Bigfork boy brings home three gold medals

Last week TJ Sward took part in something he never imagined he would — alpine skiing —and he did quite well at it as he won three gold medals at the Special Olympics on Big Mountain Feb. 28-March 2.

"He has accomplished something that he never thought about doing before," said Toot Sward, TJ's mom.

Sward, who is 16 years old, is a junior at Bigfork High School. He deals with the obstacles resulting from being cognitively disabled.

Last week, none of that mattered though as he collected gold medals for his first-place times in the downhill, slalom and super-G events.

His mom and dad, Tom Sward, have been familiar with the Special Olympics for decades, and Toot even served as a volunteer prior to having TJ and his twin brother Brett. However, it wasn't until last spring that the Swards decided to sign TJ up to participate in the games.

After a few meetings the Swards decided to establish a Bigfork team for TJ to compete on — the Bigfork Bobcats. Although TJ is the only athlete on the team, his scores still make him eligible for awards just like the athletes on the other teams.

Last April, TJ competed in track and bowling in the area games of the Spring Special Olympics in Kalispell and Whitefish. While going up against participants of all ages and backgrounds, he earned a first place medal in the 50-meter dash and the 100-meter dash, second place in the bowling event and placed third in the 800 meter.

While he said he enjoyed all aspects of the event, TJ said he preferred the short races to the long races and he liked track better than bowling.

Even though bowling wasn't his favorite event, TJ did like the sport and decided to take part in the Glacier Area Holiday Bowl in November in Whitefish, which is sponsored by the Special Olympics. There were about 150 participants at this event and the trophy was awarded to the team with the highest average, which was TJ's one-man team with a 97.

Following this success, and some advice from a friend involved with Special Olympics, the Swards began to think about getting TJ signed up in the winter games. Although the rest of the Swards enjoyed skiing, it was never anything that TJ had expressed interest in being a part of. However, that all changed when he enrolled with DREAM Adaptive Recreation, Inc., an organization established in 1985 to give disabled children and adults access to recreational opportunities in the Flathead Valley.

In the winter, the program's director, Bruce Gibson, and a group of volunteers make themselves available to teach disabled people how to ski. Those who are a part of DREAM can ask for a lesson any day of the week any time during the season, and they can go as often as they like. Even better, Whitefish Mountain Resort allows them to ski for free and rent equipment for half the usual price.

Although he was a little nervous to try skiing out at first, it quickly became a successful journey.

"To me, what was significant was that he wasn't screaming about wanting to come in," Toot said of TJ's first day on the slopes. "By the end of the first day, they had him going up to the top of the Easy Rider and going down the run holding a pole with his instructor and Bruce on either end of the pole."

TJ progressed quickly and went from being uninterested in the sport to being eager to go skiing.

"The DREAM volunteers were so patient and so good with the kids that TJ was anxious to get back on the mountain and do it again," Toot said.

When it was time to sign TJ up for his events in the winter Special Olympics, the Swards planned to put him down for snow shoeing. Since he had just recently learned to ski, his parents figured he wouldn't be ready to compete in those events, but the family had snow shoes a couple of times and it seemed like a better fit for his first time. However, Gibson told them that he was ready to ski in the competition, so they signed him up for the novice races.

"In eight weeks they (DREAM) took a kid that had never had skis on to winning three gold medals," Toot said.

In addition to participating in the two-day skiing event on the mountain, which included a time trial day and the finals, TJ and his parents also got to march in the opening ceremony parade.

TJ was supported by his Bigfork special education class on Monday, the day of the time trials, as they attended the races and cheered him on from the finish line. The BHS Honors Society attended the finals the following day to provide him with encouragement. TJ was also happy to have the kindergarten classes at Peterson Elementary School in Kalispell sponsor him for the games. They provided him with a goodie-bag filled with healthy bars, cards, lip balm, sunscreen, fruit, a water bottle and other things that he said he was excited to have with him during competition.

The experience has given TJ a strong since of confidence and independence both on and off the snow and it has also helped the Sward family grow closer.

"The rest of the family skis, so that's the other beauty of this," Toot said. "Now, as a family, we can all go ski together and stay together as a group. We don't have to worry about who is going to stay with TJ. We all ski now."

Although the Swards are all skiers, they struggled with the thought of teaching to TJ to ski on their own. They didn't know if they were skilled enough skiers to teach him and they didn't want to spend the time and money getting him on the mountain only to have him not like it. Now, Toot takes him skiing frequently and uses some of the same teaching techniques she saw his DREAM instructors use.

"I am absolutely thrilled," Toot said. "It has given him a whole new avenue, a new thing to do, a new sport," Toot said. "It completes the family unit of us all getting to ski together. Thanks to DREAM, he's just done so well. Who would've thought eight weeks ago that he'd go from never skiing to going down Hellroaring and wanting to go back up?"