I remember my father saying to me "Paul what are you doing with your life?
"You just did four years at University, you don't seem happy. What do you want to do?" And I didn't
know at that time. We had grown up raising funds for Special Olympics because of my parents
and my parents had grown up with the philosophy from their parents that engaging in the community
and giving back to the community that you were a part of was an important thing to do
so it was always just sort of ingrained in us to do that and so we helped in very minor
roles with Special Olympics particularly on the fundraising side growing up through High School.
We'd spent year after year volunteering at the Special Olympics festival and auction
and really decided that it was it was time to target that next generation of volunteers
donors and supporters.
The only thing we knew for sure is we wanted to be involved with
Special Olympics. We wanted particularly to be involved with Special Olympic athletes.
It was in that time those early years, so 2001, when I still remember having a beer with Mark
and Sean and sitting at the beer market talking about what we were doing in our lives and
it was then that we decided we're missing something. You know. We've we've always been
taught the importance of giving back to your community but we weren't practicing it and
it was that day that we decided okay we're going to start something and that was really
the first day the first idea where the concept of Motionball came about.
And then we started to try and provide a bit more structure in terms of what this vision would actually look
like and how we engage the athletes a bit more effectively which is where Marathon of Sport came about.
I'm Kevin Timberlake and because I wasn't very good I didn't really
nobody really teach me how to play the sports. Usually on the street the guys called me out to
hit the ball around and because I couldn't hit the ball around very good they pick on me.
One of my friends who really close to me now, he was trying to tell them not to pick on me.
I'm scared to go out of the house. I got picked on all the time. I got beat up sometimes
by... I thought they was my friends.
We're so excited to have her first child. We knew it was a girl I was happy about that
and, you know, so looking forward to having this baby and she was born.
I was born in Edmonton Alberta in 1980.
Well the earliest time that I noticed something was different with Monique
was a little after her second birthday.
She was hospitalized for, gee, I think about a month because I didn't quite know
what was wrong with her and, you know, the prognosis was very bleak.
They said that she will not walk properly or run but we noticed that it wasn't quite
so because I would go to the park, hold a bicycle at the back, and she'd pedal and she'd be doing
fine I would let her go and she'd be doing fine until she turned back and noticed that
I wasn't there and she fell down.
You know, when we started Motionball 16 years ago there was 25,000 registered athletes now we have 46,000 and
when you talk to one of them, I'm thinking of Monique as an example, this is somebody
who's benefited from these programs. The competition, the training, the exercise, the ability to feel
like you're being a part of society. You look at our young professionals who are engaged
in Special Olympics and Motionball now. You know, we're running 33 events in 20 cities
and these are all volunteer people who are taking time out of their busy schedule to
support what we call this passion brand.
This is the office where I help out.
This is one of the boardrooms where we have board meetings and things for the office.
If I think of how long you've been involved with Etherington Generations it goes all the
way back to Isabella remember? Yep
Yep.
And we had an office at 38 Isabella Street and
that's when I first met Kevin and that was all the way back in...
2000.
When my dad passed away.
And, that's right. That's when your dad passed away.
We were looking for somebody to do sort of all things at our
office from landscaping to we needed a wall built. We needed painting and Kevin does it
all and still to this day does it all for us. we're in the red walls and that was that
I painted the red walls and that was a big challenge.
One of the offices I helped organize for another client.
Yeah, I'm like a handyman. Yeah.
But they give me the opportunity to show what I can do and help get my confidence up.
I was scared of people all the time and their kids saw that and they
They'd attack me.
And did things to me and to push my buttons.
I was even afraid to get come out of my house.
I'd walk through the back of the house instead of the front of the house.
His father had a brain aneurysm and passed away and his father was his mentor.
Somebody he looked up to and his role model and he lost that and I can't imagine that.
Along with having an intellectual disability and not feeling a part of society I mean that's very difficult
I was really skinny at the time too and they pick on my legs and
how skinny I was.
They called me the bad word all the time.
It was tough. Like I don't...
I still don't understand why they picked on me, like...
I think through his involvement in Special Olympics, his involvement
with Motionball and just getting to know more people,
He's done a complete 180.
His life has changed because of the Special Olympics movement.
It gave him the confidence to start his own business.
And it's a business that employs fellow athletes which I think is a remarkable story unto itself.
And he feels as though he's established and he's welcomed
in this society which for so many years before his involvement with Motionball and Special Olympics
He never had that feeling.
And Special Olympics used the picture for the sponsors.
Monique's special situation is what I'll call it
helped us to be very patient and understanding.
The biggest thing is to, which it was for me, was to admit that something was wrong with my child.
1 couldn't... that was hard for me to take.
I guess in some ways we got an indication that she could do certain things on her own
but because she was sheltered a little bit she was not
able to develop some of her motor skills at an early age.
I don't know if she was angry because she wouldn't
The speech to express wasn't there.
You know, she didn't know quite who she was and how to express herself.
This was a very big struggle because we thought well, you know,
what was illness and what was developmental delay.
It was very difficult to know that.
We met a wonderful teacher who was also a parent dealing with a child with a disability
and so we kind of clicked and
she knew exactly how to treat her students.
Before people would judge her by
what she can do what she cannot do but when she got involved in these
activities she would excel and
even her writing would improve because her motor skills were improving
Things that we were holding back because "Oh, she's never going to be able
to do this and do that". I was told by this teacher "No, we don't say that. In Special Olympics
we try everything. I'm going to introduce your daughter to something called Special Olympics."
And when I joined the softball team for Special Olympics they teach me how to hit the ball and everything
They asked for me to come out to hit the ball.
And they were expecting me to swing at everything like I did before.
And they had a home run wall we played at. And I hit a ball over
the wall and everybody was like. And I didn't realize at the time he had the parents outside
watching. They said look what Kevin can do and threw the ball at me again and I didn't swing at it.
