Emanuel is 25 years old and lives in Rio das Ostras, Brazil. Emanuel participated in the Nation Games in 2014 and qualified for the Los Angeles World Games in 2015. There she won the bronze medal with her Unified Women’s Football Team!
Emanuel noticed that there are only 86 Special Olympics Athletes in the Inclusion is Action Program. This inspired Emmanuel to facilitate a training in 4 cities in Brazil. This training will equip and prepare more athletes to spread the mission of Special Olympics!
Emanuel organized a one-day-long training course in all four cities. She will have trained Special Olympics athletes lead each of the 4 trainings. After the four training are completed, she expects 24 new Special Olympics Athletes to join the Inclusion is Action Program!
Emanuel’s training was extremely successful, exceeding her goal of 24 by training 85! Emmanuel successfully empowered Special Olympic Athlete leaders and showed them that they can pursue leadership opportunities outside of sport! She enjoyed the interactions she was able to have with the athletes, as well as learning about the importance of promoting autonomy!
Emanuel, through this project, improved her skills as a project facilitator. At first, she struggled to nail down dates, and it was especially hard trying to align the four cities that were involved. She overcame this challenge with added emphasis on organization and planning. Emanuel loved seeing Special Olympics Athletes being trained, and the commitment they displayed to their overall learning. In the future, to further promote the message of Inclusion, she plans to give Athlete leaders more opportunities to be in leadership positions and encourage and develop the formation of local groups!