Help disabled children thrive through sports

Ivan Fontenelle Bevenuto was born with a congenital malformation and therefore has neither the lower limbs nor the hands. And yet, at only 10 years old, he has already contradicted opinions of doctors, stood out in swimming and realized his father´s dream playing “capoeira”.

Ivan participated as a swimmer in the Liga Nescau Jovem Pan. But the way to get to that point was difficult. He started practicing water aerobics at AACD and almost stopped there: "He ended up being discharged because they said that swimming would not be therapy for him because he could not swim alone. I was sad because I had seen disabled children swimming. I ended up getting discouraged. But Aunt Edna said I could bring him to swim, "says Monica, Ivan's mother.

Edna says she really believed the boy and started training him: "First we started a breathing job, in which he already had a big win. And then it developed. Today he practices with confidence. "

Respiratory work was critical to Ivan's health: "He had a full-blown and bronchitis problem. But since he started swimming he never had a problem with that and even lost weight, "celebrates Monica.

But Ivan was not only swimming. His father, José, has been a capoeirista for 20 years and always dreamed of having a son who could play with him. So initially Ivan's congenital problem led to disappointment. No one imagined that he could participate in capoeira. But then the family discovered that it was possible to realize José's dream.

"My husband said his dream was to have a son to teach capoeira. So when Ivan was born, there was a fear. But one day we found out that there was a capoeira group in AACD. Then I took Ivan to participate. My husband went after and has been volunteering there for 8 years teaching the kids, "says Monica.

Now Ivan plays capoeira with his father in the way that he can and has already participated in a change of cord, the increase of graduation of capoeira. So many feats make Ivan achieve greater inclusion through sport.

Edna commented that, before all this, he was a sad child. Now his mother realizes the difference: "He got more loose and extroverted. In Liga Nescau he was there interacting with colleagues. And that ends up motivating him to be in training every week. He even gets angry when he does not practice. When he has a fever, he wants to go and says that water is good. "

Edna also noticed the change: "He completely changed his self-esteem. He even asked to enter for artistic swimming and will go to Mexico to represent AACD in March 2019. It shows how his attitude has changed. "

And the result of these feats is felt by Ivan day by day, according to Edna: "Usually these children are completely excluded. When they start doing these things and when they are out of Brazil, the world already has a different view of them. They want to take pictures with them, they want to be friends and then the recognition begins. "

Today we will report on the events that ocurred in the last three months, from March to May 2018.

Starting with Table Tennis, our atheltes participated in the South-Southeast Brazilian Cup and Juliana has won the gold medal.  In March the team had already been in Italy, where they had an excelent result.  In June, from 8 to 10th, the team was in Spain, Barcelona, at the V International Adapted Tennis Open.  At this competition, Joyce won the silver medal.

Recently we also had in Brazil the Arnold Para Sports event, promoted by Arnold Schwazenneger, where there was a special presentation of our Capoeira team, which showed how important is inclusion in sports.

In May, our Para Synchro Swimming Team participated in a Festival in Kyoto, Japan.  The team has received a gold medal for best performance at the Festival and our athlete Veronica won the solver medal in the Solo Competition.

We hope to keep counting on our supporters so our athletes may keep showing the world how much they shine.