Speaker offers youth the gift of her experience
Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services
NNSL (May 28/99) - Lilo Ljubisic is bearing her soul to inspire Yellowknife's youth.
The Vancouver-based athlete and motivational speaker made the trip to Yellowknife this week to attend the Youth Leadership Awards Banquet and address student audiences around the city.
Ljubisic talked of obstacles at Tuesday's banquet, of hardship, motivation, determination and success.
"What leaders do is turn any challenge, any difficulty, into a victory, a success," she said.
And while at first glance one may wonder what particular challenges a statuesque blonde, university graduate and world-record holder in shotput and discuss has faced -- it's the fact that she's done all this, and more, without sight.
Ljubisic explained that when she had chicken pox as a baby, she was misdiagnosed and given a drug that led to her deteriorating eyesight and eventual blindness.
She let her life hang out in grim detail Tuesday -- the pain, the fears and the teasing -- to the point where it was almost uncomfortable to hear. But Ljubisic's theme of overcoming challenges recurred throughout her speech, and she spoke of making the honour roll in academics, of rock climbing and of kind teachers who helped her embrace the world of sport.
"You've never seen teachers grow grey hair overnight as when they let a visually impaired person go downhill skiing," she joked.
Ljubisic's world records are from the Paralympic Games, held every four years in conjunction with the Olympics. Her appearance in Sydney, Australia, next year will be her fifth Games.
But Ljubisic's message for Yellowknife's youth is far more universal than sport, and she encouraged her audience to set goals for living their lives and to plan strategies for reaching yet.
"No one in the world is born a winner or a loser," she said. "Everyone in this world is born a chooser."
Ljubisic's message is clearly one the city is eager to hear. Throughout the week, she's received support from the Yellowknife Inn, the fire department and had spoken at a total of eight schools.
