All About Change - "Sports Gives Our Life a New Meaning" - Moran Samuel

Episode Date: April 26, 2021

In 2006, Moran Samuel went to bed as a gifted, young, able-bodied athlete - and woke up paralyzed from the chest down. Ten years later, she was holding a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Jay and Moran discuss her sudden spinal stroke, merging the Olympics and Paralympic Games, and equal opportunities to people with disabilities. Listen now!  Photo Credit: Detlev syeb, in courtesy of the Daniel Rowing centerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All Inclusive, a podcast on inclusion, innovation, and social justice with Jay Ruderman. Hi, I'm Jay Ruderman, and this is All Inclusive, a podcast focused on inclusion, innovation, and social justice. and social justice. So my first, I guess, psychological reaction, mental reaction was, well, life is over. You know, everything I was was related to sports. So for me, life was over. But soon enough, and I'm so lucky that I've been an athlete all my life because the tools I was carrying around with me helped a lot when I had to recover, when I had to do my first steps.

In 2006, Moran Samuel, a gifted young athlete, woke up literally into a new reality. During the night, she suffered a sudden spinal stroke, which left her paralyzed from the chest down. Ten years later, she was holding a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympics. So I would like to start by focusing our conversation on the benefits and also the challenges that people in sports with disabilities face. Before we get to all of that, I want to familiarize our listeners with your own personal story. So can you tell us what your life was like before you suffered the spinal stroke? So I grew up as a basketball player. I grew up in a very small town in the north part of Israel.

And I fell in love in basketball when I was nine years old. By the age of 16, I already represented Israel in the youth national team. I served the army in a special program for elite athletes. I coached basketball and my life was pretty much all about being the best basketball player I could be, playing the Division I league here in Israel, preparing myself to a future of sports. And at the time, I was 24 years old. And at the time, I was already a student. So my life was right on track. And just one morning, just like that, everything completely changed. it was a thursday i the night before i was playing basketball i was coaching at the afternoon then later that night i played basketball i think i came home half past 10 p.m

and everything felt normal i was completely fine and i woke woke up that Thursday and I was supposed to go to my parents' house for the weekend. And I had a very severe back pain. Something I've never felt before. It was really strange. It wasn't like a muscle strain or I don't know. It was really, really unique pain that I've never felt before. In a few, I think it was about 20 to half an hour, I started to have some difficulties with breathing. And that's when I realized something bad is happening.

But I couldn't point my finger at something specific because I was walking. I was having my coffee. I was even doing my laundry. But it became worse. And there was a point where I realized that it's not going well. And I decided to call an ambulance. And by the time they arrived, I couldn't get out of bed by myself. And when they were taking me to the hospital, on the way to the hospital, I couldn't move my legs anymore.

And I realized I'm completely paralyzed. And when I'm getting to the hospital, after a few checks, exams, they realize it's a neurological problem, but they couldn't get the source of it. And I did an MRI. but they couldn't get the source of it. And I did an MRI. And at the time, MRIs were not as common as today. Not everybody could actually translate what it says, you know.

So it took some time. It took a few hours to find the right doctor to analyze my MRI and to understand that something is blocking the oxygen supply to the central nervous system and that I needed surgery. And I'm going into surgery in that afternoon. And only when I woke up the next morning, they could explain what it was. And they explained that I suffered a really rare condition called spinal stroke. There was a defect in one of the blood vessels.

And that's it. It was a ticking bomb in my body. And there was no way to discover it. There was no way to prevent it. So you cannot discover it in just the regular normal checks that you do when you go to your doctor or to your sport doctor. It's really, really rare. I guess I have two questions.

What was your immediate psychological, emotional reaction to this? And after you were in the hospital and recovering and now living a new life physically how did you emotionally adapt to that so my first i guess psychological reaction mental, well, life is over. Everything I knew was sports. The way I define myself was through sport. I always say that if you have met me when I was 16 and opened up my chest, you wouldn't find an anatomical heart. My heart was round and orange.

It had stripes, and it was bouncing up and down in my chest so um everything I was was related to sport so for me life was over but um soon enough and and I'm so lucky that I've been an athlete all my life because the tools I was carrying around with me helped a lot when I had to recover, when I had to do my first steps in order to heal, to overcome. And I think that the first mental step was to change the way that I was talking to myself, mental step was to change the way that I was talking to myself, not saying life is over, but saying life as I knew it might be over, but I'm still here. I have something to give. And believe me, I didn't have big dreams then. I didn't even think about going back to sport or being a Paralympian. I really wanted to do just the little things of life,

just be able to wake up in the morning and be independent, be able to get out of the hospital and do something with my life. But no big dreams. I didn't have any big goals. But I do believe that the small ones are the one that keeps you going. but I do believe that the small ones are the one that keeps you going. And I made small wins each and every day. I can give you a nice example that I like from basketball because this is my world, you know.

