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Community Impact

50 Game Changers Behind The Scenes: Arpita Mohapatra

When an athlete’s passion and drive leads them beyond the field of play and into a life of service and mentorship they can become a catalyst for change and an ambassador of inclusion in their community. Such is the case for Special Olympics Bharat’s Arpita Mohapatra. While filming the latest installment of the “50 Game Changers” series our production crew was able to capture some behind the scenes images of Odisha, Bharat, the community that Arpita calls home.

Arpita in a swimming cap and long sleeve swimming suite is in the water and four young athletes are lined up to follow her in; she is turned around looking at them and giving the young athletes instructions.
Two young girls are looking at at the photographer. The young girl in the background is wearing a colorful yellow, red, white, and gold top and the young girl in the foreground is wearing a colorful blue top.
A man standing in a field holding a walking stick with grass up to his waist. Two cows in the foreground are grazing. The background is all grass fields and farmland.
The camera crew consisting of 5 people, 4 male and one female, pose with a local person in a pedestrian area. The local woman is wearing a small decorative head dress, beads, and an ornate and colorful (yellow and red) outfit.
and older man is holding an umbrella to cover himself and a young boy from the rain.
An older man in a dhoti with one hand on top of another looking at the camera standing on a small lading of rocks between a brick wall and open grass, dirt, and shrubbery laden field. In the background are small two level homes.
A young child looking at the cameraman and smiling. He is holing a stick above his head and he is wearing a white and red pinstriped button up shirt.
A young woman smiling and looking at the camera; she is wearing a green, black, yellow, and green sari; she is holding a young girl that is wearing a light blue and gold floral dress.
A photographer and a man smile and pose for a photo. They are standing in front of a small lake or stream with lush green shrubbery on the banks.
a small drone is flying in the foreground. There is a small building with an opening and a man is looking at the photographer; rain is falling in the background.
The camera crew and local men are outside in front of trees and brush standing for a group photo; there are six men total. A man on either side are holding drones.
A person in a small yellow utility vehicle is holing a video camera out of an open windows and videoing the scenes as they drive down a two rural road.
The videographer (holding his camera) is standing behind a seated man in a blue shirt holing a coconut. Both are in a small hut enclosure.
A director and videographer are looking off to the side filming a daytime scene.
The videographer is focusing his camera on a local woman giving an interview. She is out of focus.
A man is sitting on a stool next to a stack of coconuts on a sidewalk. A cart and motorcycle sit in the street.
Arpita Mohapatra sitting in an interview by the film team. She is outside sitting on a chair, she has her hair pulled back and is wearing a blue polo. Text on the screen reads: Arpita Mohapatra, Special Olympics Bharat Coach. "Rain is the way of life in India."

Arpita Mohapatra

To combat the deadly floods that ravage Odisha, India every year, Arpita Mohapatra trains children with and without intellectual disabilities in open water swimming, an important and often life-saving skill.
Watch Arpita Mohapatra video
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