Peter King's Football Morning In America (FBIA), which is an NBC Sports weekly column, solicited essays of how sports helped prepare many front line workers for the challenges of working during COVID-19. Selected articles were highlighted in his column dated June 21, 2020.
Meg Marie Ford wrote an essay about her younger sister, Sara Thiel. Hers was one of five essays chosen among many entries. Her sister Sara is a Special Olympics athlete and an essential worker at Pavilions grocery store in Mission Viejo. Sara has worked at Pavilions for 11 years and has played sports with Special Olympics of Southern California for over two decades. Sara has been a part of Vocational Visions' Supported Employment program since 2009 when she began working at Pavilions. We provide her with on-site job coaching 20% of her work time.
Here is a
summary
of Meg's essay:
Sara has participated in Special Olympics since grade school but found her truest teammates on the Laguna Hills Hawks in 2003, shortly after her graduation from high school. Sara has focused mainly on sports like basketball, softball and floor hockey because they allow her to be a part of a team after growing up in a world where people like her are often left out, or picked last, or mocked just for trying to play with other kids.
Her job duties as a Pavilions courtesy clerk include bagging groceries for customers, making sure the store is clean and ensuring carts are available for shoppers as they enter, but now the stakes are much higher. Early in the coronavirus pandemic, she did have days where she worked through worry and frustration. Customers have not always been their best selves while panic shopping, and the stress of heading into work every day while the media implores everyone to stay at home and shelter in place has weighed on her. During the first few weeks, when the store was crowded with people who were frightened and angry and trying to hoard food and supplies, she would text home to say she was scared. The uncertainly around health protocols was also a stressor and sometimes had her in tears on the way to and home from work.
Many of her coworkers have been unable to return to work, but as long as she’s healthy and able, Sara will be at her store. She’d as soon quit her job as walk off the playing field and has filled in extra shifts and stayed late when asked. Like many people, her work is part of what defines her day and gives her meaning. Going in and doing her best stabilizes her during this uncertain time.
In 2007, Sara was chosen to represent California as part of Team USA at the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai, China. She competed in several track events as a solo competitor, which was unusual for her, but she loved being part of the larger national team. In recognition of her accomplishments on and off the field, Special Olympics of Southern California named her the Betty Belden Palmer Athlete of the Year in 2011, and even then, her acceptance speech focused more on her team than herself.
To read the full article, go here:
(click on 'Meg Marie Ford' on the left menu titled 'Peter King's Lineup')
