Whitney Foster is much like any other high school senior: She's bubbly, has started a club and is engaged in her school's athletic program.
She also has arthrogryposis, a rare disease characterized by deformed joints and drastically reduced muscle and tendon function. The condition has left Foster unable to extend her arms and barely able to manipulate her hands. But that hasn't stopped her from bowling for the duPont Manual High School team in Louisville, Ky. -- and bowling like a rockstar.
By cradling them in the nook of her elbow, Foster has learned to fling 12-pound bowling balls down the lane, defying all those in her youth who mocked her for being different. She can even put a spin on her throws.
"The first thing that stood out to me when Whitney first joined the team," recalled Manual Bowling coach Bob Hillerich in an email to The Huffington Post, "was the courage she had to have to stand there in front of everyone and deliver the ball in an unconventional manner. Her determination showed on every shot at every practice and at every match/tournament."
Her technique is surprisingly accurate. She bowled a respectable 203 earlier this year (a perfect score is 300), reports The Courier-Journal, all using the throwing method she invented and perfected on her own.
Says Foster of learning to bowl without her hands or full use of her arms, "It was so hard. I threw so many gutter balls."
Foster isn't the only inspiring athlete to overcome a disability and dominate in a hand-intensive sport. Egyptian table tennis player Ibrahim Elhoseny wowed us last year when a video of him playing ping-pong without arms went viral.
WATCH Whitney's story, above [via The Courier Journal]