Meggan Monday: Breaking Barriers in the Pool
A remarkable local swimmer just brought home a gold and silver medal in this year’s Special Olympics.
This week we are going back to the Biloxi Natatorium to introduce you to yet another remarkable swimmer.
Local swimmer Caleb Gonzales just bought home a gold and silver medal in this year’s Special Olympics in this year’s Special Olympics.
Caleb is also a former Gulfport High swimmer breaking barriers for special needs athletes by being the first ever special needs athlete on the team. Gulfport High Swim Coach Missy Kennedy Allen said, “He is nothing but pure joy, walks through the door and you can feel him coming in because he is excited.”
Caleb’s grandparents Adria and Richard Gonzalez said, “He is our angel and he makes us laugh all the time. There’s never a time we don’t laugh.”
“I make them proud because I compete.”
Special Olympics Coach Olina Nelson said, “Caleb started out slowly. As he knew, he saw. I’m pretty sure he saw everybody else going and then he started speeding up. He knows once he gets to certain point you got to speed up. I was on the side yelling his name. Come on, Caleb. You got this. Let’s go.”
“I could do. I will do it. I shall do it because I’m smart. He loves it. He says it before he starts anything.”
Caleb said, “They’re rooting for me. It makes me happy. Excited.”
“Watching him swim is really a blessing.”
“A teacher at the school contacted me, her daughter swam for me in high school and said I’ve got a student that I would love for him to come see if you’d let him come be on the high school swim team. I said bring him on! So, he’s the first special needs child we’ve had at Gulfport High swim competitively. He made what could be a very monotonous sport, he put joy into it for other swimmers.”
“It relaxes him. It helps them. It helps their muscles, knees, whatever their joints are and all that.”
“Caleb can do whatever he wants to do. If he puts his mind to it, if he’s bound and determined to do it, he’s going to do it.”
“There is joy in everything. So many times, you cannot change the situation, but you can change the way you respond to the situation. Caleb has given me patience. I have my own special needs child, who is 36, and he’s not able to do this. So, this gives me joy to see Caleb and to pass the gift that I was given that God gave me to be able to teach.”
