Kim (00:03)
Hello, this is Kim Wardla with After Sight. I am your host for Navigating Life with Vision Loss. And we are in the middle of our sports series, our 16-week sports series. And I'm super excited today. Today we're going to talk about track and field and break it down and talk about how it can be accessible for individuals who are blind or low vision. ⁓
what the events are and all those kinds of things. But the reason I'm really excited is because Lex Chalet is joining us today, coming back on this show. And ⁓ he's the perfect person for this. He is a five-time Paralympic medalist, a four-time line jump world champion, and just one of the most accomplished toleep line jumpers in US Paralympic history. ⁓
Welcome, Lex. I'm really excited to have you on and to have you explain track and field to us.
Lex (01:07)
Sure, thanks, Kim. Thanks for having me on.
Kim (01:10)
So maybe we should start just with a very, very basics about, we talk about track and field, but especially if somebody's never been visually able to see track and field events, just to explain what is track and what is field, because there's different events in each one.
Lex (01:30)
Yes, that is a very good distinction. So with the track, you are on a 400 meter oval that has the lanes. And so you're competing in some sort of running event. 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 5000. And then when you go to the field, you're actually participating in events like the long jump, the triple jump, the high jump, javelin, pole vault.
Well, we don't have pole vault in the Paralympics. ⁓ However, that would be considered a field event, just in general track and field terms. ⁓ yeah, know, track is about the movement. And when you're in the field, you're focused on not only the movement, but either jumping or throwing and implement.
And I you know, I didn't mention that I mentioned all of the jumping events because I'm biased. in the field, you do also have shot put discus javelin hammer. Again, that's not exactly
Kim (02:35)
The throwing events.
And am I correct? There's different levels of athletes or different classes of athletes in the.
Lex (02:47)
You
have different categories or different classifications as you might hear in the Paralympics. We call it we identify them as 11, 12 and 13. In the track and field events, you'll see either T11 or F11. The T stands for track, the F stands for field. So when you're looking at the schedule of events, you'll typically see T11 100 meters at 1800 hours.
Something like that. so basically what the numbers the lower number the first number in the two numbers 11 the one means that there is a visual impairment. So the first number identifies the type of disability that you might have or that you do have. And then the second number that identifies the severity of your of your disability. So the lower the number, the more severe the disability.
since I am basically totally blind. Number one, I'm visually impaired. The second number one means that I'm in the lowest category. And then as you go up 12 and 13, they have, ⁓ when we go to competitions, they call it classification. so you get classified. That basically means an ophthalmologist or a doctor is going to take you through an examination.
and determine how disabled you are so we can figure out where to place you within the competition. ⁓ And so there's a certain visual acuity that the 12 and 13 athletes that they have and the ophthalmologist determines what that is. And based on that information, they put you in either category.
Kim (04:33)
And does that, I know for some sports like goalball, they wear the sleep shades, the blindfolds so that everybody has the same level. Obviously they're doing categories, so they wouldn't be doing that. But are there other differences? Like do all levels have guides?
Lex (04:53)
Yeah, that's great question as well. So you mentioned goalball, the majority, you know, all of the athletes who are on the court are wearing a blindfold. In track and field, T-11 athletes are the only category that are required to wear a blindfold. That's to ensure that everyone, you know, all of us, in fact, are totally blind. So they do make us wear the... The best way I can describe it is...
kind of like a band-aid shaped like an oval. You peel the paper off and you cover your eyes first. ⁓ To my knowledge, that's pretty similar in goalball. They tape you up first and then you put the blindfold on. So we do the same thing as T11 athletes, whether you are on the track running or you are in the field competing in a field event. And then the 12 and 13s, the 13s are not going to be wearing blindfold.
They are not required to use a guide. They're actually not allowed to run with a guide. The athletes in the middle, however, the 12 category, they do have the option of using a guide runner if they're if they're a visual acuity, you know, if it calls for it. So, yeah, I mean, there's definitely a. know, it's some some nuances and adaptations that are made for sure.