They started to realize that
"Okay, he's up to something and we can't pick on him like that."
When Monique started doing the individual school sports,
I could believe the kind of stuff this child was doing.
And she was fearless. She never sees herself as being
different. She just took off after, you know, joining this organization and uh
Then becoming involved with Motionball took her to the next level.
Ben Johnson. Milton Ottey
This ones trouble here. Always. Always trouble.
This ones no trouble.
Having spent so much time with the intellectually disabled community
many individuals who have been bullied have been made fun of
who've had... everything in life has been tougher for them.
From getting a job to meeting someone, falling in love, maybe having a family.
These things we all take for granted.
So to have spent time with that sector of the community
and to realize that life isn't always easy and it isn't, you know, it's more of a roller
coaster than I've experienced. I think it allows you to realize what life should be.
I got married a couple years ago with my wife, Diane.
I met my wife to Special Olympics.
One of my friends who play on the team, she helped him out for years and she was
came out and supporting our team, volunteering and helping coach the man she played.
Then we got dating for I think
three years and then we got married two years ago on August 8th.
On Paul's birthday. We got married and
I asked Paul if he'd be my best man and
he said sure.
Having a daughter like Monique is a huge blessing because you understand your vulnerabilities
and you understand your mortality.
She's like a reflection of life.
You know people have these stigmas or, yeah, just kind of viewpoints and Monique really shatters them
every single day. When she was diagnosed like the doctor pretty much told my parents that
she wouldn't be able to walk. You know, she's a two-time Olympian, Canadian Olympian.
Gold medalist in the world games and, yeah, she just, she continues to kind of challenge and push the envelope.
It brings into focus what the community can do like that
and they can do for the community.
Whatever contributions they make to value that as being part of
our society or culture or community.
I know I am different.
Everybody has their different things, like different talents.
I'm not very good at reading and writing and stuff
I'm good at working with my hands and doing, putting things together.
That's what... Paul, a long time ago
wasn't very good at putting things together and I show him and he got better.
It's very important to work with each other because a lot of the athletes I know have
different talents. I have regular friends who I know who's not very good at painting.
Or not very good at putting things together
and they get me to help them to do things
because they realize I have a talent there. Things like that, they give me a chance to
do something when I don't have a chance.
Monique's no stranger to awards.
There you go. So when you come all the time you can show people. Okay.
Today Monique got an award for a 10-year volunteer service.
And Monique volunteers here every Tuesday morning
I think from about 10 o'clock for an hour
But I never expected the plaque for her 10 years of service.
One of the changes that I have observed since um Monica's been volunteering here is
that she's able to identify people that are going through difficulties very easily.
And she tends to want to step in and help. And she can just look at a child and say
"That one has a disability like me. Yeah, let's invite him to Special Olympics."
We're at Variety Village. I've been training, I've been playing here since '92.
And now I'm coaching. Start coaching two years ago here and I've been involved with this Village since I was little.
And it was amazing place and help everybody out with disabilities.
I'm coaching the Scarborough Cyclones. Special Olympics floor hockey team.
I've been coaching this team about two years now. Took me a bit to get out of, as a player, get used to coaching.
I feel more comfortable now as a coach and the guys look up to me and the
coaches, parents, all look up--and I look up to them still. And we are a family team.
I like this team because they... we don't like fighting like arguing and stuff.
We try to deal with, through the problems. And the coaches said they really like me because I...
I'm a role model to the rest of the athletes.
This is Drew.
A close friend of mine. We went to school together a long time ago.
I think in the example of a Kevin Timberlake and so many other Special Olympic athletes
they're looking for acceptance.
and to me that's a word that we all take for granted because for many of them they haven't
had it all their life and now they're accepted on a team in Special Olympics.
They're accepted in the Special Olympics Community.
When they go to these Motionball events they feel accepted by their their new teammates
who they've just met for that day.
And that is incredibly important
and that's something we tend to take for granted.
I think that's what's so neat about Special Olympics is
that it's a collection of people.
Everyone has a different story and each one
has had to hurdle a number of challenges in order to just be there and to think that this
wasn't even an opportunity 50 years ago is pretty eye-opening.
And it's more than a charity today it's a social cause it benefits everyone involved.
Special Olympics is driven by the athletes and that's
probably why we fell in love with Special Olympics. The personalities and their stories.
And Paul has this ability to connect with anybody.
I think of the individuals that I've met through Motionball,
the friendships I've made, and the opportunities that have
been created because of that. I can't think of life without it.
It's hard to meet a Special Olympics athlete and not make a connection because they're just passionate warm people
that want to be part of a bigger group and feel engaged and committed.
You know, Special Olympics is a lot about sport which levels the playing field but it's also about inclusion
and making friends and building a network and just being a part of community.
If you think of the non-disabled participants at our events many of whom have never participated
or spent time with a special Olympic Athlete and you watch the transformation that occurs
at our events where initially they're nervous, apprehensive, I don't know how to deal and
interact with a Special Olympic athlete... by the end of the day they realize they're just like one of us.
Now on the other side, you have a Special Olympic athlete who is nervous about
attending this event maybe for the first time not knowing what to expect, not knowing how
the participants or teammates are going to react with him or her.
Are they going to judge them because most
of these athletes their entire life they've been judged for talking
differently, looking differently but they come to these motion ball events and they realize
wow, this is fun. I feel comfortable in this environment. I feel welcome in this environment.
I might have just made a new friend and that happens a lot.
It's not just about getting exercise
and having competition it's about becoming a more active member of society.
Feeling engaged and that's the best part of our inclusion events it's that feeling on both sides that
"Hey, this is just normal. This is comfortable."
And it's kind of that happy place that Motionball creates, you know.