My Day with Special Olympics Asia Pacific
Guest Author: John Dykes is a sports presenter at FOX Sports, who volunteered his time and skills to provide media training for athlete leaders from 7 countries across the Asia Pacific region. The training was part of Special Olympics Asia Pacific’s Athlete Leaders as Health Messengers workshop, which aimed to empower athletes with intellectual disabilities to become advocates for inclusive health.
When I was first asked to conduct what was loosely termed “media training” with a group of athletes from Special Olympics Asia Pacific in collaboration with FOX Sports, I instinctively began preparing a mental checklist of points to make: from the laws of libel and defamation to risk assessment, social media dos and don’ts and so on. Fortunately, I did not waste too much time doing all that!
Soon after, I discovered the group of seven athlete leaders I would be working with had English-speaking skills that ranged from highly competent to non-existent. More importantly, I realised that a group of athletes with intellectual disabilities would never find themselves grilled by a scandal-seeking reporter or ever placed in a situation that could cause discomfort or embarrassment. I have interviewed the world’s greatest footballers, tennis and golf legends, world champion boxers and the fastest drivers on the planet, but it struck me that my preparation for this assignment would have to be every bit as rigorous, if not more so. After all, this would be unlike anything I had ever done before.
After speaking to the Special Olympics Asia Pacific team behind the Athlete Leaders as Health Messengers workshop that would bring the athletes to Singapore, I realised that the single-most important thing I could try to teach these remarkable people was to be able to tell the stories of their out-of-the-ordinary lives.
Along the way, I was sure I would unearth anecdotes, experiences and achievements that more than satisfy any journalist looking for “an angle”. What I discovered that day at FOX Networks Group’s headquarters went way beyond my expectations.
Accompanied by organisers and a superb support team of mentors and translators, the eight student leaders came from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Some were bocce players, one a medal-winning Singaporean speed skater, others were swimmers, track and field stars and another a basketball player who idolised Michael Jordan.
All had spent the previous two days learning about healthy eating and lifestyle and had already formulated small presentations introducing themselves. Once I had given them a basic introduction to various types of media, occasions when they may be interviewed and simple steps to take when preparing to be interviewed, we got down to work. I say work, but in truth it was a pleasure to sit and “pre-interview” the athletes with a view to hearing their stories and helping them craft responses and a narrative that I felt would come across well when we sat down in front of a camera later that day.
Simply put, the Athlete Leaders all had moving stories to tell. These tales often involved harrowing accounts of bullying and prejudice as a result of their intellectual disability.
I was deeply moved and at times found myself consciously avoiding any attempts to “editorialise” their lives and struggles. The truth was powerful enough. Also, each athlete’s story involved inspirational examples of the transformative power of sport, as well as the role Special Olympics has played in that.
For example, Hanako, the Japanese lady who was cruelly bullied at her school in Singapore but was “saved” by a kindly parent who pointed her towards Special Olympics. She has gone on to compete at World Games, winning medals in Dublin among other destinations far removed from Southeast Asia. She now works for Special Olympics Asia Pacific in an administrative role and is a true role model for those who are disadvantaged through no fault of their own.
Her classmates all told their stories, in strong or faltering English or their native tongues. For some, focusing on me, the interrogator, with dazzling TV lights adding to the discomfort, was as hard as anything they had ever attempted on running tracks and sports fields the world over. But they persevered, as they have done throughout their remarkable lives. They gave voice to their feelings, shared their stories and proudly listed their successes at tournaments the world over.
That almost all of them were doing so for the first time ever in front of a camera and lights, and they — to a man and woman — absolutely nailed it, speaks volumes for their strength of personality.
It also reinforces the value of the work done with them by mentors, coaches, teachers and relatives. My thanks to the teams at Special Olympics Asia Pacific and FOX Networks Group for the hard work that went into giving me this opportunity to work with some real-life superheroes.