Kim (06:16)
Yeah. Could you tell our listeners a little bit about the differences between like a sprint race or middle distance? Obviously, the distances are different, but what's required from the athlete that might be different if you're looking at different lengths of races?
Lex (06:37)
Yeah, I think that or the. So just from the like pure X's and O's, once you identify what race it is that you're competing in or training for. That is when you shift your your thought process to all right, well, what exactly is it that I that I need not only from a training standpoint, but just from a support standpoint. And so when you think about guide runners, if you're.
competing in the sprint events, would want somebody who is, they're fast, they have fast twitch muscles, they are explosive, they, you know, there's certain characteristics that you're looking for. Whereas if you run middle distance or longer distance, then, you know, someone who's super explosive, quick fiber, you know, that might not be as important to you. But,
I think for me, just to give the listeners an idea of my stature. So I'm about 6'2", and I'm pretty thin, long arms, long legs. have what people, I guess, would consider a runner's build. so I have a pretty long stride, pretty fast, pretty explosive. So when trying to find my guide, I'm wanting to
You'll find someone who matches that that stature, which means that they're probably going to have a similar stride length. Or in the case of where I am right now, you know, we have some of the we have had some of the best guy runners to ever step on the track. so one of them, Jerome Avery, not as not as tall as I am six to. However, he has.
He has this ability to basically conform to what the athlete is doing. And so if you have a shorter stride, he's able to adapt. If you have a longer stride, he's able to adapt to that as well. so, ⁓ that, gosh, it's, it's, we could talk about that piece for hours upon hours, but yeah, there's certainly so many, so many things that you want to look for.
Kim (08:56)
And getting the right guide, especially if you're competing, would be very important. I would think it might take a bit to find the right person.
Lex (09:04)
I will say one of the things that I do feel like is really important is that most times when people think about the athlete and the guide in their mind, they're thinking that, oh, OK, well, when searching for a guide, I need to have someone who is just as fast as me, which I really try to get people to think a little think a little differently, because in the Paralympics, you go to the Paralympic Games and say you're running in the 100 meter. Excuse me, 100 meter.
Sprint. There could be three, four rounds of athletes, because another thing to think about when we are on the track. An athlete is running with a guide. That means that on an eight lane track, we only have four athletes.
Kim (09:54)
⁓ right.
Lex (09:55)
Yeah, company buy for guys, right?
Kim (09:56)
Right,
right, because that's the lane you have total.
Lex (09:59)
Exactly. So if you go to the Olympics, they're able to fill all eight lanes. So I say all of that to say if you like there's been times where you have to go four rounds of 100 meter sprint within the Paralympics because that's the top 16 top 16 athletes in in the world ⁓ for heats of four. So ⁓ I say all of that to say. You want your guy to be significantly.
faster than you, because if they're running just as many races as you and they're just as fast as you, you don't know how that is going to tax their system. They might get a lot more tired than you do. They might just require a lot more. So ensuring that you have an athlete who say they run in a competition setting, let's say they run a second faster than you. That's a that's a good bit of cushion. And that's also letting you know in your mind that, all right, over these three, four races.
This is not going to tax my guy that much, which since we're running beside each other, he's not going to he's not going to impede my progress or keep me from, you know, getting to this finish line as fast as possible, because what I'm running is so much easier for him or her.
Kim (11:11)
Right. I didn't think about that, that you would want somebody actually a little bit faster than you, but that makes sense. How does the guide actually work? know, in some sports they're saying, you know, giving verbal cues, but you're actually in a race, you're actually connected with a tether. Is that correct? Yes.
