S3E20: Bringing the Hockey Community Together for Dyslexia Awareness

Discover the unexpected impact of a charity sports event that created a life-changing experience for dyslexic individuals. From heartwarming stories to surprising revelations, this event went beyond just a game. Stay tuned to find out how this unique event brought joy, awareness, and a sense of belonging to an entire community.

The key moments in this episode are:

00:00:02 - Introduction and Event Recap 

00:01:30 - Importance of Trades and Dyslexia 

00:04:41 - Impact on Families and Community 

00:08:35 - Relatability and Understanding 

00:11:39 - Challenges in Education and Advocacy 

00:12:22 - Understanding Dyslexia 

00:13:07 - Embracing Struggles and Strengths 

00:16:40 - Importance of Details 

00:17:55 - Sponsorship and Event Organization 

00:23:42 - Future Events and Community Engagement

Transcript:

00:00:02
Welcome to Word Blindness, Dyslexia exposed. I am Juliet Hahn, here with my co host, Brent Sopel. How are you doing?

00:00:12
I'm alive. Okay, so we're going to preface. Preface. That's the correct word. Right.

00:00:20
This is. I just got back from Chicago. You just put on an epic. The SOPO foundation just put on like an incredible, incredible special event. And so we want to thank the sponsors.

00:00:34
There's a bunch of stuff that we want to do on this, but then we want to kind of break it down because of the feedback. I mean, it doesn't surprise me. Every event that you've put on is like, I leave buzzing, like skipping, like, oh, my God, this is amazing. But just take us through a little bit, the background of what this weekend was and how it unfolded. Yeah, you know, we.

00:00:57
It's called, you know, hockey with the Stars. Obviously, the first annual. I had Garwood securities, which is, you know, a big swatch of the foundation, pitch this idea to me of, you know, creating some hockey teams and bringing, you know, bringing pros in and, you know, adding two or three pros to. To the game and everybody understand, you know, they've seen the police fire, you know, they play hockey games. And so we tried to mimic that with union workers, you know, talk about working with our hands.

00:01:30
So, you know, in unions, you know, we probably got. I in my mind, probably 30 to 40% of them are dyslexic. Right. Probably the highest, you know, field of dyslexics out of, you know, you know, anything. So.

00:01:42
Because we always talk about trades, right. You know, so it was 60 work new workers, from sprinkler fitters to pipe plumbers to electricians to carpenters. So the idea was to try and get each union to put a team together. Ended up being too short of notice. Next year, we're going to try and play maybe eight or 10 teams and each union will have their own team, and you'll play for tournaments, add two or three pro to each one, and then have a championship belt.

00:02:18
I was. That was the goal to something that we could grow something different than anybody else. You know, I always like to do things different than everybody else, but it was. There's nothing no more. Community has more impacted, you know, with the five Ds than trades.

00:02:36
It was. And so I'm just gonna to set up a little bit. I mean, I'm gonna do what you don't love. But the details that you put together for these to make everyone feel so special is. Is remarkable.

00:02:51
I mean, it is. It Never ceases to me. Amaze me that, like, you are so detail oriented, even though you would probably not say that about yourself. The little things and how special you made everyone feel from the sponsors, which, you know, I. You guys go follow SOPL foundation on Instagram, or, you know, you follow Brent's found, which is brent.sopal, and you can kind of see some of the stuff.

00:03:16
We're doing, stories, we'll be doing posts on this. But everyone felt special, down to the players. I mean, they had their own jerseys. I had my own jersey, by the way, hot number 37 back from. I found all my field hockey pictures.

00:03:28
That was my number in high school that you hung on in the lockers with a special bag. You had the tape, you had all like, you know, waters and Gatorades. I mean, down to the last detail. These guys came in with their bags and, you know, where do we go? Oh, here's, here's the list.

00:03:44
Where. What team are you on? Go to your, you know, your locker. And they're like, oh, we're doing. Everything's in there.

00:03:48
Don't worry about it. They were like, this is so cool. To the families that were there, you know, there was a period of time where I was working the. The merchandise table and just the feedback from the people, you know, we. We want to support.

00:04:02
But this merchandise is so incredible, down to the details of the softness of the. The fabric. I mean, it's. It's like the best. And the feeling, the food trucks, the bouncy houses, little kids were sleeping and they were there until after 10 o' clock.

