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The odds were stacked fairly high against Coach John Lair and his athlete, Chevi Peters. Doctors had predicted an early demise for young Chevi, telling his parents he wouldn’t live to see the age of three. 38 surgeries later, he was a beaten down teenager who weighed 98 lbs, his body covered in scars, his head and eyes perpetually downcast, he had fought more battles than he could bear. When Police called his brand new Special Olympics PowerLifting Coach John Lair, it was with awful news. Chevi had tried to kill himself by driving his car into oncoming traffic. Chevi had crashed his car and was sitting on a park bench rocking and sobbing and talking about wanting to die when Coach Lair arrived on the scene.
The 300 lb mountain of a coach and the 98 lb teen held one another and talked and cried on that bench for hours together. After the tears, a promise to stop thinking about dying, and get busy living a new seemingly impossible dream, to become the greatest Special Olympic Powerlifter in the world. They had yet to lift a weight when Chevi drove that car into traffic. They have never stopped lifting weights, and one another since that day on the park bench.
Chevi Peters won Gold medals in deadlift for lifting 350 pounds, squatting 275 pounds and for achieving a combination score of 785, an accumulation of how much he lifted in each category, which made him a three-time world champion at the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles. He did all this while weighing only 118 pounds!
John Lair was recognized as the 2014 Special Olympics North America Coach of The Year, an honor awarded to a single individual among 120 thousand fellow volunteers. The impressive scope and contributions of all those coaches, puts the momentousness of this award into perspective.
John embodies Special Olympics’ commitment to providing every athlete with the quality coaching they deserve,” said Annette Lynch, Senior Manager, Coaching Excellence & Sport Education, Special Olympics North America, adding, “what he accomplishes through his coaching is truly exemplary – he represents the best of the best amongst hundreds of thousands of excellent volunteer coaches. His technical expertise, combined with his deep commitment to, and compassion for, the athletes of Special Olympics should inspire us all to do more and reach further. His coaching and caring don’t stop when the whistle blows.”
We encourage to listen and find out techniques that John and Chevi have used to achieve what people would believe to be impossible. Enjoy this episode of The Jim Huber Show!
What You will Hear In This Podcast
- 0:36- Getting to know coach John Lair and Chevi Peters
- 2:08- How Chevi chose to be a power lifter
- 3:15- The conversation at the park bench that saved Chevi’s life
- 4:57- A tragedy in coach Lair’s life that motivated him to help Chevi and start Special Olympics in Pittsburg, Kansas
- 8:00- The pure joy of Special Olympics that everyone should experience
- 11:04- The importance of teaching life skills through sports
- 13:15- The unreal numbers Chevi performed to become “World Champion”
- 15:31- Explanation of why Chevi is nick named the “Manimal”
- 17:06- Goal setting is an important tool that coach Lair uses with his athletes
- 17:54- Different ways to get involved and make an impact through Special Olympics
- 19:25- Ways to get the best out of your athletes
- 21:17- How Chevi has impacted coach Lair and Special Olympics
- 23:53- The support Under Armour has shown to Chevi
- 24:38- Celebrities Chevi has met through being a “World Champion”
- 26:12- Ways to donate to New Hope Bulldogs
Follow New Hope Bulldogs, Coach John Lair and Chevi Peters on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/newhopebulldogs/
Please leave a reply if you have any suggestions or comments about the “Win At All Cost” mentality or hit me up @jimhubershow
Remember: “Let’s Make The World Better Through Sports”