Lex (11:32)
Yes, so we have a tether and what a tether is is essentially a string, if you will, that has a loop on either end. That string is probably, you if you stretch the tether out, if I had to guess, it's probably seven, eight inches from from end to end. So it's not terribly long. two loops on either end are designed for me or any other athlete to put fingers in one loop and then your guide would put.
fingers in the opposite loop. The idea is to be in sync when you're running. So for those who might remember old school here, like the old school three-legged race, where you have your leg in the middle, the two individuals, inner legs are tied to each other, and you're having to work to get to the finish line. Similar situation, but we're just connected at the arm. But the important part of it all is
I mean, you are you're on a track and you're racing not only people. ⁓ But really and truly, you're racing the clock, so you're wanting to go down this track as fast as possible. So ensuring that you all have a good rhythm, a good pace, you're in stride, that's going to put you in the best position to be able to have a smooth race, whereas if you're bumping elbows and tripping over each other strides and things like that.
that could potentially cost you some time. you we can you can go from winning gold, silver, bronze, or not even getting on the podium in the span of a hundredth of a second. So ⁓ us like when we go to training, we are making sure that we are doing everything that we can do there in terms of, you know, mistakes or.
or anything like that so that when we get to the actual competition, it's like boom, boom, boom, we worked at this, this is muscle memory, second nature, let's just, you we can make this happen.
Kim (13:35)
And that's how you say synchronize. I feel like it's just important to let people know that you have a guide, but they're not running in the race for you. They're just helping you to know where you're at and giving you cues. you as the athlete have had to do all the work and you're running that race.
Lex (13:58)
Yeah, yeah. Now they are literally just there for supporting and you know, they they and not only they help you get to the Paralympic stage, of course, and they help you to run the races or compete in the field events. But you think about that four year journey that leads up to the Paralympic Games, they are there with you. Well, for us who have been pretty fortunate, you would hope that your guide is able to.
train with you for the duration of those four years so that you can build that relationship, you can build the continuity, ⁓ you can become a cohesive unit. ⁓ Because this is someone who, yeah, they're helping you run the repeat 100 meters. They are describing things for you. That's a part of the ordeal as well, letting me know what things look like in the lead up.
to getting to the Paralympic Stadium. What does the warm up room look like? What does the call tent look like? How can I navigate from this part of the athletes village to that part of the athletes village? What do we need to strategize for in terms of making sure that we can continue training at a high level prior to knowing that we have in 10 days a really huge competition at the Paralympics? This guide is here for all of those things. So you want to make sure that
This is somebody who, number one, you have trust and you believe in them from an athletic standpoint, knowing that they can help you compete to the highest ability. But it's so much more to it. And that guide, they hold the key to a lot of us being able to just kind of walk through the door, if you will.
Kim (15:43)
Yeah, and so they're helping you, as you're both getting in your own lanes, getting into the starting blocks and things. Could you describe that start a little bit, getting into starting blocks, and then depending what length of race you're running, you might need to go around curves and laps around the track.
Lex (16:01)
Yes. So you can always for other listeners, if we're just running 100 meters in a a traditional 100 meter race, you won't have to worry about any sort of curve of the track. You always 100 meters is is one straight line. ⁓ But for the races, the guide will literally walk with you. You're you're on the track. You're inside of the stadium. You feel the rubberized surface of the 400 meter oval under your feet. You have
the spikes on your on your shoes. So it's kind of gripping the ground a little bit. And those are there to help you in spikes on your shoes are there to help you brace the ground, get some more leverage and push and run as fast as you can. Your guide is walking you on this track and he shows you to the starting blocks. Now, before we even get to the starting blocks, just to set the scene a little more, we are walking outside with our competition.
gear on, however we have on most times some sweats and a long sleeve top. Excuse me, long sleeve top. So you'll have on your pants, have on your jacket, and there's a bucket that sits right behind your starting blocks. So your guide is walking you to the starting blocks and the bucket. The bucket is designed for you to take off your jacket, your sweats.
so that you are only wearing your competition gear and your sprint spikes, competition shoes, and you put those sweats in your clothing, whatever it is, you put all of those items in that bucket that is behind your starting blocks. So now your guide walks you to the starting blocks. There'll be two side by side, one for you as the athlete, one for your guide, and your guide is setting up those blocks for you. There's certain
There's specific settings that you determine before you even get to the games. You know, again, by that point, you you hopefully have trained together for hours upon hours. So your God knows your setups. He knows he knows everything gets it all good and straight and in line. And next thing you know, you're down in the starting blocks, which means that the balls of your feet are pressed up against some some pedals that are behind you.
