Benji finds his sport

By EASportsToday.com
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Updated: September 7, 2014

Benji Coleman makes his way along the pool deck after shaving 20 seconds off his previous best 100-meter individual medley time Saturday. In the cover photo, the Saks Middle School sixth-grader, swims a backstroke lap.

Saks 11-year-old finds confidence, inclusion through YMCA swimming program

“I’m here to tell you what I never thought could happen has happened. Being in this sport has done more for him … all the way across the board. This has captured his interest. I wanted something that would allow my child to be a normal kid … that niche to where he might thrive – and I found it.”

–Laurie Coleman, Benji’s mother

By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today

Benji Coleman climbed onto the block, steadied himself on its edge and waited expectantly for the starter’s horn to start the race. When it sounded, he exploded off the platform into the water and pushed his way hard to the wall on the other side.

He didn’t win the race, but that wasn’t necessarily the point. Regardless of where he places in an event these days, he always comes out of the pool with a smile – and more often than not, a personal best time.

Benji Coleman has found a sport he liked — and one that likes him back.

“He wins every time he gets in there,” YMCA Blue Dolphins swim team assistant coach Johnnie Pearson said Saturday during a break in the Spectacular September Splash meet at the downtown Anniston Y pool.

Youth sports are a big part of growing up, but they were going to be a challenge and sometimes cruel for Benji. The Saks Middle School sixth grader was born with cerebral palsy that affected the muscle control of the left side of his body. He has been in physical therapy since he was 15 months old.

He had to wear uncomfortable braces on his legs from just above the ankle and was told by therapists if he didn’t become more active as he grew those braces would have to be extended to above his knees.

It was a tough deal for a child who wanted so much to participate. Classmates were insensitive to his condition, he’d be among the final picks for team sports or overlooked altogether and when he did get involved he’d eventually lose interest.

After a while doctors said there wasn’t much they could do to help him assimilate into the mainstream. That’s when the family started looking for an activity. They tried T-ball and then explored karate for its individual development, but those sports eventually faded out of the picture.

Two years ago they discovered the YMCA swimming program, and with it found that sense of inclusion and personal achievement a mother always hopes for her child. Now, the confident 11-year-old can’t imagine a time he won’t be swimming.

“It’s such a cool sport and my teammates are all so supportive; everybody is so nice and nobody is mean,” Benji said. “I’m making more friends than ever. This is definitely the best sport. It’s my sport.”

Those braces? He hasn’t needed them or the boring physical therapy since he started and been told he won’t as long as stays active in the sport. And those doctors and therapists who once dismissed his chances of physical and social advancement have commented on the “massive” improvement he has made in those areas.

“I’m here to tell you what I never thought could happen has happened,” Benji’s mother Laurie said. “That boy, being in this sport, has done more for him – I’m talking all the way across the board. I wanted something that would allow my child to be a normal kid. I was looking for that place he would fit into the world and grow. I was looking for something that was going to give him more than what those doctors could do.

“There’s no amount of medical coverage, no amount of physical therapy, that would have ever done what this did — because this has captured his interest. This has been a miracle. I can’t sit here without chills all over my body because it touches me that deep. I was always looking for that niche to where he might thrive – and I found it.”

And thrive is right. He goes to every meet the team swims and has all the strokes. Every time he jumps in the pool he shaves time. Three months into the program, he took 16 seconds off his 100-meter freestyle time.

In Saturday’s meet, one of two the Blue Dolphins host each year, he clipped 20 seconds off his 100 individual medley time – “the biggest shave in my career,” he said proudly.

It’s a “career” he hopes eventually leads to a college scholarship, like the ones received last year by two of his former Blue Dolphins teammates and role models, Mikey Monday and Elon Bush. For now, though, it’s all about doing the best he can and being happy with that.

“This is the longest time I’ve ever done a continuous sport; I think it’s going to stick,” he said. “I don’t expect to leave this team any time soon.”

Al Muskewitz is Content Editor/Senior Writer of East Alabama Sports Today. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com and followed on Twitter @easportstoday1.

Trace Hilbun (L) and Colton Smith cool down and watch the other swimmers finish after their race in the YMCA Blue Dolphins’ Spectacular September Splash on Saturday.