The Online Reflector

Sophomore criminal justice major Sawyer Elkins is a member of the University of Indianapolis swim team while also overcoming the everyday challenges of cerebral palsy.

CP is a disorder that affects physical movement and motor control and typically develops in children by age two or three.

“I had a brain hemorrhage when I was five days old,” Elkins said. “The type of brain hemorrhage that I had was diagnosed in autopsies 99 percent of the time. I’ve come a long way.”

Elkins has a natural affinity for the water. He learned to swim in his family’s in-ground pool as a toddler, before he learned how to walk.

Elkins swam for his high school team and then began searching for college coaches who were willing to give an athlete with a physical disability the opportunity to continue his athletic career.

At his coach’s urging, Elkins contacted the University of Indianapolis swimming and diving coach, Gary Kinkead. He is now a member of the men’s swimming and diving team. Elkins competed in the backstroke at the team’s meet at Romeoville, Ill. on Jan. 29.

“Obviously he [Kinkead] didn’t have to let me swim, but he did,” Elkins said. “And that means a lot to me. It’s not every day that a person with a physical disability can say that he or she swims for their college.”

Kinkead noted Elkins’ personal drive and ambitions on the team.

“The motivation for Sawyer being with the swimming program is for the Paralympics,” Kinkead said. “I think that’s a huge motivation. There are people in the Paralympics who are faster than some of our swimmers who are able bodied.”

The Paralympics is a multi-sport event where individuals with disabilities compete.

Elkins’ presence brings peripheral benefits to his teammates as well.

“To be quite honest, he could be a monster of a teacher for motivation, self-motivation and perseverance to 99 percent of my swimmers that are supposedly able-bodied,” Kinkead said. “He has ten times the motivation, persistence and ten times the stick-to-itiveness. That’s a huge benefit to our team that they look at someone like that and see where he’s coming from and where he wants to go.”

Elkins also seeks success in the classroom. Though the CP limits his ability to take notes in class, he works with the BUILD program to ensure that he has sufficient time to complete exams. As a criminal justice major, he hopes one day to be a police officer. After he learned that he would not be eligible for military service, he found that law enforcement would allow him to serve, so long as he can pass the same physical exams as other trainees.

Elkins enjoys the independence of living on campus, but finds that some people mistake his physical disability for a mental disability.

“I don’t know if it’s the speech impediment or the walk, but people see me, or people like me, and think that we have a mental disability,” Elkins said. “We’re just normal people.”