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Olympian speaks to students

Message to teens deals with making positive choices

HANNAH KITTLE The Marietta Times Mary Kate McElroy, 17, of Whipple, and Sarah Tilton, 17, of Lowell, meet two-time Olympian and Pro-Wrestler Chip Minton after his talk at Fort Frye High School on Tuesday.

BEVERLY–Positivity and encouragement echoed throughout the auditorium at Fort Frye High School on Tuesday as two-time Olympian and pro wrestler Chip Minton spoke to students about making positive choices and never giving up on their dreams.

“My message to the students today is to encourage them, motivate them and to believe in them — to dream big, make the right choices and have a vision for their life,” said Minton, 47, of Pensacola, Fla., who also spoke at Frontier High School on Tuesday. “To tell them that if a guy from Macon, Ga. can become a two-time Olympic bobsledder, they can do anything.”

At the assembly, Minton stressed how important it is for students to never give up on their dreams.

“I want young people — after everything I’ve been through — to understand how important their choices are and how important and valuable their lives are,” he said.

He addressed the students in the audience and told them to ignore the negative comments and to walk away from them, using them as motivation instead of discouragement.

“Some of the best motivational speakers I’ve ever heard were the people who told me I couldn’t do it and I kind of used that because I got more of that than I got encouragement,” he said. “It’s such a negative world out there and it’s easy to be negative; I just encourage kids to put the work in no matter what their dreams and goals are. They can be successful.”

Minton said after the Olympics and his wrestling career ended, he became depressed and became addicted to painkillers and alcohol.

“I ended up in an $18-a-night hotel room,” he explained. “After being there for three or four days, I just started waking up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning and started to break down and couldn’t figure out what was going on. I started thinking about suicide.”

He said his faith was a motivator in turning his life around.

“I thought about my mom because she once told me she had an unconditional love for me and I thought about my brother who asked Christ into his life when he was 17,” said Minton. “I thought about his life and the joy, freedom and purpose he had and I put those two together and made a decision and my life radically changed that night.”

From there, his dream changed to pursue a ministry career where he spoke at churches, youth events and schools to share his story and to encourage people to never give up.

Minton said he’s passionate about speaking to students and sharing with them his life story.

“It’s just my passion, my desire,” he said, noting that he doesn’t let it get to his head. “Number one thing is to stay humble in doing something like this — to stay humble and grateful; I feel grateful that God put me in a position to be able to do this.”

Minton said he hopes students feel encouraged after hearing his story, noting again that  negativity is persistent in the world and that so much negativity is being directed their way from all angles.

“There are many different avenues that are negative,” he said. “I think it’s important to have one avenue that is positive so I come in and speak to them and tell them that it’s possible and that I believe in them.”

Many of the students that attended said they felt inspired by Minton’s speech and felt that he had a lot of important ideas to share.

“He was very inspiring and it was a blessing to meet him and see someone that had a dream and acted on it and was able to be successful with it,” said Mary Kate McElroy, 17, of Whipple. “I thought it was cool that he was a genuine person and that he wasn’t too good to talk to us and to take time out of his day to come see us.”

Sarah Tilton, 17, of Lowell, said her favorite part in meeting him was learning about the hardships he faced and overcame.

“My favorite part of meeting him and learning all of his accomplishments and knowing that he had all of his accomplishments and still had a downside,” said Tilton. “And how no matter what, he used faith to build himself back up and he became the man he is today.”

Others felt that his talk is important, especially in today’s world.

“Just the way he put things, just hearing somebody else’s story can really give somebody the hope that you can do it,” observed Karmen Schob, 14, of Beverly. “His story can just really give somebody that hope.”

Layla Simmons, 14, of Lowell, said his story was especially encouraging being surrounded by many drug-ridden communities.

“The way that he said everything and he had these dreams, and after he achieved his dreams, he got addicted, but he still achieved his dreams,” she began. “And the way he still got himself out of being hooked on drugs was encouraging.”

Some students also felt that it was exciting to meet an Olympian and professional wrestler.

“He’s jacked, first of all — he’s pretty strong…I’m stronger, though,” said Wilson Sauls, 15, of Lowell, noting that he really liked it when Minton talked about the Olympics and body building. “I liked the part when he was talking about how he was a body builder and bobsledder and how he was talking about how to be positive when people tell you you’re going to fail.”

Bailey Nesselroad, 15, of Beverly, said the speaker was “big and intimidating,” but was also pretty cool to meet. Ultimately, he said that he was a really encouraging speaker and could help a lot of students who are in a bad place.

“If they’re in a tough time, he’s a really important guy and he did drugs and found a way to get out of it, maybe it will help them to find a way to get out of it,” said Nesselroad.

 

Chip Minton

¯ Age: 47.

¯ City: Pensacola, Fla.

¯ Family: His wife, Audra Minton, of Pensacola, Fla., and daughter Taylor Minton, 24, of Macon, Ga.

¯ Hobbies: Working out, walking with his wife and spending time with family.

¯ Accomplishments:

–CanAmerican Champion, 1992.

–World Cup Silver Medal Cortina, Italy, 1995.

–World Championships Bronze Medal St. Moritz, Switzerland, 1996.

–World Cup Gold Medal Winterburg, Germany, 1996 and 1997.

–World Cup Gold Medal Nagano, Japan, 1996 and 1997.

–Inducted into Macon, Ga., Sports Hall of Fame.

–Olympic bobsledder, 1994 and 1998.

–World Cup bobsledder, 1992-1993 and 1996-1997.

–Professional wrestler, 1994-1999.

Source: Chip Minton.

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