Bhubaneswar: Specially-abled child athletes of our country are talented and determined. Behind them, there is an army of people, including parents, coaches and friends who help them achieve their targets. Arpita Mohapatra is one such individual. As a Special Olympics Bharat coach, she trains people with intellectual disabilities in open-water swimming.
Speaking to OMMCOM NEWS, Arpita talked about how she became the guiding force behind these athletes. She also runs the Bharati Rath Memorial Academy of Special Human Abilities, a community that empowers differently-abled people through sports and physical activity.
To combat the deadly floods that ravage Odisha every year, Arpita trains children with and without intellectual disabilities in open-water swimming, an important and often life-saving skill. But her journey has not been easy.
“There was a small river near our village, and my father taught me to swim while we bathed. Before long I was sneaking to the river after school. I’d swim for hours every day. My father would physically pull me out of the water at dinner time,” she said.
“But people in my village were very traditional and conservative. Adult women weren’t allowed to swim. So I had to quit when I turned fifteen. I didn’t begin again until my 20s. By that time I had moved to the city, and there was no female instructor at our public pool. So I volunteered. During my lessons, I kept noticing an autistic boy who would stand along the edge and watch. Nobody wanted to teach him.”
“The male coaches were afraid of being bitten and scratched. But I could tell that he was so curious, so I began to play with him. I splashed him. Slowly I touched him. I’d hold his leg and pull him through the water, teaching him how to breathe in and breathe out. He’d climb on my back and would hold my neck while I did the strokes.”
“He did bite me. And hit me. And sometimes he’d squeeze my neck too hard. But it was never malicious. In his mind, he thought he was doing the right thing. It took a long time but slowly he learned how to swim.” “Now he comes running to me whenever he sees me. That experience gave me a weakness for kids with disabilities. I’ve taught over two hundred so far. There is no government support. Nobody comes to see these children.
“So I go to the villages and seek them out. I teach them to swim in ponds and rivers. I am happy when they feel happy. Recently I’ve started my academy — just for them.” This daredevil hailing from Amaria, a small hamlet in the Balasore district, was never a bright student.
“Often, I would get back home bruised and tired of dressing my injuries. None of my other six siblings troubled my mother as I did,” recalls Arpita. “Studies never attracted me. I was a good athlete from my school days, winning competitions in the long jump, high jump, discus and javelin throw.”
When in Plus II, Arpita had a brief stint in football for two years. But before she could play any important game, her parents asked her to take up some computer courses so that she could bag a decent job. It was then that she headed for Bhubaneswar, aiming to take up a course in systems management.
“My sporting activities had completely stopped and I was into this course. I was, however, badly missing my sporting activities. My uncle, a sports enthusiast, kept insisting that I must resume my sporting activities,” she said.
Arpita currently works as a swimming trainer, devoting herself to training young swimmers. “I get happy whenever I see the old snaps of the expeditions but I cannot be sure if this can be financially rewarding ever. With so few girls in this area, I am often looked upon as a tomboy.”
Arpita is arguably the first and only woman in the state to have mastered all the areas of extreme adventure — mountaineering, water sports, aero-sports, and scuba diving. She led a team comprising Lipu Rout, Sumit Panda, and Purna Sethi at the 21st National Para Swimming Championship held in Udaipur, Rajasthan, in March.
Swimming is not just a sport, it is an art, a skill – that too a life-saving one. So, more than training, Arpita has groomed her pupils with survival skills!
Kasturi Mohapatra, the first Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities of Odisha and Founder of Open Learning Systems (OLS) brought Arpita into OLS. “She made inroads for my association with Special Olympics Bharat-Odisha,” Arpita said.
“Recognising my passion and work Specizal Olympics International selected me into the club of “50 Game Changers of the World”, during their Golden Jubilee celebration. I was the only person from Asia to be selected into this club,” she added.
This apart, ESPN, Humans of New York, and Tanishq (Me In Action) have made films upon her journey. Arpita was also selected as the Head Coach in Swimming (Female), Special Olympics Bharat for the Special Olympics World Summer Game, held in 2015 at Los Angeles, USA.
“I am not only swimming coach, you can address me as a holistic coach and mentor,” she adds.