So if you take a really, really close, tight basketball game, I mean 68, 66, something like that, 25 seconds to the end of the game, I mean, 68, 66, something like that, 25 seconds to the end of the game, and someone is giving you the best pass you can ever get, and you get to the ring with a layup that you probably was able to do like 10,000 times in your life, and then the ball goes out. And there's maybe another 15 seconds on the clock and you know you've missed the most important shot of the game.

So what is the next fastest thing you need to do? What would you say, Jay? What is the fastest thing you need to do? The fastest thing you need to do? What would you say, Jay? What is the fastest thing you need to do? The fastest thing you need to do after you missed the most important shot of the game and there are only 15 seconds on the shot clock? Try to get the rebound. This is the right answer. You need to get the ball back, right? But how do you do it? In order to do it, you need to be able to switch. You need to be able mentally to forget it just happened. And to put it behind you because it's not going to help you to do the next best step or the next best action you can do.

And as a sport person, as an athlete, I've mastered that. I switched so fast. I know how to mentally change my reaction to whatever happens to me in the basketball court. And when I was lying in bed, I understood that this is exactly what I need to do. I cannot change the fact that I just missed that shot. But the fastest I will be able to overcome, the fastest I will be able to get back on the ground and try to get the ball, then maybe I can help the team to win. And maybe I will be able to help myself, you know, overcome or deal with it the best way I can. So I think that I had a lot of support. I have an amazing parents and family.

My friends from university were visiting me on a regular basis. They even bought me a laptop so I can be, you know, online with them, with school and everything. But there are moments in your life that you need to take the next best step. You need to push yourself forward because if you don't believe that you own your own strength, it doesn't matter how much support and help you have from the people around you. It helps, and it's important, but you have to believe that you can do it. So it reminds me, and I've read quite a bit about professional athletes and how they're able to

not dwell on the past and go forward. And there's a scene in a movie called Fever Pitch, which was done by friends of mine, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, which is about the Boston Red Sox, a baseball team. There's a scene in it where the team has lost three in a row in a four-playoff series. And a bunch of the players are sitting around having a meal and they're joking and they're talking and the fans are um there's a group of fans sitting by them and

they're drinking their beers and crying and and and they're like how can these players go on and just you know act like it's no big deal when they're almost out and we're so devastated? And Jimmy Fallon stars in the movie and he's like, they have it right. They understand life, that things happen, especially in sports. And the best athletes, I think think can compartmentalize and go on to the next thing i mean i think that it's one thing to miss a shot or miss a game or lose a playoff it's another thing to i think you know physically you know lose part of your body that was so much part of your identity so you know for for that, I mean, that's an extraordinary story. And as I

understand, you decided to return to sports after your injury. So can you just talk about like what was involved in that decision to say, I'm going to get back into sports, you know, I am now, you know, paralyzed from the waist down, but I want to be an athlete. So actually, I couldn't go back to sport right ahead. I felt that if I cannot play as I played before, I don't want to play at all. It was that ball in my chest that just all the air went out and I never thought anything can make me feel like I felt being a basketball player, being an athlete. So I went back to school. I finished my bachelor in physical therapy and I did a master in child development and I started working with infant and

children with disabilities. And I said, this is the best way I can take something really bad that happened to me, but do something good with it. And I wanted to keep the chapter of being an athlete, you know, somewhere in my past. But, you know, it's, i guess that it was meant to be after three years of trying to avoid anything related to sport or to basketball i was getting a phone call that they are rebuilding the women national team in wheelchair basketball in israel um it was we didn't have a team since the nineties. It was 2009. And I felt like fate is calling me.

I don't know how to explain, you know, I was wearing the Israeli flag on my uniform since I was 16. And suddenly, uh, the team is calling me again, even though it's in wheelchair basketball. And you know, there's a saying in basketball that you always miss 100% of the shots you don't take. So I had to take that shot. And it was the day of my birthday where I decided to go to the first session. And it was a Saturday night I was driving two hours from my house at the north in in Haifa to Rishon Lezion in the center of

Israel and when I got to the basketball court I just fell in love again it was like watching a Hollywood movie you know know, in slow motion reaction and the music in the background, really emotional. And everything I knew was there. It was the ball and the basket and the court and the friends that I met there and just being able not to feel my disability. I realized in time that that's my way to take the dis- out of disability by playing sport. And it was amazing. so how long did it take you to learn to be a wheelchair basketball player i mean you obviously were a top flight basketball player but to sit in a wheelchair and and to play you know in a wheelchair how long did it take you to become a top athlete as a wheelchair

basketball player actually i did it quite fast uh i came like you said i came with the skills i just needed to adopt and by the first year of playing wheelchair basketball. I was already invited to join the man team of Bet Halochem Tel Aviv, which play in the first league in Israel. And by my second year, I was already in the open five of my team. I represented Israel in two European championships. Both of them, I was chosen to be one of the all-star players of the tournament even though we finished last as a team so in the beginning it was really hard and the ball was going everywhere it was really hard to get to shoot from the outside because you are sitting and suddenly

you need to use only your upper body and you sit so low. So it took a while, but I did it fast because, you know, I came with the background. And when you meet basketball players, former basketball players that go into wheelchair basketball, usually they adapt really, really fast. So let me ask you, you got into rowing, and maybe you can talk a little bit about how you transitioned. I mean, not completely transitioned because you're still a basketball player, but how, how you went from basketball to rowing. made me think that I want to get to the Paralympic Games.