The pedals more times than not are flat and you have your left and right hand on the ground. Your guide is beside you and they are mirroring your stance. So I like to run. I like to start with my left foot forward and my right foot back, which means that if we are going to mirror that, we would want the guide, my guide who runs on my right hand side.
his left foot is going to be back and his right foot is going to be forward. So now imagine in your mind, my right foot is backwards, his left foot is backwards. He's on my right hand side, which also means that when we run, when we take that first step, my right foot is going to step forward and his left foot is going to step forward, which means that that should get us on a right, a right.
line in terms of that, you know, being being in sync. ⁓ And so from there, you know, that might be a little bit of a since the guide is there to support you, he's basically going off of off of your reaction and your explosiveness. So if there's one day where I'm, you know, I'm feeling really good and the adrenaline is going and the the starter, you know, they hit the gun, boom, boom, boom, boom, You sometimes I might explode out a little
a little more quickly. But the guide is there, which goes back to my original point around why you want your guy to be faster. A faster guide is going to be able to make that adjustment and, you know, catch up to me pretty quickly and easily so that we can continue running that race ⁓ without any issues. And so the guide is there. He is talking to you the entire time. He's he's letting you know.
what positions that you need to be in. He's letting you know where you are on the track. ⁓ 50 meters, 60 meters, 70 meters, 90 meters, 95 meters, lean. So you're following all of these directions. He's literally painting this picture for you. And the one thing to always remember for the Paralympic races, the guide cannot cross the finish line before the athlete. That's probably one of the biggest rules.
out there, the guide has to allow the athlete to cross first. If the guy crosses first, it's an automatic disqualification. So that would essentially be you. This is almost as if you never were there. So imagine yourself in that type of situation. In for four years, right? ⁓ And so, yeah, so I mean, the guide is I mean, they're hands on the entire time. ⁓
Kim (21:01)
That would
Lex (21:13)
But again, you get to that that Paralympic stage. We have seen athletes cross first and our guides cross first and unfortunately have to deal with that. But the majority of the time, you you'll. You'll see. The athlete, they might run what 11, 11 seconds and then you'll see the guides time and it's like 11.02 seconds, so it's like, ⁓ thank God we got we did it. ⁓ But.
Yeah, God plays an important role. and the last thing I'll say too is the bucket that is behind the starting blacks, because I know you're probably wondering what happens with that bucket. So there are volunteers that are on the track and they take those buckets and they relay them down to the finish line so that when we're done with our races, we're able to grab our stuff and go through the rest of the motions.
Kim (22:05)
Great. Well, thank you for that detailed description. I think that really gives folks a feel for what it's like to be on the track and getting ready to run and then to run the race. ⁓ Yeah, I would think a guy would feel terrible if they inadvertently crossed the line first. I'm sure none of them ever mean to. They don't get medals either, do they?
Lex (22:27)
So they did change that in, I want to say it was 2012. But around that time, yeah, they started the athletes who win medals on the track, the guy runners get medals as well. However, they don't do that for the field event athletes, which I feel like that needs to change. But yeah, if you run an actual race on the track, your guide is eligible to get a medal.
Kim (22:55)
Yeah, because I feel like they will have had to have done the same amount of work and as you said, probably are a little bit faster ideally.
Lex (23:06)
Yeah. And that's I think the interesting thing about that is, you know, this person is like for me, people always ask, well, how many how many hours do you train? What do you do? And I'm like, well, you know, on average week, it could be anywhere from like 25 to 30 hours when you add in the recovery time, the things that you do after training, the things that you do before training. All of those things count. And so if your guide is doing the same things, they're also
That's 25 to 30 hours of their time. You the average human being, mean, 40 hour work week, right? So this is them taking time out of their lives. And so for them to actually, you for them to get a medal, I think that that's a no brainer to me. They actually should get a medal because they could be certainly doing anything else in this world. But, you know, for them to dedicate their time and effort to us.
and not really get the compensation that I personally believe they deserve. ⁓ That says a lot about them as human beings, them as in guide runners.
