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SHARING THE DREAM
By Mrs Laurel BRASSEY IVERSEN (USA)
I believe that powerful dreams are inspired by great role models, nurtured by
fearless vision, and accomplished through insane dedication and commitment.
Since the time I was very young, the Olympics have always captivated me. Every
time I see Olympic stories or events on the television, I get goose bumps; I am
overcome with emotion, and often moved to tears.
My Olympic dream was born when an elementary grade school teacher taught
us about the Olympic Games with the story of a great Olympian, Wilma Rudolph.
She had polio as a child but overcame her illness and eventually won three gold
medals in the 1960 Rome Olympics. I knew I was destined to be like
Wilma, a champion runner. I tried many sports and when I was 15, I was
introduced to volleyball. Three years later I earned a place on the National Team
of the United States.
When I was 19 years old, I became the first woman in the United States
to play on a man's intercollegiate sports team. The coach of the team had
been the captain of the 1968 Men's Olympic Team and was a great inspiration
for me.
My participation created national media attention and much speculation as to
whether or not it was merely a publicity stunt. I had to constantly prove myself.
In 1975, we became the first American team of any kind to begin training on
a year-round on a full-time basis. Our coach, Dr Arie Selinger, was ruthless,
pushing us five to six hours a day, six days a week. In essence, we were
professional athletes, the only difference being; we didn't get paid. We failed to
qualify for the Montreal Games in 1976, but the regimen paid off and we did
qualify for the 1980 Games in 1976, but the regimen paid off and we did qualify
for the 1980 Games of Moscow a full year before those games would begin.
The dream was within reach and we trained harder than ever, as many as eight
hours per day.
We moved away from family, friends and boyfriends gave up school and
jobs and blindly followed our coach down the path to victory. We climbed the
international ladder steadily and found ourselves ranked in the top three in the
world with Cuba and China.
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