{"id":110940,"date":"2020-02-06T10:39:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T15:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=110940"},"modified":"2020-02-06T10:39:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T15:39:25","slug":"oneida-ymca-to-host-gold-medal-paralympic-swimmer-to-coach-kids-on-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=110940","title":{"rendered":"Oneida YMCA to host gold medal Paralympic swimmer to coach kids on character"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"218\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jessica-Long-Public-Event-218x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-110941\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jessica-Long-Public-Event-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jessica-Long-Public-Event-109x150.jpg 109w, https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jessica-Long-Public-Event-400x551.jpg 400w, https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jessica-Long-Public-Event.jpg 636w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 218px) 100vw, 218px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The Oneida Family YMCA is welcoming the second-most\ndecorated Paralympian in U.S. history, Jessica Long, as a special guest.&nbsp; As the Y is focusing on character\ndevelopment, Long will share her story about never allowing your obstacles in\nlife to weigh you down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jessica grew up in Baltimore, Md., but is originally from\nSiberia. When she was only 13 months old, she was adopted from a Russian\norphanage. Born with fibular hemimelia, she didn\u2019t have fibulas, ankles, heels\nand most of the other bones in her feet. At 18 months old, her legs were\namputated below the knees so she could be fitted for prosthetic legs and learn\nhow to walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Long has been involved in many sports including gymnastics,\nbasketball, cheerleading, ice skating, biking, running and rock climbing. She\nlearned how to swim in her grandparents\u2019 pool, where she would spend hours\npretending she was a mermaid. Jessica first joined a competitive swim team at\n10 years old.&nbsp; Her first international\ncompetition was the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games and, at 12 years old, she was\nthe youngest athlete on the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team in Athens. She is winner\nof 77th AAU James E. Sullivan Award, three-time (2007, 2012, 2013) recipient of\nthe ESPN Best Female Athlete with a Disability ESPY Award, was twice named to\nSports Illustrated\u2019s \u201cThe World\u2019s Best Female Athletes\u201d (2006, 2011) and was named\nDisabled Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Long will be sharing her story of success and hard work with\nthe Y\u2019s Vacation, Homeschool &amp; Swim Lesson participants and is also hosting\na private swim clinic for the Oneida Dolphins swim team later that afternoon to\ngive insight into strengthening skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are inviting the public to join us for this special guest\nspeaking event. Everyone is welcome to hear how Long turned her struggles into\nstrengths and how we all can overcome anything that comes our way.&nbsp; Join us in the Oneida Y Gymnasium from 10 to\n11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oneida Family YMCA is welcoming the second-most decorated Paralympian in U.S. history, Jessica Long, as a special guest.&nbsp; As the Y is focusing on character development, Long will share her story about never allowing your obstacles in life to weigh you down. Jessica grew up in Baltimore, Md., but is originally from Siberia. When [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/110941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}