Proud to support Olympic dream

I read once, but since have lost, a statement that went something like this: “I have taught a poet, a pastor, a president, a soldier … and an Olympic athlete.”

It is so true. One of the greatest pleasures of being a teacher is coming to know so many different and wonderful people and their stories, even before they know themselves sometimes. Teaching has allowed me to witness dreams come true. Take David Registe, for instance.

David Registe truly is Alaska grown; he was born in Anchorage, graduated as an accomplished athlete from Colony High in 2006 and from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. When I first met David, he was a shy, quiet and skinny student in the front row of my eighth-grade Language Arts class at Colony Middle School. With the firm guidance of parents Martin and Dornis Registe, hard-working emigrants from Dominica, he was diligent enough about his studies, but it was clear to me that he loved basketball more than learning the secrets to writing the perfect essay.

That was alright, because man, oh man, could that boy jump. I used to go to Colony High basketball games well before my own kids started playing, not so much to see the games, but to see David fly on the court. When he would leap into the air to grab a fast-break ball, it was like watching a slow motion movie. David was obviously more about speed and bounce than basketball, even if he didn’t appreciate it at the time. Wisely, Colony High coach Randy Magner took David aside his junior year and convinced him to go out for track and field.

Good call, coach. David went on to be a state champion long-jumper in 2005 and 2006, then continued to win a scholarship to UAA, where he became a serious student and an even more serious athlete. As a teacher, I was proud of this former student pursuing his dream, even without it involving Shakespeare.

At UAA, David leaped well over any bar set for him. In 2007, his freshman year, he won the GNAC championship. In 2008, this Valley talent took the NCAA Division II National Championship in the long jump, UAA Athlete of the Year, GNAC Male Athlete of the Year and was named an All-American. Registe earned All-American a total of three times.

All that is left for David is to finalize his dream and jump in the 2012 Olympics. His story is a real Olympic story: born in small town Alaska in a family of hard-working immigrants, lived for basketball but chose track and field, went to college in Anchorage to be mentored by a coach from Mexico, and now contends for a shot at the Olympics. Not shabby for a boy who could have died at birth.

Besides his gift of air, I also remember learning about David’s incredible beginning. He was born in Anchorage with meconium aspiration syndrome and severe pulmonary hypertension. At 3 days old, he was flown to Portland where he spent the first five months of his life on oxygen and received a life-saving operation. No one ever expected David to be a normal, active child.

Between David’s extraordinary childhood and his coaches recognizing a God-given talent for track and field, there is more than enough to make an Olympic story. David’s narrative, however, just keeps on weaving, including a multi-national unity that life in Alaska underscores time and time again. UAA Track and Field Coach Echavarria is from Mexico and convinced David to use his dual citizenship to represent his parents country of Dominica in his bid for the 2012 Olympics. And so, in October, in the 2011 Pan Am Games held in Guadalajara, Mexico, he won a silver medal in the long jump for the Caribbean island of Dominica.

Now all that is left is to qualify for Olympics. David’s personal record in the long jump is 25 feet, 11.5 inches. He needs to jump 26-7 by mid-July in a series of meets in order to qualify. Of course, as many dreams and goals seem to require, these events are expensive.

It might seem strange for David to ask for support to compete for Dominica, but that shouldn’t be too difficult for Alaskans to understand. Most of us are from somewhere else and we can all understand how a person can have their feet planted in two places at the same time. David’s story is an exceptional Alaska testimony to family ties and dreams come true.

Part of the Alaska way of life is centered around taking care of our own. And now one of us has a chance to compete in the world’s oldest athletic tradition in a rare instance of blending the old country with the new. I taught him. You’ve seen him — on the court, in the grocery store, in the news, in the trophy case at Colony High. Let’s help him not only represent Dominica, but represent us.

Donations to David’s quest toward the Olympics can be mailed to David Registe at 10551 Spindrift Loop, Anchorage, AK 99515. Other information can be found on his website, flyregiste.com.

Emily Forstner teaches Language Arts at Wasilla Middle School