Swim Team Page #8

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What can we do

to get him better,

I mean, better cope with

his disability and better,

I mean, to be

an independent person?

We just have to move forward.

-Bye-bye!

-Bye.

-Bye. Thank you, Mom!

-Bye. You're welcome.

We encourage the world

to view our children as we do:

strong, accomplished individuals

who have the potential

to change the world

one perception at a time.

Look at him signing

autographs over there!

My gosh.

Come on, big guy!

Come on, man! Come on!

Take your mark.

-Go, Michael!

-Go, go!

Go, Michael! Go, Michael!

He was never supposed to talk,

write his name, swim.

Here it is 11 years later,

and look what he's doing!

Go!

Go, go, go, go, go!

The whole thing is,

you can't give up on your child.

I mean, it's an old cliche.

Everybody says it,

but I've lived it.

I mean, I live it every day.

I always have visions of him

always staying with me.

But seeing him progress

and doing what he's doing,

now I'm second thinking this.

Second thoughts are like,

"Wait a second!

This kid has a future!"

He did it? He did it!

Gold medal Michael McQuay.

He is going to do

what he wants.

He can do it.

You know, in our house,

we never said "can't," never.

You know, you always

have to at least try.

Unbelievable. Now I can cry.

Now I can cry.

You did great.

All right.

Sit down here

because you're too tall.

I can't reach you anymore.

I like to work with animals

at a zoo

and see if they'll

hire me at a zoo.

I talked to zoo keepers and see

if I could do what they do.

All right, my handsome devil.

You're ready.

Let's go downstairs.

All right.

Go ahead.

V.

It's a lot of paperwork

to get a job, isn't it?

Did you finish

your application?

Yeah. I just finished it.

-May I see that, please?

-Okay.

Thanks.

So what do you know

about the zoo?

What I know about it?

I know...

Well, I've been coming here

ever since I was a little kid,

and, you know, seeing all

the animals are really amazing

and I'm very interested in them.

Do you have a group of animals

in particular

that you're interested in?

Well, I'm interested

in primates.

How did you get

interested in primates?

Well, it's just that primates

are like very

intelligent animals

because they're like us,

like human beings,

and some are related to them.

It's one of those groups

of animals that people

either really love

or really hate.

Well, people do love

primates, of course.

-We're all primates.

-Yeah.

The zoo is a 7-day-a-week

operation.

Are there any days that

you would be unable to work?

-Can you repeat that again?

-Are there any days

that you would not be able

to work during the summer?

Do you have obligations?

No, I don't have anything

in the summer.

Okay.

Robert is a captain in just

about every sense

that you would expect.

This year is definitely

the full bloom.

You know, this year,

he's come into a full bloom

as a leader, as a captain.

It's nice.

Hey, my mom's

going to get a picture.

He leads practices.

He encourages

the other swimmers.

He teaches some of

the younger swimmers.

He gives the team pep talks.

Here we've got a captain

who does what the rest

of the people

should aspire to do.

The first swimmer I'm going

to recognize is Robert Justino.

Robert is receiving

the coach's award.

It's one of the highest awards

that we have.

Robert Justino, to me,

is a real success story.

He has the story

of overcoming adversity

and doing really

what other people thought

that he couldn't do,

including on this team.

He's made such a huge impact

on this team.

You guys look to him

as a captain,

so this is for Robert Justino.

-Smile, Robert.

-Give me a hug.

I took, like, three.

All right.

There you go.

All right, guys. Come on.

I'm impressed.

I enjoy swimming, and it's

always fun to watch people

who can excel

in the things that they do.

Two bites. Come on. Two bites.

Come on. Come on, girl.

In terms of what we are

looking for here at the zoo,

we need somebody

who could do the zoo job,

and he was hired

for that purpose.

We thought that

he would be a good fit.

He's got a passion,

but he's got a calm demeanor.

That's what you want working

with not only the animals

but also with the people

that come here.

This is somebody

who loves animals

but also somebody who really

cared about what they were doing

and I thought

would do a good job.

This one right here is Gizmo.

That one over there with

the shorter ears is Ducky.

The black one right here

is a male. His name is Diablo.

That one right over

there is Loch Ness.

The floppy-ear one is Kirra.

White one is Lizzy.

No, no, not up there,

not up there.

There you go.

Yeah, don't feed them on that.

All right?

They know just down.

Down here.

They're fighting!

They're fighting!

I think "Swim Team,"

in a very general sense,

is about coping with challenge,

and trying to be positive

and not giving up

in the face of adversity.

I have a child with autism.

But whether I had

a child with autism or not,

I would feel compelled

to make this film.

Coach Mike and Maria were just

so inspiring to me as parents.

And Coach Mike

says at the beginning,

he was told that his child

would never talk

and that his child

would never be self-sufficient.

And parents

of children with autism

are often told

terrible, negative

pronouncements like that.

And it's so... it's so hard

to be positive

and encouraging as a parent

when "experts" are telling you

that your child

won't amount to anything.

And I just thought

it was so important,

what they were doing.

When everyone was saying "no,"

these people were saying "yes."

And I could tell

that saying "yes"

had an impact

on their family already

just by seeing

how well Mikey swam

that first day

that I met them at the YMCA.

I knew that there was some power

in saying "yes."

And I was inspired personally

and professionally.

And I knew that

if they could inspire me,

that their story

could inspire other people.

And I just... I knew I had to

help them share their story.

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