Kim (24:13)
Yeah, definitely. Well, areas where their guides are not getting medals, hopefully that will change. Let's switch to the other half, to the field events, which I know includes your specialty area of jumping. So we have the jumping and the throwing events. How is the guiding different? I would think you don't have to be tethered if you're doing throwing events.
Lex (24:40)
So with the, yes, so with all of the field events, which we, you only have the ones that I am, that I know you have the jumping events and then you have, you have the throw.
Kim (24:55)
Like shop put and discus and.
Lex (24:58)
Yeah, and it's like, yeah, I won't go too far into the weeds, if you will, because each category or disability, some disabilities have this throwing event, other disabilities have that throwing event. But the biggest thing just on our side, the guide cannot be connected to the athlete. So you will not see a tether out there in the long jump. My guide, our guides have to stand at a certain point.
They have to be stationary outside of if they're standing by the takeoff board and you're running in their direction, they'll allow you to get out of the way of the person. That's the only type of movement that you can provide that would help them from a navigational standpoint. You wouldn't be able to run beside them. So the guide is either given verbal cues or they might clap their hands or.
some sort of auditory reference so that the athlete knows where to run and jump from. And whether you are blind or not, if you compete in long jump, any of the field events that require you to run up, take a run, you always identify the number of steps. So some of my training partners like a, you know, names in the Olympic world.
like a a Will Clay or a Brittany Reese. Some of these people have been really good long jumpers and triple jumpers. They have eyesight and they still count their steps. They know that when they get on the runway, boom, I need to take 20 steps. So that stays the same for all of us. we just, you know, I know that for me, it takes 16 strides to get from start to finish. My guide literally walks me to my starting mark. Make sure that I'm standing in the middle of the runway.
This runway is typically about it could be like three to four feet wide. ⁓ The length of the runways differ, but you can assure I mean, most of them are at least like I had to guess like 40 meters or so. And so there's a decent amount of real estate. Your guide, once he sets you up, then he walks down the runway and he'll get to the takeoff board.
which is, it's just a, for us as T11 athletes, we could talk about this a little bit. There is a square takeoff zone and that square is a meter on each side. And what they do is they put a layer of white chalk on the top of the board so that when you jump from that takeoff zone, the official can see your foot inside of that chalk.
and they measure from where your toe is. So the end of your toe, your big toe to where you land inside of the sandpit. So the sandpit is they all differ from competition venue to competition venue. But if I had to guess, I would say ⁓ probably anywhere from like.
like 10 to 12 feet in width. And you know, it could be, it could be like 30 feet in length. So you're running down this runway, get to the takeoff zone. You want to make sure that you leap from that takeoff zone. We're able to basically confirm that I will jump from that takeoff zone because we know that I take 16 strides.
And I know that, you know, after training for four years, Monday through Friday, boom, it's muscle memory. So a lot of times. You just, you know, it just happens and and yeah, you jump, propel your body forward through the air and for my folks out there listening in long jump, you're trying to go as long as you can. So horizontally from the takeoff board.
Kind of imagine like a parabola, like a rainbow. That's the kind of angle that you want to have. Take off, incline a little bit, ride the wave. And as you start to decline towards the ground, you put your arms straight forward, your legs straight forward. And once your feet hit the ground, you're trying to get your body, the rest of your body, to as close.
to as close to the mark that your feet made as possible because they're going to again they measure where you land in the sand and so you imagine like if you fall backwards ⁓ That's not what you want to do because if you throw your hands behind you then they're gonna measure from where your hand is So again, you want to make sure all of your your body is forward
Kim (29:43)
and say you don't want to fall backwards.
