This month’s spotlight is Monique from Wisconsin! Thanks to the help of a KBF Scholarship, Monique recently attended a track and field event that brought her passion for sports back to life and made it possible for her to reconnect with the athletic world she loved for over a decade. “Competing is bringing back trust in myself,” she says.

The event was a deeply meaningful experience for Monique, filling her with a renewed sense of community, pride, and self-confidence. “I felt like I belonged, felt like a Pro-Para Athlete myself! This turned on the jets more to go after a seat on the World Para Team next year and more!” she says. “The nerves did get the best of me when throwing there, but the experience was so beautiful! As my coach reminded me, ‘This is your first year, your first time throwing seated, you’ve only had four meets, not many practices. No matter what, not many people make it their first year the way you did. Despite all the obstacles you’ve faced this season, you made it here!’”

This renewed confidence feels even more powerful when she reflects on how far she’s come since the dark days after her injury. “I knew I had to do something, or I was going to continue to lose myself and I can’t afford that!” she recalls. “I wanted to try to get my armor for myself back by getting into powerlifting, shot put, discus, and javelin. I wanted to gain more strength to move around a lot better.” Now, Monique is off at track events, getting 2nd place at discus!

That spark, the same drive that carried her through years of sports, became her compass forward. “Once I felt a little better, I continued doing research trying to keep my mind busy and get back to being the social butterfly I have been all of my life,” she says. “It’s about adjusting a lot more now. I said to myself, last year all I did was cry, this year I have to do stuff while crying,” she jokes.

This year was the turning point for Monique, when she first joined the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association. Joining this program gave her not only an outlet, but a new community as well. “[Adaptive sports] helps me continue finding my new self but also being around some people who kind of get it and actually support me,” she explains. “I’m building my new family. I’m remembering how to laugh, smile, and semi dance again.”

Encouraged by this newfound community, Monique applied for a KBF scholarship to take her adaptive sports journey even further. The support made it possible for her to attend the track and field event, which strengthened not only her athletic skills but also her voice as an advocate. “[The event] has also helped me with getting better with communication about my disability and to further put me in position to be able to be an advocate for others like me or anyone feeling like they don’t or didn’t have anyone by their side!” Monique is proof that the road back from hardship can be paved with community, resilience, and rediscovery. Her armor is back on, and she is using it to throw farther, lift heavier, and most importantly, live fully.