00:04:18
Like, it was just. Every single person was smiling, was happy and was excited to be there and learned a little bit more about dyslexia, because some of these people didn't realize what dyslexia was, right? They came for the, you know, the, the day, because it was a whole day. You know, come watch hockey, get some signature, you know, sign autographs.

00:04:41
It just was incredible. To the national anthem. Singing say his name, because I'm going to say it wrong. And Chicago people, Jim Cornelius. So he does all the Blackhawk games, Bears games, Indy 500.

00:04:54
So he's world renowned, so we were able to get him to come sing the national anthem, which. Today's Elizabeth's mom's birthday. And, you know, she was more excited about having him and seeing him. And, um, so that was pretty cool. It was.

00:05:08
It was so cool. And then you just. The guys were so fricking happy. I mean, there was. I think it was one of the the teams with the Plumbers, there was an.

00:05:16
I mean, I want to say he was 75. Yeah. There was a couple. I remember, you know, Jim Coyne, who. A big shout out to, you know, the head of the Plumbers, who's a big sponsor this.

00:05:26
And he was saying, I think it's the two. Two brothers or, you know, like in the late, you know, 60s or 70s that were out playing. It was. But that's my goal, is everybody who comes to my events feel special.

00:05:43
That is my number one goal at all times. Because if you can do that and then you're ahead of most people and most organizations. And to me, those details are what make people feel special. And, you know, that that's, you know, the softness of the merchandise, that's important. Yo.

00:06:04
You know, talk about a lot and focus on a lot is, you know, when the. For you guys, for women, like, women's cuts, right? You know, everybody just goes, yeah, yeah. You know, like, that's important to us because that's. That, you know, that's a detail nobody else is.

00:06:18
No focus on. It makes people, you know, feel special in events. You know, somebody, you know, they just put a $10 T shirt and who's going to wear it? Now we're trying to. We want people to.

00:06:28
To wear and, you know, be proud of it and, you know, so those women's cuts took me a little while to figure out what the tags were. And. But, you know, that. That is important for us. We're.

00:06:39
We're always going to have those two things because, you know, you guys are different than us, and that's what we are. We're all different, but we're. We're. You know, we are all important. Mm.

00:06:49
And I mean, just some of the feedback from, first of all, on social media, people tagging and sharing, you know, just excited to have their kids come watch their, you know, some of these guys that maybe are in men's league, maybe or not. There was one guy that hasn't played In, I think, 12 years, and I was like, oh. Or like, it's. I think it's like riding a bike, right? Like.

00:07:06
And he's like, yeah, but I'm going to be so sore. I mean, I had a lot of people ice in their bodies when I talked to him yesterday. You know, that's what. There's. There's.

00:07:17
There's guys that you'll play here and there. There's some guys that haven't played in years, but that's what it was about. It was to. To get everybody Together, have fun, feel special, you know, have some pros out there. You know, you really feel.

00:07:32
You know, guys always think they're good to get on the ice with some of us, and, you know, it's. It's a changer, but it's, you know, the championship belt, but it's to grow something, like, do something a little bit different than, you know, than when you see normally. And, you know, I always like to do things different, but that's what's so special. I mean, that's. That is.

00:07:53
And then some of the emails. I mean, you shared an email yesterday, and we'll just touch on it, but keep it anonymous. Do you. Do you want to. Yeah, you know, it's.

00:08:06
I mean, I was in tears. I was. Because that's what it's all about. Yeah. You know, it's.

00:08:12
It's a tangible That I always talk about, you know, people, corporations, they want to see statistics or things like that. You know what I always say? Relatability and understanding. Yeah, and understanding. And, you know, I'll kind of read it.

00:08:35
You know, a few lines, obviously, so. Last night, my husband played in the Hockey with the Stars tournament. My daughter was also a hockey player, and she watched her dad play a game she loves with people she considers heroes for a cause that she still doesn't understand but touches her directly. It was like tension inside of her released. She said, I'm getting a shirt because I will be so cool to show up to my evaluation wearing it.

