With all the hand-wringing over the 'own the podium' thing, and the worries about whether our men's hockey team would win their rightful gold medal, at home, I got a lesson in sports on the weekend from some unlikely athletes.
The Breaking Down Barriers bonspiel was the day after our olympic women curlers lost the gold to the Swedes. I was so disappointed; those take-outs Cheryl Bernard missed were so easy! Araughhh. And then our team got our collective butts kicked by a bunch of special olympians- a blind woman and a group of the mentally challenged, to be exact.
So, I got to asking myself, what are sports really for? To prove your country's better than the rest? To make up for some percieved lack somewhere else in your life?
How's about to feel your body move, to improve at something, however tiny those advances might be, to open your mind to learning?
One of the special olympics coaches told me she has this one curler, who has developmental difficulties, and who has taken months to learn that the skip's raised arm is an indicator of which turn to put on the rock, rather than an indicator of where the rock should be. But once she learned it, after many, many, many reminders, she hasn't forgotten it.
One of my curlers, by all accounts able bodied, but playing his first-ever game of curling, could not, under any circumstances, figure out when to give his rocks a clockwise versus counterclockwise turn. We worked on it through both games. He would check with me before every shot, saying, "Clockwise, right?" "Right!" I would shout back, and he would then hurl the rock at me, six feet off the broom, and .... counterclockwise. At one point, I wondered whether he was just so young, he'd never been exposed to anything but digital clocks. But between games, I noticed a watch on his left arm, complete with hands that went... you guessed it, clockwise! And yet, only one time did he manage to put the right spin on any of his rocks.
Ah, yes, humility. The other lesson to be had from sport.
You can never underestimate the determination, heart and team spirit that Special Olympians posses. As a coach with the Blue Mountain Special Olympics Alpine Ski Team and a step mom of one of the athletes on our ski team, I am constantly inspired, amazed and mostly very proud. Also, very thankful for organizations like Breaking Down Barriers and Special Olympics for the opportunities that they provide to our community and to our family.
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