What Happens When You Raise the Bar

After years of competing with assistance, Brandon Geary took on a new challenge at the 2026 State Summer Games, powered by persistence, encouragement and a growing belief in what he could do.

August 31, 2026

For nearly 20 years, Brandon Geary has been a swimmer.

For most of those years, swimming meant having support in the water. He used assistive equipment, held onto the wall and competed with someone alongside him to help guide him through his races.

At the 2026 Special Olympics New Hampshire State Summer Games, that changed.

Brandon entered the pool for his final race of the day, positioned himself at the wall and prepared to swim 25 meters. His coach, Will Welch, was in the water nearby, but this time, Will wasn’t there to pull a kickboard or physically assist him.

Brandon was going to swim it himself.

It was a moment years in the making.

Finding Out What Brandon Could Do

Will had known Brandon for about a decade, primarily through basketball, before becoming his swimming coach. He had already watched Brandon prove what persistence could accomplish on the basketball court.

There was a time when Brandon couldn’t get a basketball halfway to a regulation hoop. He kept practicing. Eventually, Will watched him sink baskets on a 10-foot hoop.

When Will began coaching him in the pool, he already knew something important about Brandon: progress might take time, but Brandon was willing to work for it.

During their first swim season together, they initially followed Brandon’s familiar routine. Brandon used a kickboard while Will swam with him, pulling him when he needed help.

After a few practices, Will began to wonder whether Brandon was ready for more.

He asked Brandon if he wanted to become more independent in the water and have Will assist him less.

Brandon’s answer was simple: “Yes, of course I do.”

They started small. Will placed a rubber duck on Brandon’s kickboard and swam in front of him, only pulling the board when necessary. Practice after practice, Brandon traveled farther without Will’s assistance.

That summer, Brandon competed in the 10-, 15- and 25-meter assisted events at State Summer Games.

Then they came back for another season.

Brandon hadn’t forgotten what he’d learned. In fact, he was stronger.

After just a couple of practices, Will and Capital Area Cougars Local Program Coordinator Sue Coviello began talking about a possibility that once might have seemed out of reach: Could Brandon compete in an unassisted event?

There was only one person who could answer that question.

Will asked Brandon.

“Oh yeah, I’m going to do that,” Brandon told him.

A Ball Changes the Game

The breakthrough came from something surprisingly simple.

Will noticed other swimmers playing with a ball in the pool and wondered whether it could help Brandon. They swapped his kickboard for the ball, allowing Brandon to hold it in front of him with one hand and switch hands as he moved through the water.

It worked.

But swimming independently required more than letting go of the kickboard. Brandon also needed to learn to start from the wall on his own, including from the deep end.

They practiced what Will called “Superman” kickoffs, gradually working their way from the shallow end toward deeper water. At other practices, Will walked along the side of the pool holding a noodle a few feet ahead of Brandon. Each time Brandon got close, Will moved it a little farther away.

The goal wasn’t to make swimming easier for Brandon.

It was to give him the support and encouragement he needed to discover how much he could do himself.

And he kept going.

“Even in times Brandon ran into difficulties, he never gave up or showed signs of frustration,” Will said. “He just continued to attempt to improve and always took advice.”

“This Is for You, Mom”

Shortly before State Summer Games, Brandon faced a challenge far beyond the swimming pool. His mother, Karen, became ill and was admitted to the hospital, and Brandon moved in with a new caregiver.

Will could tell how difficult it was for him.

But Brandon kept swimming.

By the time State Summer Games arrived, he was ready. After completing his 10- and 15-meter events, it was time for the challenge they had been working toward.

Twenty-five meters.

Brandon entered the pool. Will got into the water too, but only to encourage him.

The buzzer sounded.

Brandon pushed off the wall and started swimming.

Around the halfway point, he began to tire. Will encouraged him to keep going.

“I can do this. I can do this,” Brandon told himself.

And he did.

As Brandon entered the final stretch, his thoughts turned to his mom.

“This is for you, Mom. I love you, Mom,” Will remembers Brandon repeating as he made his way toward the wall.

The crowd around the pool was roaring, but Will could hear him.

“I don’t know if anyone else heard Brandon yelling that, and it doesn’t really matter if they did because I did,” Will recalled. “Knowing what that meant to him, it nearly brought a tear to my eye in the water.”

Then Brandon reached the wall.

Twenty-five meters.

On his own.

He touched the finish and threw both hands into the air as the crowd erupted around him.

Raising Expectations

What happened in that pool illustrates something Special Olympics athletes demonstrate every day: sometimes the limits we see first aren’t the limits that actually exist.

Research from Special Olympics has found that 65% of parents felt participation in Special Olympics raised their expectations of their sons and daughters. And 94% of Special Olympics athletes reported improved sports skills.

For Brandon, progress wasn’t measured only in meters.

It was the distance between needing someone to pull his kickboard and hearing that same person cheering from nearby while Brandon propelled himself forward.

Will is quick to make one thing clear: the accomplishment belongs to Brandon.

“I show up, give advice, encouragement and motivation, but Brandon does the rest,” he said.

And that’s perhaps the most important part of their story.

Encouragement didn’t swim those 25 meters for Brandon. It helped create an environment where he could practice, struggle, adapt and discover that he was capable of swimming them himself.

“Brandon is the epitome of what a Special Olympics athlete should strive to be,” Will said. “Courageous, dedicated, hard working, coachable, attentive, but most importantly knows how to have fun.”

After nearly 20 years as a swimmer, Brandon is still discovering just how far he can go.

And Will plans to be nearby, cheering him toward whatever comes next.