We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cindy Bickman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Cindy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I have been involved in Special Olympics for over 30 years – most importantly coaching, but also nationally & internationally running events and developing rules for competition. Over the years, we have created a family of coaches, judges, and gymnasts from all over the world. We meet at Special Olympics World Games every 4 years, attend competitions in between, and correspond regularly. When the pandemic started, all travel and events were cancelled. Paula Lord started the Champions Project, a Saturday Zoom class for Special Olympics gymnasts, coaches, and judges.around the world. The class has been a huge success! We have had participants from the United States and 12 international countries, from Russia to Greece to Mexico to Latin America. Our guest teachers include Olympic gymnastics champions from several countries, renowned dance teachers, Special Olympics athletes, and outstanding coaches. In addition to our weekly class, we have offered 8 week Fitness Challenges for participants and their families, complete with certificates and prizes. The Champions entered several online rhythmic gymnastics competitions during the pandemic. Most of the competitions had never included Special Olympics gymnasts, but were happy to let the Champions participate. In the Sanix competition in Japan, we entered nine teams of 4 gymnasts, with several of the teams including gymnasts from different countries. One of the added benefits of the Champions class has been that the gymnasts have learned different languages! Our instructors have taught the classes in English and in Spanish, but we have found that gymnastics is a universal language. For the past two years, I have looked forward to seeing the Champions every Saturday, watching their progress, dancing with them, and cherishing the smiles! Our Special Olympics gymnastics family has grown and bonded during the pandemic because of the Champions Project!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have danced my whole life. I competed gymnastics in high school and at Virginia Tech and majored in ballet at Birmingham Southern College. In 1976, my parents and I opened Chattooga School of Gymnastics and Dance in Marietta. I have coached both artistic and rhythmic gymnastics to the elite level and have taken my team on numerous performance tours nationally and internationally. In the early 1980s, I was introduced to Special Olympics and began the most amazing journey imaginable. I don’t see gymnasts with and without disabilities differently. They are all athletes training in sports. INCLUSION is the driving force at Chattooga! We have been fortunate to represent the United States at 6 World Gymnaestradas and 3 Gym for Life World Challenges. The team has gymnasts ages 8 to 80, with and without disabilities, competitive and recreational gymnasts with their families. At several events, we have had 3 generations in the same family performing together! The premier show at the World Gymnaestrada is the FIG (Federation of International Gymnastics) Gala, a show which features around 20 teams from the over 60 countries and 25,000 gymnasts who attend. Chattooga was chosen for the FIG Gala at the 2019 World Gymnaestrada in Austria and again for the 2023 Gymnaestrada in Amsterdam. This is the accomplishment I am most proud of, and it has been a TEAM effort! We are showing the world the abilities of people with disABILITIES and promoting INCLUSION!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
When a child is born with a disability, there are many doctors and therapists telling the parents all the things that child may never be able to do. Can you imagine being a parent and having your child turned away or excluded from a sport or activity? On the flip side, can you imagine what it feels like to have that child accepted and celebrated for who he/she is? I had a student named Shelley who was fairly low functioning and nonverbal. She joined the Cobb County Special Olympics Gymnastics Team and prepared for her first competition. He mom had so many questions about the hair bow she needed to get for Shelley. After several weeks, I began to be annoyed, until I realized she never thought her daughter would be on a team, go to a competition or have the chance to win a medal, and that as a mom, she would never have the opportunity to buy her daughter a hair bow to match her uniform, something most moms take for granted, That changed everything as I understood the magnitude of opening my gym to athletes with disabilities. Society should recognize the special gifts of these special people!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to include people with disabilities in as many events as possible. I took my Aesthetic Group, Team Galaxy, to Estonia, and entered them in a mainstream rhythmic gymnastics competition, the Miss Valentine Invitational. Our team was the only team of gymnasts with disabilities, so they were entered against the national teams of many eastern European countries. When we arrived, the meet director said, “I am so glad you brought your team, because in my country, children like these are usually hidden away.” During the weekend, we saw many people staring at the girls, not with animosity or ridicule, but with curiosity. They had probably never seen a person with Down Syndrome before. My mission and the mission of my gymnasts and their families is to show the world the possibilities and accomplishments of people with disABILITIES.