“We’re from the small island country of Vanuatu. I don’t know...

“We’re from the small island country of Vanuatu.  I don’t know anything about sports, but nobody else wanted to coach the team.  So I volunteered. Special Olympics gave me a list of sports and I chose the long jump.  But two of my athletes couldn’t jump.  So we moved to the javelin throw.  But that was too hard to throw, so now we’re competing in the shot put competition.  When I first met Monick, she’d never really left her house before.   She couldn’t look me in the eye.  And she was afraid of the shot put.  She’d drop it on the ground every time I handed it to her.  She’d hide her hands behind her back.   But I invited her whole family out to train with us.  Everyone participated.  And that gave her confidence.  On days we weren’t training, her mother gave her coconuts and rocks to throw.  When it was time to compete, nobody knew if she’d be able to get on the plane.  She was so scared.  She was crying and clinging to me the entire flight. Once we arrived, we had to drive straight to the stadium for qualifications.  Everything was so new for her.  She’d never left her island before.  The stadium was so big and she had to go out on the field all by herself.  On her first throw she forgot everything she learned.  She dropped the shot put immediately and the referee raised a red flag for disqualification.  But then she looked back at us.  She calmed down.  She remembered being back on the island with all her family.  And she threw it so far on the second throw.  When the white flag was raised, we all went crazy.  And she won the silver medal.”
(Special Olympics World Games, Abu Dhabi, UAE)