I began researching and looking into beginning a Special Olympics Team back in September, and now it is beginning to come together. It is exciting to be able to begin a program like this, as it is great to reach out to other people who I may not otherwise be able to reach, and it will give me experience with the Special Olympics Movement.
One of the biggest things that I look forward to, is being able to provide volunteer opportunities to my club swimmers to assist others in learning the sport that they spend so much time and effort towards. I saw this last summer as I had so many of our athletes help coach our summer league teams, and help operate the summer league swim meets. Some did it because they felt like they needed to, but a good amount of them seem to really enjoy the experience. I think that working with Special Olympic Athletes will give even more to my athletes.
It is one of the core concepts that I want to promote in my athletes. The concept of giving to others, and realizing that you really can touch a persons life in the process, and rewarding that moment can be. Volunteerism and giving of oneself is a great virtue, one that our swimmers can see their parents do for them and our swim club, and now will be able to experience it through a program like the one I am trying to organize.
I hope that with this team, the Special Olympic athletes put forth extraordinary effort to learn to swim, and I can only hope that the athletes can watch, and realize that it is hard work that is required to achieve.
So many different possible things can be learned, and it will vary between the experiences, but I feel like it will be a great growing experience for all of those who choose to volunteer, including a growing experience for myself, as it will be a new experience for me as well. Going back to my view of always trying to grow through my studies and my experiences. This will be another that will allow me to grow to be a better person.
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