Two Times Special Olympic World Games Medalist
Who would have thought a water-phobic child could become an international swimmer? Ernest did it. He didn’t just swim in local competitions; he miraculously moved up the ladder to provincial, national, and even international races. Sounds like the story of Cinderella, but in this case, God is his fairy godmother.
We started as a needed life skill in swimming for our water phobic and stubborn child. Never in our wildest dream Ernest being selected (again) for Team Canada to Dubai in 2019 for the swimming event competition, against 193 participants from various countries. Let alone came back with the first and may be the last medals for the team. Our expectation are low but we BELIEVE in him and positive reinforcement is all that we have as parent.
In 2017, he traveled to Austria to compete in cross country skiing at the SO World Summer Games, where he won a gold medal and a silver medal for Canada. This was a huge achievement for a well mannered, gentlemanly athlete who always let his competitors passes him at races. We repeatedly used stuff toy to simulate races to get him to understand. Hello son, you can’t let anyone passes you in competition, but he don’t really care or understand the reason why. Training for anything is never easy, let alone someone with intellectual disability (Profound Autism in Ernest’s case). However, that is not going to take away Ernest’s chance to do exercises, compete, or see where his destine takes him. He has a support team that BELIEVE in him.
Ernest is the first special needs athlete from the Yukon to represent Canada in both seasonal sports. Overcoming water-phobic challenges in his teenage years. Learning how to dash for the finishing line during competition at 27 years old. We are grateful how God swing our life yoyo in a good but very tough way that almost break our marriage. .
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How does Ernest overcome the fear of water?
Desensitization or acclimatization is a way to make Ernest less sensitive or anxious about his surroundings or issues over time. When Ernest was around the age of 12 he would stay in the family van and refuse to step outside the vehicle when we arrived at the parking lot of the sports complex. he was afraid of the water. He was water-phobic. This is what I did: I put a light, easy-to-fold plastic sitting stool outside the family van and tried to get him to sit on it. Initially, he refused to get out of the vehicle, let alone sit…
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Training the snow leopard
Excerpt: Ernest will let everyone pass him on the ski hill. How to send him for the competition if he is so gentlemanly? He does not know the significant of gold, silver or bronze medal and we never bother to explain to him. All that he cares is having fun to do sports. However, we mentioned the elephant came in 4th, the elephant is a HERO. We did role play and simulate a race with stuff toy. The only instruction we gave is “GO INFRONT and ski very very fast.” Our instructions are always short, concise. Too much words just…
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The two ski coaches that change the life of Ernest
Many coaches and volunteers impacted Ernest’s life in various ways. There are two that really “stand out.” One of them helped him to reach his potential in cross country skiing. She is like a “mother” to the whole skiing team. She packed Ernest’s belonging for his first world games trip ( more than 20 days), and throw in some of her son’s stuff because Ernest “might need them.” The other coach will lay out all Ernest’s belonging and snaped some photos of them during road trips. He knew if there is anything missing, Ernest will become hysterical as he will…
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Special Olympic Family
Sports and exercise is important to everyone, especially our children. Any bilateral movement helps in body coordination, important for the brain health too. Ernest will not have achieved so much without his SO family. Full of loving coaches, volunteers, teammates and their care giver. Inclusive counts! We don’t really know their sports, but we are good participants or help in fund raising. Every effort helps.