Self | Culture
I Love Working With Down Syndrome Athletes
How volunteering can feed positivity and contentment into your life — and others.
As I pulled into the Aquatic Center parking lot, I didn’t know what to expect.
I was in my early 20s, a former college swimmer, who’d taken a naïve and untested vow of eternal bachelorhood. At the behest of a friend, I volunteered to coach the Special Olympics swim team — just to give back and get out of my own orbit.
I’d spent years partying, chasing women, and living free. This was an opportunity to slow things down and contribute towards something bigger than myself.
Two coaches greeted me on the pool deck. One was a silver-haired man, Tom. The other was a friendly and middle aged blonde woman, Jen. Minutes later, our swimmers filed onto the deck — and it was unlike anything I’d seen before. It was a mishmash of people of all shapes and sizes, aged 18–60. They were mostly quiet. A few were chatting and laughing.
But I’ll never forget Peter. He was a 40-year-old brown-haired man with Down syndrome. He stood around 5’5, with big eyes, and a huge, magnetic smile that stretched from ear to ear. On the first day we met, he came walking over with another girl, who was shorter than him and…