I can see we're counting the steps. As you said, whether you're blind or sighted would be so important because in the competition, you don't want to be trying to focus, like, where's that spot where I take off from just to have that knowledge in your mind. Like, when I hit this 16th step or whatever it might be that you know that that's when you jump, ⁓ I can see where that would be so important.
Could you describe for folks maybe the difference, certainly the long jump, you've described that. What are the different types of jumps that people may be competing in?
Lex (30:35)
So you have long jump and then you also have triple jump. Long jump, you run down the runway, boom, you take one jump. You're trying to get as far as you can off of either your left foot or your right foot. If you're competing in the triple jump, this means that you're essentially you're making three movements once you take off. Everything is the same in terms of your approach, your run up. Your runway, it could, you know, it might be a little shorter.
since it is triple jump, I guess that's not as important for the sake of the answer to the question, but the takeoff area is the same. What's totally different is since there's three movements that you have to make, the takeoff area is a lot farther away from the sand pit. So in the triple jump, have to, the three movements are you take off, you take off with your left, land on your left,
jump to your right and then once you jump off of your right, you should be able to land in the sand. So it's a run, take off with your left, land on your left, get to your right, you jump off of your right, boom, and you land in the sand. So it's either a left, left, right cadence or a right, right, left cadence. You couldn't do left foot, right foot, left foot. I don't know the...
reason behind any of that. But ⁓ so, yeah, my guide is standing at the takeoff point here. The sense is taking you since there's a little bit of real estate between the takeoff zone and where the sample is. You know, you have to really make sure that you stay straight and in line ⁓ because, you know, those are three three movements that you're making. And so, again, to give you more context, my best triple jump is forty two.
Like 42 feet, nine inches, I think. ⁓ So you're going from that time that you take off, you're traveling 42 feet horizontally. So, yeah, you got to make sure that number one, you initiate the left, left, right or right, right, left. But you're just making sure that you stay as straight as possible, listening to your guides, calls and just making sure that you can have a safe landing.
Kim (32:58)
And what kind of audible cues are they giving you?
Lex (33:03)
You might hear the guy, they're saying, straight, straight, straight, straight, straight, boom. So if you, you have three jumps, one, two, three, ah, like the celebration part is the athlete landing in the sand pit. So I'll take my, you know, my eight strides or whatever it is. As soon as I take off, you know, the guy is gone, gone, gone, yeah. So you kind of like, you hear.
Kim (33:10)
Bye!
Lex (33:32)
the type of cadence that you need to mimic. Because when you're taking off, you're wanting to try and you take off with your left, your right knee is in the air. Your left foot is gonna hit the ground again and your right knee is still in the air. So you're wanting to try and keep that momentum when your guide is telling you boom, boom, that's giving you an extra dose of energy like, oh, that's it right there. Go, go, go.
There you go. That's what I'm talking about right there. Like that's what you would hear out there if you were. Yeah. My guide like it's just a total. it's just totally different. But those those kind of like punchy, very short things that he says, it's a certain type of energy and a certain type of ⁓ just confirmation that it lets you know you are looking good. You're straight. Boom. That was a good jump.
Kim (34:32)
And for the field events, the jumping, do they have just like for the track events, is there a starting sound, a starting shot that sounds when you start to go or is that different? You just go when.
Lex (34:48)
Yeah, no, you just have a so there is a clock and the officials, the umpires who are out there, they will give you they give you an idea of when you can. Yeah, so you're waiting on them and I I've been mentioning long jump, but you you mentioned the throwing events as well. So to my knowledge, not a thrower, so I know everything. However, what I do know is you have a ring that you stand inside of the circle. ⁓
Kim (34:57)
when you can start.
Lex (35:18)
I'm not sure what the perimeter of the circumference is, but you have to stay within that boundary. That's kind of your that's your safe zone. And there's a certain technique or moves that you can do within that circle, whether you're a shot put discus and yeah, you can you throw the shot put, which is essentially a it's like a 16 pound, 16 pound ball. It's heavy.