00:09:07
It was the first time I've seen any positivity from her surrounding dyslexia or processing disorder. I'm sure you don't get these emails. She said, I'm sure you get these emails all the time. I'm still crying again. Well, and, you know, just working the table a couple of times, you know, and having to do the calculations.

00:09:29
When Rick was by and I saw you swipe, I was like, oh, my God. But there was a couple kids that, you know, as their parents were doing. I was like, you got to give me a second. I was like, you know, dyscalcula and. And I was like, I'm not really good at math.

00:09:43
We all have our strengths. We all have our weaknesses. And there was a couple kids that went, wait, it's hard for you, too. And I said, oh, yeah. I said, it is really hard.

00:09:52
I said, I also. I have dyslexia, too. And they were like, I mean, just literally, you know, as a kid, just staring with their mouth open, like, oh, I have it, too. And their parent, like, Looked at them like, okay. They never say it out loud, right?

00:10:08
They never say it, but it was okay. And that's what the foundation's about. It's okay that we learn different. It's not a. You know, the stamp.

00:10:17
It's not this. It's. It is. It is okay. And I, you know, we.

00:10:21
Of course, you know, everyone knows that. I make plain friends. I knew that was your next words. Oh, Jesus. I met this gentleman.

00:10:31
We were. We were delayed seven hours leaving. But I was. I know. But I have to say, I can't complain because I was in the American lounge, and that's why I like to fly American at a LaGuardia and kind of just had snacks and sat and did work.

00:10:44
So it was. I can't complain about it. But the guy next to me when we sat on the airplane, you know, he was like, I've been here since 8, and, you know, he wasn't as. As happy, and he was definitely not in the lounge, so he was a little bit more grumpy. And as I said, I don't start the conversations, even though I know no one.

00:11:01
Even Hahn's like, there's no way. And I'm like, I swear I back down on this one. No, I will. I will bet my life on it. I really don't.

00:11:08
I am very aware of when to talk and when not to talk. I shut up. I am. And I never. It might be like, hi.

00:11:16
Like, when they sit down or whatever. It might be an acknowledgment, but it's usually them starting the conversation. And he shared with me. I know. Just keep making the faces.

00:11:26
If you're watching YouTube, you can see his faces. I want to. I'm going to. Next time, film when I'm just sitting there so you can see. I'm gonna go live.

00:11:35
I'm gonna go live.

00:11:39
So he had a son, or he has a son that's older but like 35, and went to. I'm gonna not share the school, but went to a school in New York because he had a processing thing. This was years before they put a label, you know, big school. You know, big name school in. In New York and the.

00:11:58
And I didn't share this with you because I was like, this will rally you up. He said, you know that they don't take everyone. They only take kids that they know they can teach. And I said, yeah, I'm very aware of that. He's like.

00:12:08
He's like. But he wasn't. He's not dyslexic, and Then he shared a couple, he's like, he couldn't decode. And I was like, I think it's dyslexic, but we'll just leave it at that. So he said to me, it was really, it's really remarkable.

00:12:22
Now I, this is before I shared that I had dyslexia, but I was saying I was going, you know, I was going to Chicago for this event. And he said it was remarkable to me, you know, going into the classrooms, everyone was like normal. They were like normal people. They just, you know, they might like learn different or not do well in school, but they're really normal. And, and we had already been talking probably for like 15 minutes.

00:12:43
And I said, yes, I said, it's, you know, it's how we learn. And then I said, I don't know if anybody called me normal. So this is square, right? Right, that's just that word. But I said, I am very, I had, I said four of the five Ds.

00:12:57
I said I'm, you know, I really struggle. And he was like, wait, what? He goes, but you could speak so well. And then he went, I'm, you know, I'm really sorry that I'm. Because he was an investment banker.

00:13:07
He goes, I'm really sorry. He's like, I'm just so thrown off. He goes, wait, can you tell me more? And then we really got into like talking and he's like, so you're the chief communications officer for a biotech company, but you have. And I said yes, but I'm really good at my job because of all the struggles, because of also all my strengths, because of my struggles.

00:13:25
But there's things that are still really hard. When I get like a 15 page email, like I could breathe right now, like that's really, really hard for me. It takes me a really long time. But there's understanding in my organization. There's understand.

