When you were younger did you engage in sports? Team sports? Play kick ball with the neighborhood kids? Or line tag? Or freeze tag? Race to the end of the street to see who was the fastest? Remember the feeling of being out of breath and how full of life you felt? Imagine the feeling of training your whole life and competing in the Olympics? Wow! The magic of all the tenacity, hard work, skill, talent and passion wrapped into one athlete is amazing. It’s inspiring to watch the Olympics and imagine the feeling the athletes feel upon completion of their sport? It’s awe inspiring!
For most of us, we don’t make it to the Olympics but in our minds the thrill and exhilaration of playing or competing in our own sports is magical. For some sports isn’t as easy due to physical limitations and here enters the Paralympics. Olympiads who also push their bodies to perform and win! To overcome the odds of physical disability is challenging and to look it in the eye and physically overcome what probably so many medical professionals never thought imaginable must feel completely beyond amazing. I can’t wait to watch the Paralympics soon!
Little Julie with an Adaptive Big Wheel!
I still won!
For me, swimming was my sport of choice. I learned to swim before I walked because of being born with sacral agenesis, a rare spinal birth defect which impacts the body in many ways. To maintain all around body strength and to walk, I swam since about 9 months of age. Funny – I never knew it was technically physical therapy because I loved swimming so much. In the water, I felt free and playful like a dolphin. We had a pool in our back yard so I could swim more even beyond practice. I innately became competitive and competed at the Township level, missing the State team in the 50 meter free style by 2/10 of a second. It wasn’t until well into adult hood I didn’t see this as such a failure. I am unable to kick because of my birth defect. I’m proud of my score in trying out for the state team. I swam my best with only half my body doing the work. I take pride in making it that far.
Nothing Kept me From the Water!
Luckily, for me, swimming has and always will be where I feel at home. In the water, I feel no pain with the buoyancy of water. I was always very tiny but like a bullet when I dove into the water. My coach often swam me up with older age groups because of my speed. Preparing for a heat, the competitors stood on the diving blocks eyeing the competition. I could see the other girls look at me as if I was not a contender because I was so short and skinny. Then we started the race. I took the first 25 meters slow and easy and then kicked it into high gear to lap many of the girls. I loved the feeling of looking under the water to the left and right of me to see where the competitors were in the water. I knew when I hit the wall that I had won by a lot! The little under-dog had won. When I swam it was the one place I could win and my disabilities didn’t seem very limiting. Water is like my elixir and to be swimming in it – was magic!
In the summers, if you couldn’t find me, I was ALWAYS in our pool! We played water volley ball and water basketball and our yellow lab would jump in the water to doggy paddle with all of us. It was the best time in my life! To feel free from limitations and reality of surgeries and just be a kid was wonderful. It gave me that extra boost, out of the water, to over-come the many obstacles in my life with optimism and hope. Still water, a pond, a lake, a river, the ocean, a pool – makes me feel completely calm and at home. I don’t even have to be in it. However, I think I’m much like our lab Stella – in my heart and soul I really do want to jump right in and dunk my head.
Stella Enjoying a Pool Day!
I hope, for everyone, that you have that one place or sport that makes you feel free. Think back on what made you feel exhilarated as a child and play a little now. Engage your children in free play along with team sports if they show that’s what they want to do. My parents never pushed me to swim; I begged to swim year round. In fact, my twin brother and older sister were also natural swimmers and competitors as well – all in different strokes. We remember our childhoods filled with laughter, fun and many swim practices and meets. Mostly we remember the feeling of finishing a race, hitting the wall – looking up at the scores to see our time and smiling. The nice thing about swimming was beating our own best time but coming together as a team to win a meet or a relay. The support for each other was like that of a family. We all had our strengths and swam those events to bring the family honor. It was about coming together as well. The world could learn a lot from child hood team sports where there is healthy competition, team work and fun.
