| Our youngest son, Casey, because of his dyslexia faced
challenges at school everyday. One of our intentions as his parents
was to put him in as many situations as possible where he could be
a winner. Fortunately, he loved sports and excelled at them. When
he was in high school, he was ranked as one of the top C1 paddlers
in his age group in the nation. I often went with him and his buddies
as they took their boats through big rapids in the canyons of Colorado.
One day as he prepared to challenge Sledgehammer (a Class V rapid)
and I fixed lunch, I watched as he sat on a rocky outcropping for
45 minutes staring below and memorizing the river.
He told me later that he had actually visualized every possible
line through the rapid. Later in the afternoon, as he paddled into
that giant water, he made the right moves and conquered Sledgehammer
with apparent ease.
A couple on the bank near me stood in amazement and commented that
that guy must be crazy because ‘you could die in that rapid.’
I smiled to myself knowing that my son was not only an expert at
paddling, but he had taken the time to plan what he was going to
do, strategize about how he would do it, and entered the water knowing
he would be successful. A few years later, he won a national championship
in canoeing. |