00:13:37
And that's what it is. And that's what the Sople foundation is doing. It's, it's about giving the resources which we are, you know, continuing to roll out and, but it's to create the awareness to show everyone you're not alone. And it's about the self esteem. Yeah.

00:13:54
And you're seen and heard. We see you, we know what you go through every day. We understand and it's hard, but we, we understand. You know, self esteem is probably the hardest thing in the world to have and keep. You know, then times that by 10 for us.

00:14:14
So if we can start with that and we can get that to a place and, you know, I think Saturday, you know, proved it with, you know, some of the kids, way they walked in into it and like they are there with their people and they weren't alone. You know, didn't matter where you came from and what neighborhood or which country or el we go. It was, you know, obviously it was stressful.

00:14:57
I mean, but you do. You go so above and beyond for those details that, yes, it's going to be stressful because you. It's so important for you to make sure everyone feels the love that you put the pressure on yourself. You know, it's. Obviously we're trying to grow something in a different way than anybody else, right?

00:15:16
Just as he said right now, near your little plane friend, you guys, you know, you know, everybody look normal. Like, they don't. It's what's inside of us, right? And some of us hide it. And it hasn't been, you know, dyslexia, obviously been around 100 years.

00:15:34
We haven't done it right. So we're trying to do something that's never been done before in a way, it's never been done. So, you know, details matter. Love, the love that was in that, you know, the building start to finish and the people that stayed. And like you said, there's how many babies are sleeping, you know, at the end of the night.

00:15:55
But, you know, people there for. Were there for the long haul. And we didn't know how many people would be there and how many would stay, how it go. And there's always. The stands are always full.

00:16:07
Packed. Yeah, yeah, packed. The food trucks didn't ran out of food because they didn't expect that many people. The tacos were so good. I stood in line for 25 minutes because I was like, I need to.

00:16:19
The tacos. The food trucks were incredible, you know, bouncy houses. The kids had a great time, and I'm sure they all slept well you know, Saturday night and. But it's. Those are the details, you know, that are important to me because those are the ones that were missed in my life, right?

00:16:40
Those were. Those are the ones that you little, you know, you build blocks one at a time, right? Everybody goes, you know, 1, 2, you know, you grow up quicker than, you know, 1 to 10, right? Everybody wants that big home run, that big investment, that big what, you know, maybe happens, you know, I want to win the lottery. How many people are winning lottery?

00:17:03
But if I'm winning, you know, a thousand bucks, you know, every time you're getting ahead, it's small Victories add up quicker than looking for that big one.

00:17:13
And that's why those details obviously are important, you know, to us. You know, that merchandise, you know, Eric hates me, you know, I show up there, I'm in his face, you know, because. Because it is important that somebody puts it on and says, oh, it's so soft, right? They're going to wear it again, you know, it's not going to get thrown at the bottom of the closet. Right.

00:17:34
So the foundation spending that money to have that have them obviously enjoy wearing it. But that, that puts the foundation out there, you know, instead of spending that money and putting it to bottom closet and, you know, that's waste of money. Why do that, you know, so it's. It's taken a little bit of a different approach. But the first one's not success.

00:17:55
We can have number two and number two is coming. So it is, it is going to be here. So can you take us through a little bit? There was four teams and take us through the sponsors of the four teams and a little background on them. Yeah, obviously the plumbers union was a head sponsor with the St.

00:18:13
Patrick's Day parade here in Chicago. Then the four teams, we had team sponsors, you know, Norman Construction, Garawood, Swallow, Ma' Am Construction. Those are the four teams. So it wasn't team one. Team two is, you know, Garwood and Swallow.

00:18:33
So on their jersey got, you know, got their name and that was, you know, that was their team with their logo on merchandise and each jersey had a different color. They had socks and their names on the jersey and feel like a pro for the, you know, take that jersey home. And I was, you know, they were able to. It was their team but obviously it was union workers that were able to play. And we met some food truck sponsors and Keith and Annie and Jax and the Carpenters Union sprinkler fitters.

00:19:12
So shoot the puck. So it was, it was great to have somebody sponsored behind you can't do anything without, you know, without them. But obviously there's some union heads or some other guys that are part of. Was just. It was a pretty cool event.

00:19:30
A lot goes into to these events. You know, people think it's easy.