So you're trying to get it out into the field. You're trying to throw that as far as you can. Whoever has the farthest throw wins. Then the discus is more of like a it's kind like a small frisbee. And I want to say that way is a little over two pounds. And, you know, again, there's different techniques. You know, some people like spin around in a circle and then they'll release at a certain point. Some people, you know, laterally through the ring and things like that. So but yeah.
Same thing, the guide, you know, they're walking you in, you know where it is that you want to start with. You have a plan, you have a structure and strategy that you want to follow and yeah, your guide is there to help you,
Kim (36:29)
I'm imagining being at an event and how loud an outdoor event can be just with all the sounds, but also the sounds from the crowd. ⁓ But if you're trying to listen to your guide, you're, say you're jumping or any field event and you have somebody giving you cues, do they ask the crowd to be silent?
Lex (36:54)
In the field events they do. So my understanding is, especially in the long jump, if you need quiet prior to your approach, then yeah, you can say something to the officials. They'll relay that message to the appropriate person. And then next thing you know, there's something on the screen that says silence for the crowd. And then the PA announcer gets on the intercom and they say, hey, quiet for the long jump, please.
Kim (37:20)
Yeah. So it may just vary by athlete then it's not necessarily for everyone.
Lex (37:26)
Some people might some people might try and take their attempt, you know, with a little bit of noise. But the other thing you have to understand, too, is, yes, it does get loud. I certainly don't want to give the impression that it doesn't. However, at the same time, I think that we all have to remember, too, that we're basically like this huge, huge bowl, if you will. And so a lot of the crowd there, you know, in the they're in the stands. So we're down on the floor. So there's a certain level of.
of protection that we do have in terms of the sound. It's not as bad as it might seem. And then the reality of it too is we have that luxury as field event athletes because our guide is not beside us. When you're on the track, you can't do anything with the sound. That's just a part of it. know, it's four athletes, four guys on the track seeing who's the best. But again, to my point around how loud it is,
Your guide is right beside you. More times not. You know, if you don't have any any, you know, issues with your with your hearing, you're you're probably going to to be able to. Yeah.
Kim (38:34)
To communicate,
Well, thank you for giving such in-depth descriptions. think that's really beneficial for our listeners. Just in terms of making things accessible and adaptations, ⁓ and you've talked about them and described the different things, what do you think is the biggest misconception that I guess either sighted or blind people that aren't competing in events may have about
having a guide, having a tether, having whatever adaptive piece an athlete may have.
Lex (39:11)
Yeah, I think one of them is I kind of mentioned it earlier, I guess, if you will, if you can call it misconception. But, you know, a lot of people just assume that the guy needs to be as fast as you and in order for you to push your limit and be the best that you can be, not only from a competition standpoint, but in training, pushing yourself as hard as you can. want you want to be able to have that leeway of working with someone who's just that more just significantly faster than you. So I think that is that's one of them.
And then the other one too is, ⁓ you know, we do in fact, well, we still have to wear blindfolds. ⁓ And that is to ensure that as much as it might be, you know, just an interesting topic, you know, there's people there, there's been like cheating within the Paralympics. ⁓ so that's, that is, unfortunately, that's a thing. And so even though, you know, we, do have some folks like myself who basically have
little to no visual acuity. ⁓ You know, we just have to make sure that everybody is on the same, on the same playing field. ⁓ Because there's not only is there money or not money, metal is attached to this, but there's, you know, there's so much more. And so for someone like myself, yeah, I just want to make sure that the playing field is free of any sort of, any sort of cheating or ⁓ anything like that. I want to make sure that the blindfolds are.
Truly opaque you can't see anything
Kim (40:44)
Have you ever had anyone think or comment that, you have these adaptations that makes it easier? Which I know isn't true, because you're still doing all that work. And having a guide may make it possible, but it doesn't make the actual event or sport any easier.
Lex (41:09)
Yeah, I don't think anybody has ever said that to me more more times than that. It's people saying my gosh, that's That's like way harder than anyone else, right?
