Twenty-three-year-old Century 21 Scala Group agent Matt Torres shares his journey to the 2024 Paris Paralympics and the important thing to serving to folks with disabilities thrive.
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“I’ll figure it out.”
That’s the perspective that carried Century 21 agent Matt Torres to the 2024 Paris Paralympics, the place he earned a bronze medal for USA Swimming within the combined 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay. Torres, 23, additionally introduced house a number of gold and bronze medals within the 2019 Pan Am Video games, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and 2021 U.S. Paralympics Nationwide Championships in a number of occasions, together with 400-meter and 1500-meter freestyle.
Torres (far left) and the US Paraswimming workforce after the medaling ceremony | Pictures courtesy of Matt Torres
Torres was born with amniotic band syndrome, a dysfunction that stems from harm to the internal membrane of the amniotic sac throughout being pregnant. The bands of the sac wrap across the fetus and result in underdeveloped arms, legs, fingers, or toes, and happens in 1 in 1,200 to 1 in 15,000 dwell births. Torres skilled a extra extreme case of the syndrome, which led him to be born with half of a proper leg and 4 fingers on every hand.
“It’s been something that I’ve been used to since birth,” he informed Inman whereas boarding the flight to Paris. “I haven’t really let it stop me in any sort of way. I’ve always figured out the way to get through all different obstacles and do all sorts of different things. I’ve just always been a guy that’s been able to find a solution to things one way or another.”
The C21 agent mentioned his swimming journey began after watching Michael Phelps win eight gold medals and set seven world data on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was enamored with the way in which Phelps tore by way of the water, main the then-seven-year-old to inform his mother and father he’d be a gold medal swimmer at some point.
“It’s a little bit of a long story,” he mentioned with fun. “I have, like, so many different twists and turns throughout my career.”
Torres spent his early years coaching and competing alongside swimmers with out disabilities in class and membership groups; nevertheless, he found para-swimming in highschool after a pal talked about they knew an adaptive coaching coach. Curious, Torres started adaptive coaching by way of the Hospital for Particular Care in New Britain, Connecticut, as soon as per week alongside his common coaching schedule.
“I was still doing all of the training and practices that everyone else was doing,” he mentioned. “There would just be some modifications here and there for stuff like kick sets or just things that were more leg-dominant that I just wasn’t able to completely perform.”
“But, there was nothing that I really couldn’t do,” he added. “It was just more so modified just to make things a little bit simpler and to a manner that I could still do them and get useful training out of it.”
Pictures courtesy of Matt Torres
Torres started successful regional adaptive swimming meets and shortly set his sights on nationwide and worldwide competitions on the suggestion of a former U.S. Paralympic swimming director.
In 2019, Torres went to his first Pan Am Video games in Lima, Peru, and gained two gold and 4 bronze — making him essentially the most adorned swimmer for the U.S. workforce. In 2020, he swam within the Tokyo Paralympics 1,500-meter freestyle and broke the world file for that occasion. Torres then competed within the 2022 and 2023 World Paraswimming World Championships; overcoming an harm in 2023 to qualify for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
“Overall, people with disabilities and adaptations, I would say we’re definitely very determined,” he mentioned. “Once we set our hearts and minds on a particular goal, we’re going to go after it. And, we’re going to do everything we can to not let whatever impairment we have stop us.”
Though the Paralympics ended on Sunday, Torres is staying in France to arrange for the Open Water Cup in Sardinia, Italy. Between coaching periods, he’s nonetheless making time for work as his actual property workforce, C21 Scala Group, continues to root for him stateside.
Torres mentioned he hopes his story helps folks with out disabilities perceive that folks with disabilities don’t want their pity — they want their help in making a extra adaptable and accessible world.
“If there’s something that could be seen as an obstacle, help come up with solutions to make things more adaptable for the person,” he mentioned. “I mean, [a disability] it doesn’t mean someone can’t go and do certain things; they just may have to take another means to achieve the same outcome or goal. Just work with that person to come up with a proper solution, and then let them go ahead and go after their dreams.”
