Home
  • Home
  • Fitness Studio
    • BORP Online Fitness Studio
    • Online Fitness Options
  • Programs
    • Access Northern CA
    • Adaptive Cycling Center
    • Adventures & Outings
    • Adult Wheelchair Basketball
    • Goalball
    • Power Soccer
    • Youth Sports Program
      • Youth Adaptive Cycling
      • Sled Hockey
      • Youth Power Soccer
      • Wheelchair Basketball
    • Veterans Outreach
    • Transportation
  • All Program Calendar
    • Adaptive Cycling Calendar
    • Adult Wheelchair Basketball Calendar
    • Adventures and Outings Calendar
    • Goalball Calendar
    • Power Soccer Calendar
    • Sled Hockey Calendar
    • Youth Wheelchair Basketball Calendar
  • News
  • About
    • Mission
    • People
    • BORP Brochure (PDF)
    • 2019 Annual Report
      • Annual Report Pamphlet
      • Annual Report Text
    • Our Funders
    • Get Involved
    • Impact
    • Resources
    • Contact Us
  • Donate
    • Donation FAQs
    • Donate Your Car
    • BORP Legacy Fund

New Perspectives

By paul on October 6, 2010 No Comments

When I first found BORP in September 2006, I was ending my last year of graduate school at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and looking forward to finding the perfect job where I could excel. In addition to owning a home and getting married, this was one of my last major goals in life. I was a woman. I was a daughter. I was a policy analyst.

At the same time, one of my good friends and BORP power soccer athlete Jessica Lehman was in the midst of her journey toward becoming a world champion with the National Power Soccer Team USA 2007. While I admired Jessica for her individual power soccer skills and dedication, I admit I was perplexed at how an individual with a disability could justify the amount of time and effort given to a sport. I had never before been taught that people with disabilities could or should want to be athletes. I had dismissed all sports-related activities from my life until, as part of a favor, a friend convinced me to attend Opening Day. As a new member of the BORP power soccer team, Jessica offered to help me learn the sport if I could show up regularly to her individual Team USA practices on week nights.

Over the next six months I soon found this new activity becoming a way of life. Power soccer gave me a thrill I rarely felt through academia or other aspects of my life. The sport offered to me new challenges and new accomplishments. My team mates encouraged me have a new perspective on life. While maintaining my academic and vocational achievements, it was acceptable to plan a life with athletic goals. If I permitted myself to step outside of the boundaries others had imposed on me, I could imagine the possibilities of excelling in sport. I, too, could be a great power soccer athlete. Perhaps, I could even dream of being a World Champion.

This past week was a significant marker for me. It has been both four years as a BORP athlete, and one year into my training with the National Power Soccer Team USA 2011. For 52 weeks I have spent week nights and weekends practicing drills and forming relationships with the eleven other Team USA athletes. I have completed over 2,000 stationary kicks toward a cone, made hundreds of 180-degree kicks into a goal, and spent over 100 hours at the gym in preparation.

Team USA 2011 is nearing our fourth training camp at the end of this month. All twelve athletes, coaches and staff will meet in Birmingham, Alabama at the Paralympic Training Center to continue our journey. With just one year until the next World Cup in Paris, France, Team USA intends to train with focus and passion to become repeat champions!

And while Jessica and the rest of my BORP team mates are not part of the National Team USA 2011, the unwavering support, friendship and leadership I receive from them on a regular basis is a key to my success.  I am grateful to have met Jessica at such a significant time in her life that she could inspire me to dream big – in fact – inspire me to add a new definition to who I am: Athlete.

Categories : BORP Adult Sports, BORP General Interest

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Donate Now


or Text
“BORP”
to 243-725
to make a donation

Upcoming Events

Recent News

  • News from Adventures & Outings: Explore the Life of Frida Kahlo
  • BORP’s Birding Program Takes Flight
  • New Fitness Classes
  • From Rick Smith, Executive Director – February 2021
  • Mark Your Calendar!

Get the BORP E-News

Sign up to receive the quartely BORP E-newsletter and occasional program and event announcements.
*
*
*
Home
3075 Adeline Street, Suite 200
Berkeley, CA 94703-2578
info@borp.org
Phone: 510-849-4663
BORP is a Paralympic Sports Club of the Bay Area
Created by PH144 Ventures LLC
with help from iThemes
Powered by WordPress
Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP)
Copyright © 2021 All Rights Reserved

Facebook

Twitter

Tweets by @twitter

{title}

{fc-start} 
{fc-end} 
{venue}
{organizer}
{description}
[TITLE]
[DATE] [TIME]
[DESCRIPTION]
dddd MMMM d, yyyy
title