{"id":29724,"date":"2021-07-30T00:09:51","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T04:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=29724"},"modified":"2021-07-30T00:12:57","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T04:12:57","slug":"aurora-athlete-is-reminder-that-anything-is-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-athlete-is-reminder-that-anything-is-possible\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora athlete is reminder that anything is possible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Babe Ruth dominated baseball in the first half of the twentieth century, he left his mark not only on the field, but within the hearts of his fans and spectators with a famous quote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCourage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even when something might feel too high or too hard, it shouldn\u2019t discourage anyone from trying it, even if there is a natural impediment in your way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Aurora resident Thalia Avgousti was three years old, she was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and a speech disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of her diagnosis, doctors weren\u2019t able to map out her future abilities. What they did assure the family was the fact that therapy would help her improve. She began with a rigorous therapy schedule as countless hours seemed to fly by and results poured in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And despite her physical challenges, Avgousti got involved in the community. She joined numerous sports and activities such as basketball, soccer, hockey, horseback riding, baseball, ballet, gymnastics, skiing\/snowboarding and Marquee Theatrical Productions over the course of her young life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She credits her success to the life lessons learned through sport such as goal-setting, perseverance and accepting failure in order to succeed. It didn\u2019t matter what anyone else might have thought. It only mattered what she thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avgousti, who always loved being in the water and swimming, grew to accept who she was and when she did so, she catapulted her way to success. With the help of the Town of Aurora\u2019s Adapted Swim Program, under the leadership of Greg Peri and Terry Edwards, it gave her the opportunity to feel like everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to talk. It isn\u2019t a team sport. It gave me the opportunity to build my skills, but most of all, it gave me the opportunity to be normal like everyone else,\u201d Avgousti said.  \u201cI worked hard. I had focus. I was dedicated. I don\u2019t fear failure because that\u2019s how you succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avgousti became an exceptional athlete. She participated on the school swim team at St. Maximillian Kolbe to finish fifth in OFSAA for 50m and 100m Para Freestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few weeks back, Avgousti was one of five winners for the Empowered Kids Ontario Scholarship Program (EKO) to receive $2,500 towards post-secondary tuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a surprise. I didn\u2019t expect the award. I believed in myself, that I could do it,\u201d Avgousti said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is humble and extremely grateful for everyone who has helped her, from those in school, to those in her community and especially to her therapists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her sessions played a major role in Avgousti discovering how she wants to navigate her life. In September, Avgousti will be returning to her second year at Mohawk College. She will be living on her own in residence and is excited to interact with peers by joining clubs and the school swimming team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has labelled her journey: \u201cMy Ability is Stronger Than My Disability.\u201d It is, in fact, a PowerPoint she presents to elementary and high school audiences to inspire students with disabilities to believe in themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She promotes inclusion to those without disabilities as well. She hopes to motivate others that anything is possible despite your disability. She teaches others to never give up and of course, she practices what she preaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because to her, anything is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Belardi<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Babe Ruth dominated baseball in the first half of the twentieth century, he left his mark not only on the field, but within the hearts of his fans and spectators with a famous quote: \u201cCourage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.\u201d And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Jq","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-21 21:43:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2021-07-29-04.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}