00:19:37
We end up having to order probably about 95 jerseys and you had to keep them all organized and make sure the names and the colors of the teams and the guys that stay on the teams. I mean there's a few trade and I had some jerseys showing up that you know, one day too late. So I got to deal with that today. But there Was not many of those. Like, it was like, what, three?

00:19:58
Yeah. Out of all the people. Yeah. So it was. It could have been a lot worse.

00:20:03
I was panicking about jerseys, because if they didn't show up. Yeah. And that. That has to be, like. If you think about it, the stress of that, like, just makes me like.

00:20:14
Yeah. I mean, that's why. But you handle it so freaking well. I mean, you. I don't know if Elizabeth would say that.

00:20:21
Right. I know right behind the scenes, like, you might be grumpy, you might be doing this and that, but. But understandable. I mean, it's. You're doing.

00:20:29
You're doing the majority of this yourself.

00:20:34
It's, you know, you try and build something. You know, I've always said you got to walk before you run, right? You. You're trying to do something different, something that's never been done before.

00:20:48
If you miss parts, if people are upset, if they don't feel special, they're not coming back because the embarrassment that is wrapped around, you know, for us, there's nothing else that has more embarrassment. You know, your little plane friend said, you guys all look, you know, normal, right? You seem normal. You all seem normal, right? Obviously, you talk about the visual purposes, yo, you can see, you know, somebody in a wheelchair or somebody, you know, with crutches or, you know, something.

00:21:18
Somebody with one leg. You can see that, right? You can visually see that. You can visually put yourself into. Into their shoes, right?

00:21:25
You can for us. And that's invisible. That's the invisible, you know, torture. We get told you're not. You're smart, right?

00:21:35
You're stupid. You're late, right? And we're trying so hard, and there's no understanding, no relatability. And that event was all about relatability. It's something that I talk about all the time and speaks for that email, right?

00:21:46
Didn't even know, girl. I know. She just knew, right? And everybody always like, hey, how'd you. You know, I talked dyslexic to another dyslexic.

00:21:55
It's. It's that relatability. And right there is the number one reason why, you know, education system is the way it is, right? It's special ed. You got people that don't have this telling us what to do.

00:22:08
And there's the number one. I can sit in a room, I can change education system. I can have conversations with all these kids and keep kids in school because of relatability. It's the people that don't have the relatability are Sitting there telling us what to do. And that's why this is so important, to build it, you know, the right way to belt.

00:22:26
Take down. Take down those people.

00:22:30
And we're going to talk more about that on another episode because I want to leave this for the. The events. Let's talk really quickly. People can go to the website now under events. You can sign up and send and share and do whatever for the golf event, which is September 15th, 16th.

00:22:50
What is it? Yeah, so there'll be, there'll be photos. Yeah. I think over 7,000 photos were taken by. Oh, yeah.

00:22:56
Last night. Yeah. Drones, videographer. So all that stuff will be put together when we'll be putting, you know, things up there, reels or once, once we get all the, all the images together so you can follow along and see. Right.

00:23:12
You know, with, you know, all you guys photos. Elizabeth's like, you know, we have thousands. So we'll get through that. And then. Yeah.

00:23:19
Next is September 15th is the golf event. And you know, I already had text messages, you know, Friday or before that. So now I gotta go back and you know, start planning. Right.

00:23:33
I had one last night planning that event and, and moving. I was. Yeah. And moving. And then October, the cup dinner and yeah.

00:23:42
You know, packing and moving and life is busy. Yeah. It's better than being bored. My body's never hurt. Hurt this much in my life.

00:23:53
I mean, you were running around like lifting and. Yeah. Um, so keep kind of following. You guys can see. But if you are want to be a part of any of this, the golf event is the one that's coming up.

00:24:04
We have sponsors. There's tons of whole sponsors. There's a lot of really fun things. We'll talk more about that on another episode. But you can go to thesopalfoundation.org and get all that information.

00:24:16
Thank you again for joining Word Blindness, Dyslexia exposed. You guys know what I say every single time? Like rate, review and share. You don't know who's local in the community who this event would have impacted. Like that email says everything, the happy and smiles of every single person, every single person that was at that event is something you want to be a part of.

00:24:35
So, like rate, review and share and we'll see you for another episode of Word Blindness, Dyslexia Exposed.