We congratulate Reagan Minchin (Class of 2018) on her results at the recent Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi.
As background, Reagan was in Year 12 at Merici last year, and played a key leadership role throughout high school in helping to start, and then captaining, the Merici-Marist Sailing Club culminating in representing the ACT at the National Teams Racing championships in the middle of last year. It was about this time that Reagan was approached by the Canberra Yacht Club to see if she would be interested in sailing as a Unified Partner to a disabled lady (Catherine Keir) in the lead up to the Special Olympics World Summer Games, which just finished in Abu Dhabi last week.
Reagan agreed to partner with Catherine and an intensive training program kicked off for the last 6 months of last year, while she was completing Year 12 in preparation for the Olympics. Reagan and Catherine sail as a unified team with Reagan (as the unified partner) on the helm and controlling the mainsail, while Catherine (the disabled athlete) is in charge of the jib. Reagan showed empathy, compassion, encouragement and patience in spades to develop their ability and skills over this time.
When the games approached, Reagan was asked to be a chaperone for a group of disabled athletes attending the games and took on the challenge of not only competing, but organising team medicine, passports etc for the trip, a truly huge responsibility for someone who has just turned 18 and recently finished school.
Catherine and Reagan arrived in Abu Dhabi and the sailing began. They sailed very well in the divisioning races, and in very challenging conditions over the week of racing in Abu Dhabi, and ultimately came away with an Olympic Silver Medal! The result is a testament to the hard work they put in to training and working as a team over the last 9 months.
Perhaps the proudest moments as parents were watching the many ups and downs the team had over this period, and the way Reagan calmly and respectfully provided support and guidance to many of the disabled athletes leading to them achieving great outcomes for the team, there is no better demonstration of the principles of commitment and community service that Merici encourages, than the development and success of Reagan and her partner Catherine representing Australia in sailing at the Special Olympics.
Stuart and Justine Minchin
