31 for 21 Day Five : Laying the foundation

  I have been playing golf   since  2007.   I  first learned about the sport   through  Special  Olympics.  My first year I  started  playing I  was in  skills and I could not hit the ball over  100  ft.

First   golf event with Special Olympics 2007

 After  two months  I  decided that I wanted  to play for my high school  team.  My  dad thought it was foolish  but he  drove me  to the course  anyway. The  coach was a former  special education teacher and  felt that he could  handle  a teenager  with disabilities and   let me on the team.  By saying  yes to me  he allowed me to become a part of the golf team  he also  laid  the foundation for  something  magical  to happen    a  Monday  night   in  August.  

 Good  chip 

     Now  I am  pretty good at golf,  I can  hit the ball  over  one  hundred  feet and   hit  really  good chip shots .    I  now no longer play skills,  I now  play  unified  golf.   Unified Golf is where   a person with a disability  plays alongside a person without disabilities  and  mentors  them  as  they  develop their skills   to play  individually.   I  really thought that my  partner would  be the same one as  last year but   she had work commitments. I asked   a girl on my  high school  golf team if she would be willing to play  with me.  She  couldn't , but she did come out to play with me  one  night.

   That  night  I played the best game of my life.  I  got two  great chips and  great drives.   I also  was  able to connect  with a peer who is quickly becoming my friend.  We were not close friends   in high school , but we  were able to  reconnect,  She  originally lived on my street but moved  to another city. Being on that  team  laid  the foundation for us   to play together .

   I know  a lot of  families of kids with disabilities who have to fight for  inclusive education.   My heart breaks for these families and their  kids.  I also feel very angry because educators  need to understand that   school  is more  than  test scores and academic honors.   It is  the center of a child's life.  Friends  come  from school experience  when   people  ship  students   off to another  place   there is no  foundation for  friendships to form between those with and without disabilities.  I am not saying that these friendships will  form while in school, but they  could,  but  as  people   grow and mature  and  see  their surroundings in a new  way  they might want to become  friends with  people  with disabilities, but if they did not have  the  chance to attend school  with people  who did  have disabilities   they will not know  where to look.   

 Inclusion  lays the foundation for   friendships.



 Tune in tomorrow for  a book giveaway