It was all laughs, cheering and bowling at Fritz’s Lanes & Pro Shop Saturday during the Carbon County Special Olympics’ 13th annual bowling competition.

Training started in September with more than 30 games in preparation for the match.

“The real goal for them is to be able to get the stamina to bowl three games in a row, which is what’s required here in the competition, and also then work on the skills of bowling,” said volunteer Coach Chris Anthony.

“You’ll see all different levels of skill here. It’s all different levels of ability, which is kind of neat.”

The Carbon County Special Olympics falls under the Special Olympics Pennsylvania, a chapter of Special Olympics Inc. The organization offers year-round athletic training to its members, and not just in bowling — athletes can also try their hand at bocce, track and field and powerlifting.

On Saturday, the athletes were divided into nine divisions. The winners of each division received a gold medal, and a chance to advance to the Eastern Bowling Sectional on Jan. 20 in Allentown.

Anthony said that the competition, and the Special Olympics’ bowling competition altogether, wouldn’t be possible without the help of local alleys, where the players were able to practice and on Saturday, compete.

“None of this would be possible without the support of Fritz’s Lanes here and Haja Lanes in Palmerton,” Anthony said.

When his turn came around again, Matt Anthony, 23, of Palmerton, said that he was going to “knock ’em dead.”

And he delivered on that promise.

He picked up a black and red swirled ball, got into his stance, and rolled the ball straight down the lane, landing an effortless strike.

“It took me awhile to get back in the groove of things, but I got back,” Matt said. “When I first started I was sorta good. It was a little up and down, but a little help from people I knew, showed me how to do it, and here I am today.”

There’s one thing about bowling in particular that stands out for George Bird, 32, of Lehighton.

“What’s nice about it (bowling) is you focus on the games. You don’t want to rush the games,” Bird said.

Before the competition began, the athletes, their families and friends stood to sing the national anthem — a special moment for Anthony.

“Something that really touches me every year — and I’ve been doing this since day one, since we started it back up again in Carbon County back in 2006 — when we do the national anthem, and they’re all standing up, and they all have their hats off, and they’re all singing. And they’re singing loudly,” Anthony said.

He added, “That kind of a feeling is something you don’t necessarily see in conventional sports nowadays, but you see it here.

“You’ll see athletes high-fiving each other, happy for the other one because they did well. That’s something you don’t always see in traditional sports.”