I started dreaming big dreams about sport again, as I did when I was a young athlete, you know, dreaming about the WNBA or representing Israel in the Olympic Games. So suddenly I can feel that the dream is still there. But my team wasn't good enough. The Israeli national team wasn't good enough the israeli national team wasn't good enough we were the last in europe so thinking about paralympic games was an impossible dream let's say but thinking about individual sport was was actually the route to try and get to the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Committee in Israel they recommended rowing or power rowing based on my athletic abilities my height

and they they offered rowing and even though I've never rowed in my life or even I didn't even like any water sport before I had a dream and I decided that I will at least try and um and it was very hard because I'm coming from a team sport you know where everybody are dependent on everybody else but actually I fell in love in that feeling that that everything I do comes back to me everything I I all the effort that I give goes in the boat and and and I'm not depending on anyone else to to succeed or not and that was a new feeling but a good feeling and um i think it was after three or four months in the boat you know when we were recording my times and we saw that i can be maybe six in the world after three months only and we knew it's the right place for me i represented israel in the 2012 paralympic games in london and row is an amazing sport. Have you ever rowed?

I mean, maybe in school or have you ever tried? I've never rowed athletically. I've rowed in a kayak, but I can't compare it. And can't compare it to your success. No, no, but I mean, it's the connection with the water, the outdoor sport, the wind. There are really moments where you are some kind of meditation inside the sport. And it's amazing.

It was for me like running again. And it was the first time I was doing a sport that is out of the wheelchair. That was very special. Suddenly, I can, you know, get out of my wheelchair and get in the boat. And it's freedom. It's really freedom. So let me, I mean, you've had many successes. I mean, in London, you mentioned in 2012, finishing fifth in the Paralympic Games. By 2015, you had won a world championship. And in 2016, in the Rio Paralympics,

you won the bronze medal. But I want to, there's an article that I pulled up from USA Today that's written by someone who I know. His name is Charles Catherine. I don't know if you've seen this article. The title of the piece in USA Today is why separate Paralympics should end and be unified with Olympic games should begin. So, I mean, you're a rower. You're not using a wheelchair. You're in a boat. What do you think? Should you compete against Olympians as a rower? I can't. It's an unfair fight because even though I'm out of my wheelchair and in a boat, specifically in rowing, the whole movement comes and starts from the strength of the legs.

You are pushing really hard with the legs and then you're adding the upper body. So actually in my category, it will never be a fair play. It's like in judo or in boxing where you have weight categories. So putting me competing against one of the top rowers in the world, able-bodied rowers is like boxing, I don't know, 50 kilograms against 100 kilograms or something like that. It's just an unfair fight. But I think that there are many reasons to join Olympic and Paralympic Games.

We're talking about inclusion. So it will be amazing that, let's say it will be an alternating race. So you will have the women single in the able-bodied category and then the women single in the power category. And you have the men single and you will alternate the competition. I think that will expose the Paralympic sport to so many audiences.

And it will really put on the same level with the same Olympic and Paralympic Games. That's an important idea because I remember in the last Olympics, the amount of money and attention and media that's focused on the Olympics far outweighs the Paralympics. And I know our foundation was very involved with a group of young activists to promote, to approach the U.S. Olympic Committee and talk about the disparity in payment for medals that Olympians were getting as opposed to Paralympians. And the outcome, the victory, was that the U.S. Olympic Committee decided to have medal pay parity for both the Paralympians and Olympians, which is a huge step. But I think that being on the same stage would do a lot to move towards inclusion. Yes, it will.

And there are many excuses why not do it. And I've been on many discussions of why it's not the right idea. I think there are even Paralympians that think that we need to have our separate gains because we need different conditions and we need accessibility and so on and so forth. And I say, okay, but this is the world, you know, the world need to be accessible. The world, I don't like to talk about equality.

