foropoulos said of what she sees at the end of the 60-foot lane. "It's the bright white pins against a darker background. I can't make out any details on the pins, but I can see their general shape."
It's also the work she puts in. She practices her craft at Spare Time in Hixson at least three days during the week and always on Saturday mornings.
"She's so graceful when she lets go of the ball," Bullard said. "Allie's getting better and better. Her confidence, her consistency, her approach. The amount of time she spends at the bowling alley is really paying off."
It doesn't make everything perfect.
A fine student whose favorite subject is science and whose short list of desired colleges includes Rhodes in Memphis, Belmont in Nashville, Oglethorpe in Atlanta and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Foropoulos admits: "I have a lot of anxiety about going to college, being able to get around because I can't drive. I know I'll have to depend on everybody. I don't want to go too far from home."
There are also occasional awkward moments because of her blindness.
"We have a lot of girls who are new to the team this year," Bullard said. "One day we're at practice and Allie's trying to read something on her cellphone, and one of her new teammates notices that the phone is basically touching her nose and says, 'What, are you blind or something?' Allie says, 'Yes, I actually am.'"
Then there's her color choice for her 14-pound bowling ball. It's bright red so it's easier for her to find during a match, though it's also the predominant color of rival Baylor as opposed to GPS's blue.
"My dad even nicknamed it 'Big Red,'" she said with a laugh.
As for how she keeps up with scores during matches, Bruisers teammate Beach helps with that.
Come Thursday afternoon, she hopes those scores will be good enough to move her into Friday's final round and make her pro bowling heroes Sean Rash (currently sixth in the World Bowling Tour standings) and E.J. Tackett (14th) proud.
"That's the goal," Allie said when asked about advancing to Friday. "If I get that, I'll be satisfied."
At least until her senior season, when, said Bullard, "If she continues to improve, Allie's capable of being next year's individual state champion."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @TFPWeeds.