Seventeen-year-old Jacob Goddam from Modesto, California is a champion-level bowler, having bowled several perfect 300 games and reaching the nationals four years in a row, despite being blind and deaf.
“I was pretty happy because the time before that, I shot multiple times and was just one pin short,” Jacob shared with local outlet KRCA about achieving his first perfect game. Goddam bowled his first 800 series and was on a roll until the pandemic hit, closing bowling alleys across the country.
The California Virtual Academy high school student was first inspired by his autistic brother to give the sport a try.
“He walked up to my mom and dad and said, you guys should take him to the bowling alley,” recalled Jacob in the interview which is receiving social media attention.
Even with his physical challenges however, Jacob chooses to compete against the best, finishing in the top five this past weekend in an Arizona tournament. (RELATED: Watch This Blind Baseball Team Take On The Seattle Police Force)
On his second shots, Goddam is able to pick up spares through the assistance of a pin-spotter who tells him what pins are left, receiving no complaints about bowling etiquette.
Goddam is a member of the American Blind Bowlers Association and the United States Bowling Congress. He hopes to one day become a professional bowler and later a teacher. Jacob plans to attend the Helen Keller Institute in New York.