From CPC

AMY ALSOP - 2004 Spokesperson Team

Sport: Goalball
Born: June 30, 1978
Residence: Saskatoon, SK
Disability: Visually impaired
Languages: English
Profession: Athlete
Education: Bachelor of Commerce (marketing)
National Team since: 1997
Paralympic medals: 1 Gold, 2000

I was born with a rare genetic condition that caused the rods and cones in the retina of my eye to not function properly. The condition went undiagnosed until I began kindergarten in 1983. Although the diagnosis came as a shock to my family, they never allowed me to consider myself a victim. When you don’t know any different, it is much easier to accept that you have a disability because you simply don’t know what you are missing.

From a very early age, I knew I loved sports -- I just needed to find one that I could actively participate in. In November of 1992, I received a phone call from Launel Scott (who was calling on behalf of the Saskatchewan Blind Sports Association), wondering if I was willing and able to swim. I replied that yes I was and she went on to inform me that for the first time disabled athletes were going to be integrated into the 1993 Jeux Canada Games. There were only certain events open per disability - for visually impaired women it was the 50-metre freestyle swim. I began training vigorously. But for as hard as I worked that year, there was only one problem that we overlooked -- I had zero talent when it came to swimming. The experience was not a total failure as I got a taste of formal competition, but more importantly I saw that there was a world of sport out there for me. It was a world where I could compete on a level playing field, where I could check my visual impairment at the door and just compete.

Following the Canada Games, Launel and I agreed that because she had coached me in swimming, I had to try Goalball. I dutifully showed up at the first practice, and from the very first time I stepped into the gym, I knew this was the sport for me. It was as close to hockey as I was going to get, it was physically challenging, mentally demanding and incorporated everything I loved about sport.

Entering into the Paralympics, my goal was to finish in the top four. I would not have been satisfied with anything less. We took it game by game and eventually found ourselves 2nd after the round robin and in the playoffs.

I had played in all seven games in the round robin, and found myself physically and mentally exhausted, and my job was still not complete. The evening after our final round robin game, the women’s wheelchair basketball final was going to be played. I went to the game, and witnessed Team Canada defeat Australia, and as I watched them celebrate, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to be doing in two days. We went on to defeat Finland 2-0 in the semi final, and prepared to play Spain in the final.

The game was very close until the latter stages of the second half, when Nancy Morin wound up, and threw the hardest ball I ever heard her throw. It went right through the Spanish defenders and into the goal. We won the game 1-0, and cemented our team as the first Canadian team male or female to win Gold in Goalball. Standing atop the podium was surreal, every moment of the past two years played through my head as the anthem played. I was so thankful to have been there and to have fulfilled a lifelong dream. I was an athlete, and I was playing a sport that I truly enjoyed.

Today, as I prepare for the 2004 Paralympic Games, I continue to remind myself that no adversity is insurmountable. Regardless of the odds, I know that with hard work and dedication, I can achieve anything. Regardless of where life takes me when I retire from sport, I will always look back on these past six years, as some of the greatest times in my life.

reprinted with permission