I like to talk about equal opportunities. Because of course, if there are stairs, you will be able to go up the stairs and I will not be able to go up the stairs. We don't need equality. We don't need exactly the same conditions. We need the same opportunities. We need the same doors to be open for everybody and if the same doors are

open for everybody then the best people who are you know if it's in in jobs or in school or in entertainment or you're doing an amazing job in hollywood you know so if the door is open amazing job in Hollywood, you know, so if the door is open, then, you know, everybody can just get inside and try. I think that's the only way. If we push ourselves forward, if we speak out, if we reach out, we don't sit on the side and say, oh, but we don't get this and we don't get that and no one sees us. No, I don't care about that. I care about actions. I care about coming forward and speaking out and showing that we care, showing that we want, for fun, which most of us are. What are the benefits of being a competitive athlete, both just as a human being and as a person with disabilities?

athlete, both, you know, just as a human being and as a person with disabilities? So as a human being, I think, first of all, the mental strength, not just the physical strength, the mental strength you get from being an athlete, your ability to manage your time, your ability to focus. You know, when they try to help people and deal with anxiety and depression and difficulties in in your everyday life they they try to teach you how to focus you know how to be in the moment not thinking about the past not thinking about the future and and this is something professional athletes must know how to do. For people with disabilities, I think that there are two main things that sport gives you. First of all, as I said, it takes the dis of disability.

It just makes you feel able. It makes you feel that you can. Especially when it happens to you in the middle of your life, there is a big list of what I could do in the past but will never be able to do again. And in order to live, let's say, feel better about the past, feel better about what you cannot do anymore, or even just throw away this list. You need to build a new list of what I can do and focus on that. And sport gives you the feeling that you can,

makes you meet other people with disabilities that uh sport gives their life new meaning and it's amazing and um and the second thing is just uh i think making you feel like you're like everybody else. Right. What tips would you give to young people with disabilities who are looking to go a route like you went through? What's your advice? So first of all, find a sport that you love, that you're connected to, because it's it's really really hard there are so many hours to put in so you need to love it and if you're doing a sport that you don't feel passionate about you will not be able to get to the highest level so you have to

be passionate about it and it's true even even if you're not if you don't want to be an athlete if you want to be a singer or if you want to be an athlete, if you want to be a singer, or if you want to be an engineer, or if you want to be an astronaut, you need to be passionate about your dreams. And it needs to come from you. Sometimes our parents can push us, sometimes our teachers can push us or coaches around us say, say, Oh, you need to do this or that, but you need to look in the mirror and say, I do what I love, and that's why I do it. So that's the first thing that I think is very, very important. Then you need to understand that most journeys in life, especially for a professional athlete, it's not a sprint.

It's not a 100-meter sprint. Sometimes it's a marathon. Sometimes it's climbing the Everest. Sometimes it's a long journey. And every step you take takes you forward. You might fall, but you need to learn how to get back on the court as fast as you can. I always say that if you look at an obstacle as an obstacle, it will knock you down. If you look at an obstacle as a challenge, you will do your best to overcome.

You will do your maximum. And it's up to us. Challenges are there. Things go wrong. challenges are there, things go wrong. But if we are creative, if we are flexible, if we know how to react, then we can always turn those obstacles into challenges. What do you feel the unique challenges facing people with disabilities, both in sports, and just in general physical activity moving throughout society?

And how can we do a better job as a society to integrate people with disabilities in every aspect of life? I think that that's the first problem around the world is access to sport activities for children with disabilities. Let's say that in the same house there are two brothers, there are even twins, and one was born with a disability and the other was born without. And they get to the age where they want to play sport. The opportunities for one are much, much higher than the opportunities to the other. And that's a problem as I see it.

And I think that especially in young age, it should be integrated. There are so many sports that it doesn't matter specifically individual sport, like swimming, like tennis, like rowing. It shouldn't be a problem to have in one team children with and without disabilities you just need to adopt the training, that's it but everybody can use the same facilities, the same community center

it's not happening enough there are still barriers that I don't understand. Coaches that are afraid of having children with disabilities in their team, even though it's not a competitive team yet, stuff like that. We need to educate our sport teacher, how do you call it? Physical education teacher? Yes. how do you call it a physical education teacher yeah yeah we need to educate them better about disabilities about opportunities for and how to adopt their their sport and lessons to to everybody

and today we see in schools in is that children with disabilities, they even, you know, when there is the physical education period in the day, they sit in class doing something else. That's wrong, you know. I think it starts in schools, education, and opportunities around your neighborhood for you to play sport. And that's a challenge for children with disabilities. Well, Moran, it's been a pleasure speaking to you. And I really enjoyed our time together.

I want to wish you a lot of success in Italy. And then again in Tokyo. Thank you. I'll be watching the news and looking forward to your success. So thank you so much and thank you for spending time with us today. Thank you, Jay. Thank you for hosting me.

All Inclusive is a production of the Ruderman Family Foundation. Our key mission is the full inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society. You can find All Inclusive on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher. To view the show notes, transcripts, or to learn more, go to rudermanfoundation.org slash allinclusive.

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