“I’m Brent Sopel, former Stanley Cup Champion of the Chicago Blackhawks. School was a nightmare for me. It was literally the last place I wanted to be. The only good thing for me was that at my school there was an outdoor rink.” Brent Sopel grew up with reading issues. Now he helps kids so they don’t have to go through what he did.
“Everything else was a struggle and I never knew why. Nobody ever asked any questions. I always got labeled as a dumb athlete. I was in ninth-grade English class and was asked to read. You know, I panicked. In my mind I’m like, ‘How can I get out of this? What do I do?’ ”
Years later his daughter was identified as dyslexic and Brent realized that all those years he had also been struggling with dyslexia. “I was so blown away that there’s a name for something.” He’s now an advocate for dyslexia. “We all learn in different ways. It doesn’t make them less smart.”
Watch the video about Brent’s journey from struggling reader to dyslexia advocate at understood.org