Kim (41:18)
Because
you're having to coordinate with somebody else and synchronize,
Lex (41:22)
Yeah, nah, I don't think I've ever heard anybody say
Kim (41:26)
Well, that's good. What would you want, whether it's ⁓ blind kids or newly blind adults, what would you want them to know or suggest to them if they are thinking about trying a track or field event?
Lex (41:44)
I would say that ⁓ number one, I would say it's a lot of fun. Number two, would say just more broadly speaking, I would say, you know, I believe that movement is medicine. So I certainly am really huge in wanting to make sure that we can continue finding athletes to compete for Team USA. You know, just want to continue the fun times and
you know, all of those types of things, making sure that we have representation at these major international competitions. ⁓ But I would just say, like, going back to the movement as medicine, just at any level, you know, just really important to get out there, to move, to break a sweat. I remember going back to my early days of track and field. And, yeah, you know, I certainly had some athletic gifts that were identified at an at an early age.
And it was cool to kind of identify that that Paralympic track or journey that I could embark upon. But at that particular time, the biggest thing was just really gaining the confidence, learning what it means to be resilient, learning what it means to persevere through tough times, handling loss or things not going your way. I was learning about all of those things by participating in track and field and just sports in general.
For me, as someone who is blind, just feel like those acquiring those skills at that age was really important because yes, it did end up helping me to become a successful athlete. But even more than that, it was just helping me to understand what I could do as a human being and as someone who is ⁓ maneuvering through society on a day to day basis. So I just want all of our community to get out there, to move around, have a good time.
⁓ at first and then yeah, we identify that you have some skills that can be taken to the next level, then boom, let's go, you know, let's look at that. But yeah, just, the movement is medicine piece. Let's just get moving around so we can think a lot better, just live a lot better, be a lot better. It's just, I don't know. I just, I love movement. I love physical activity.
And I just know for us as a community, can help in so many ways.
Kim (44:14)
Yes, you don't have to have a goal of being a Paralympian to be able to participate and enjoy whether it's running or jumping or any, know, whether it's track and field or some other sport to be able to enjoy and benefit from that. I agree. All those types of lessons that you learn, those are important. ⁓ Whether you want to play sports or not as you go, ⁓ but the movement.
is so important for health as well.
Lex (44:46)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think, mean, again, we could spend this conversation into so many different ways. I just I just think about like, yeah, the employment, the just everyday life, like all of these things. No skills help us to to be awesome in all of those areas of life. And it's just. I think back to all of the things that were done for me and so wanting to do those things for.
other people who are coming up, whether they want to be Paralympians or not. Let's make it happen. Because we certainly have the ability to go out here and just achieve whatever it is that we want to achieve and be a part of.
Kim (45:29)
Well, Lex, thank you so much for joining me today and giving all of us such a great, ⁓ in-depth description of these different events and sports. especially for younger folks that might be wanting to try these sports to really have the confidence that vision loss or blindness doesn't need to keep them from doing those events, that all those adaptations are there.
⁓ And that participating in these lessons just really apply so much to our everyday lives, even outside of sports. So I really appreciate you ⁓ providing that encouragement, especially maybe to younger listeners.
Lex (46:16)
Totally, totally not. It's my pleasure. ⁓ yeah, we definitely can't forget about the listeners that might not be younger.
Kim (46:25)
That's right. There might be older folks that want to run and do sports as well.
Lex (46:31)
yeah, for sure. But, ⁓ but yeah, no, let's get everybody out here moving.
Kim (46:38)
Great, well thanks again and for all of you out there listening, hope you do, ⁓ whether it's track and field or some other type of sport that you do, get out and get moving and just ⁓ enjoy that experience of whether it's an individual event or a team event, but enjoy that experience of ⁓ movement and participating in some sports.
As always, I hope that the information we provided you today, maybe you're even inspired to be pursuing a Paralympian ⁓ career. We hope that it helps you to navigate your life with vision loss.