Sports 313: Beyond the Comfort Zone: Trust, Grit, and Adaptive Sports

1) Episode Summary In this episode of Navigating Life with Vision Loss, Kim Wardlow continues the sports series with Calli Roars and Terry Garrett for a conversation about adaptive recreation, guiding, trust, and what it takes to try new things safely. Calli brings the guide and recreation-provider perspective, while Terry shares his lived experience as a blind athlete who has participated in goalball, wrestling, martial arts, triathlon, CrossFit, climbing, cycling, swimming, and endurance sports. Together, they talk about how most sports can be adapted, but the level of support, safety planning, communication, and trust will vary depending on the activity. A major theme of the conversation is that trust is often the most important piece of adaptive equipment. Calli and Terry explain how that trust is built slowly through communication, practice, clear goals, and honest conversations when something is not working. They also discuss the difference between pushing past a comfort zone and ignoring safety, especially in activities like climbing, biking, and open-water swimming. The episode closes with encouragement for listeners to take the first step, try again if a first experience did not go well, advocate for themselves, and look for community through recreation, sports, and local adaptive opportunities. 2) Contact Info Guests: Calli Roars Terry Garrett Organizations mentioned: Adaptive Adventures Foresight Adventure Guides No Barriers Aftersight: Website: Aftersight.org Listener questions/comments: feedback@aftersight.org Phone: (720) 712-8856 Producer: Jonathan Price, Podcast and Program Producer at Aftersight 3) Show Credits Navigating Life with Vision Loss is brought to you by Aftersight. Host: Kim Wardlow Guests: Calli Roars and Terry Garrett Producer: Jonathan Price Aftersight: Bringing Print to Life  (00:11) - — Welcome to Navigating Life with Vision Loss (01:30) - — Introducing Calli Roars and Terry Garrett (01:48) - — Calli’s background in adaptive sports (02:21) - — Terry’s journey as a blind athlete (03:25) - — Favorite sports and finding endurance activities (04:37) - — How Calli and Terry met through Adaptive Adventures (06:06) - — Can almost any sport be adapted? (06:29) - — CrossFit, movement, and learning through adaptation (09:00) - — Independent training versus guide-supported activities (10:22) - — Balancing adventure with safety (13:59) - — Trust as the most important piece of adaptive equipment (16:29) - — What makes a good guide-athlete match (18:46) - — Learning through feedback, communication, and repetition (21:26) - — Why trying again matters after a difficult first experience (22:50) - — Terry’s swimming breakthrough (26:08) - — Knowing how hard to push (28:46) - — Honest conversations between guide and athlete (29:45) - — Biking, discomfort, and trust in real time (32:07) - — Safety, preparedness, and knowing when to change plans (34:22) - — Race-day community and showing up as a team (37:40) - — Final encouragement from Calli (38:23) - — Final encouragement from Terry (40:33) - — Aftersight hike opportunities and closing message