Swim Team

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I'm not like other teenagers.

I'm autistic.

When I'm swimming,

I feel normal.

It feels amazing

from when I swim.

If you want gold medals,

you have to work hard

and train hard.

Well, that's my dream.

So I want to become faster

than Michael Phelps,

and I want to be the second one

that people will crowd

and want to cheer me.

It made me feel tough to do

that freestyle breaststroke.

The correct way is,

like, 100 percent.

The front stroke may be

a little bit tough,

but the breaststroke

maybe really hard.

That's going to make me feel

tired if I do any competing,

what makes me tired

when I'm doing competing

at the swim meet.

All right, boys. Listen up.

We want to make Mike...

We want him proud.

So, you have to give...

Do it fast as you can.

Mike, he's doing back,

and him doing a breast.

For me, I'll do fly,

and the last is freestyle.

So, guys, give it

the best as you got.

-Okay.

-All right.

-Who's with me?

-All right.

-Hammerheads!

-Hammerheads!

Inside a bomb is a type of...

It has diamonds.

I should not say that in

public.

SWIM TEAM:

Right? We're going to swim

until we win. Right?

-Yup.

-You know it.

-Yup.

-Right? We're going for gold?

Check it out, Robert.

-They're amateur.

-We are what?

What are we called?

-The Jersey Hammer shark heads.

-The Hammerheads.

Hammerheads is a word...

Hammershead.

-Hammerhead.

-It's a shark.

We are the sharks. You know it.

Also, here comes the jersey.

And I love

your leather jacket.

You earned it. Right, buddy?

A hundred dollars.

But I'm saying

you earned your jacket.

Look at that.

That is awesome, Robert.

-It's beautiful.

-Isn't that beautiful?

-Yes.

-That is awesome.

Our team, they're all autistic.

They all have some type

of autism spectrum disorder,

which is not very common

for a swim team.

I'm going to introduce you

to my husband,

who's the head coach.

-Okay.

-Okay?

Mike, this is Marisol.

Hi.

Hey. How are you doing,

Marisol?

-Mike, this is Jay.

-Jay, how are you?

You going to swim

with us this year?

-Yes.

-Yes?

One time or other, all of our

kids have been ostracized,

and for them to be a part

of the team is unbelievable.

Let's spread out just

a little bit, just a little bit,

just a little bit,

just a little bit,

just a little bit,

just a little bit, little bit.

Everybody, touch the sky.

Touch the sky,

high as you can go.

Hold it. Hold it.

Hold it. Hold it.

Hold it!

Okay. Good guys.

Welcome. Thank you guys

for coming today.

So we are now called

the Jersey Hammerheads.

Right?

So we're sharks now.

-It's easy.

-Yeah, son.

And there's a float.

And there's a float.

You're going to swim

if it kills me.

-Yeah. Don't you worry.

-Listen to me. Listen to me.

Our kids, they love the water.

God forbid they happen

to go to the water,

and they jump in the pool

if they didn't know how to swim.

They couldn't help themselves.

They'd drown.

Give me your hand.

Do not touch those ropes.

Are you ready?

I'm going to give you a push.

Ready?

-One, two, three. Push.

-Go. You better swim.

You better swim!

I can't save you!

You better swim!

Arms over the top, over the top!

What are you saying?

As a mom

with an autistic child,

we always knew, because we had

a pool, that Michael had

to learn to swim, had to.

Mikey, now good kick. You got

to kick hard off the wall.

Ready? Swimmers on your mark.

Go!

The doctors told us

that Michael would never talk.

He would never be able

to change his own pants,

that he would never be

self-sufficient,

and I think it just took

trail and error for me

and my wife not giving up

so that he would do more.

We said, "We're not going

to give up on him.

He can do something. We just

have to spend time with him."

Look at me. Do the backstroke

going down at one arm.

One-arm catch-up,

one-arm catch-up.

Swimmers on your mark. Go!

His swimming has improved

tremendously. He loves it,

and we wanted the opportunity

for him to continue swimming.

This hand comes across

and over top, okay?

Go.

Push off the wall. Push!

So my husband and I

got our own Special Olympics

swim team.

No slap, no slap,

push.

Over the top,

face in the water!

Breathe! Breathe!

There you go! Swim!

Coaching a special-needs team

versus a regular swim team,

it's night and day.

Every kid in the pool

is different.

Getting with kids

that have never swam

or are afraid of the water,

they have sensory issues

as far as touch, sound.

You have to have patience.

Four-laps freestyle.

Not so fun.

I want you to try it

for me, okay?

-I'm still your friend.

-You're always my friend.

Try it for me, please?

No. I don't want to do it.

-Hey, listen.

-Hey, two laps.

Let's do 50 free

and 50 breaststroke.

You like the breast.

-No. No, I don't.

-Fifty-fifty?

Let's try it.

No.

What are you going

to do for me then?

I need you to swim.

I want to try one time

because I won't like that much.

Okay. Let's do two laps then.

-Yeah.

-Two laps.

Swimmers on your mark.

Hate that one.

You love the breaststroke.

Come on.

-I'm still...

-You ready?

You ready? Here we go.

Swimmers on your mark.

Go! Go!

Just have to work

with him a little bit.

He's good, though.

We have zero money. Okay?

So we're going to have to fund

raise, fund raise, fund raise.

All right? Everybody here

needs new swim gear.

We got to get that.

We want everybody

to get a bag like that.

Okay? You know, that's my goal.

I want everybody

to look uniform.

I want everybody to have

the same of everything.

There's three competitions

that we do.

The first is called the Area.

Then the Sectional is bigger,

and then you have the big daddy,

which is the summer games.

That's the entire state

of New Jersey.

You're giving kids

an opportunity.

I mean, I see the...

Michael wouldn't have had

the opportunity

if it wasn't for my wife and any

other people that got involved.

There would be no opportunity.

Underwater, I sound like a

fish, like, really fast and all.

And I come up like

a dolphin or a seal.

And I go fast like a whale.

See you!

Robert.

So I have a timeline up here.

So you can go over the millions,

and you can name four lines

with your ruler, in green,

and each represents

200,000 years.

Okay. So let's take

a look at 2.4.

Where would that be located

if we're looking

at a million years ago?

-It's right here.

-Well, here's your 2.

-Yeah.

-So we're going back

in time, so 2 million.

And each one is how much?

-Four.

-Well, 2, right?

-Well, yeah.

-So this is 2.2.

-Two-point... Yeah.

-Two, right?

-Yeah.

-Then 2-point...

-Three?

-No. Each one is 2.

-2.4?

-We have to fight every step

of the way to get the services

that we needed for Michael...

Speech therapy,

occupational therapy,

physical therapy,

a trained aide.

We had to hire an advocate.

Everything has a cost,

and it's a big cost,

but, you know,

we do what we have to do.

You know, we borrowed money.

You know, I even told

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