Speaker addresses Welcome to a New Life about going from prison to the Olympics

Around 200 people gathered at Welcome to a New Life's annual recognition breakfast Thursday at the Findlay Country Club: formerly incarcerated individuals, their mentors, and others in the community there to support them and remind them they could create healthier lives. Tony Hoffman, founder and director of the Freewheel Project, shared his own experience of doing exactly that and told the audience that they could do it, too. Hoffman is the only known person to have gone from prison to the Olympics as a coach. He recalled growing up in California's Central Valley and realizing at a young age he was a naturally gifted athlete. His picture was on the cover of the world's largest BMX racing magazine by the time he was 18. "Companies that didn't sponsor amateur athletes were sponsoring me because they believed when I turned pro, I'd be one of the best in the sport," he recalled. Everyone was certain he was destined for success. "But they had no idea," he said. From seventh grade onward, he struggled with depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. He recalled a deep sense of feeling uncomfortable with himself, thinking often, "There's something wrong with you." As a teenager, he started smoking marijuana, then tried OxyContin, which helped him feel much better – for a little while. He found himself continuing to seek that sense of relief, although he would always feel much worse when the drug wore off. He found himself robbing a woman at gunpoint to steal her pills just three years after his face was on the cover of that magazine. He said he felt deep shame and guilt afterward and told himself he would never do anything like that again. But his life continued to spin further out of control for the next three years. In January 2007, homeless, Hoffman broke into a house that was up for rent and was arrested. He recalled seeing a quote written in pencil on the ceiling above his bunk the night he got to prison: "Be careful what you think, because your thoughts become your words. Be careful what you say, because your words become your actions. Be careful what you do, because your actions become your habits. Be careful what you make a habit, because your habits become your character. And your character becomes your destiny." "I kept reading it, over and over and over," he said. 'It made so much sense to me." He thought that if he could change his thinking about so many aspects of his life, he could change everything else. He set himself four goals: when he got out of prison he would race BMX professionally, go to the Olympics, start a nonprofit organization for youth using action sports in Fresno and become a professional speaker. The problem was that he wasn't sure how he was going to get there. Then he realized that "how well I managed the small decisions in front of me was going to determine the opportunities that I got and what I was able to turn them into." He committed to small habits, like brushing his teeth and making his bed every day. He learned that discipline meant staying committed even when he didn't feel like it. Now, after almost 19 years of sobriety, he often still doesn't feel like doing everything he needs to, he pointed out. But "What I've learned about discipline is that it's a muscle." Addressing the mentees in the audience, he added, "You have to use it for it to grow, and if you stop using it, it gets smaller, and the shortcut voice starts to get louder." Twenty years after he first experienced it at age 12, a therapist told Hoffman he had social anxiety, which was what had made him feel uncomfortable with himself. But the bigger problem, the therapist said, was that he had started isolating himself from other people at a young age because of it. And when you do that, it means "denying yourself the connection that creates hope." Hoffman said institutions in our society aren't generally built around the idea of vulnerability. But if people are not allowed to be vulnerable, if they feel like they need to shut down and keep their stories to themselves, then they never connect with others who have had similar experiences – which may help them feel less alone and give them a chance to learn from one another. He said he is encouraged to see the work being done by places like Welcome to a New Life, which matches formerly incarcerated individuals with mentors to meet with them one on one. "They create a space for individuals that were just like me, that felt broken, misunderstood and disconnected," he said. "And they can create that connection, where we can then provide tools, through mentorship, to people that need tools, that have never experienced anybody sitting down with them and asking them about their life." He said a mentor in prison helped him change his own life, ensuring that by the time he got out he was a different person than when he had entered. Soon after his 2008 parole, he was racing BMX professionally, and by 2011, he was preparing for the 2012 Olympic games when he sustained a serious leg injury. "And it ended my racing career at 28 years old, and I was devastated," he said. Speaking again to the mentees, he said, "something's going to happen. We get gut punches in recovery. And these gut punches derail us." However, instead of derailing us, they are "designed to give us more tools, a deeper understanding of life and the perspective it's going to take for the next chapter. In those moments, we have to have coaches around us that provide us the winning perspective, so when it's time to do what we need to do, we can continue to win." He changed direction, forming a nonprofit organization and coaching other BMX athletes. In July 2016, one of those athletes, Brooke Crain, called him and told him they would be going to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There, he would coach Crain to a fourth place finish. "When I got to the Olympics, I realized this is one of greatest moments in my life because for the first time in my life I finally feel like I'm connected to the right people and doing the things that I was called to do," Hoffman said. "And that's something that I want every person to experience. And that is something that Welcome to a New Life is going to do for every one of their mentees." Hoffman also spoke to students at Findlay High School on Thursday. Assistant Principal Don Williams said Friday that an assembly near the end of the school day is "a tough audience," but Hoffman began by telling the youth he wasn't going to tell them what to do, but instead simply to tell them his story. Williams added that many youth have themselves experienced mental health challenges and related to the story. "There's a lot of kids who experience that and who go through so much. All the things he described – they've gone through it, or they have a friend who has," he said. Following Hoffman's presentation at the breakfast, Harold "Puck" Rowe recalled how when he and co-founder Stan Kujawa created the organization, they knew they would have to get the backing of everyone in the Hancock County criminal justice system. They received support from everyone they talked to, Rowe said, but one person's dedication stood out. Kim Switzer, a longtime leader in the Adult Probation Department, died last year at age 57. On Thursday, Rowe announced that the board and leadership of Welcome to a New Life had created a new scholarship in memory of this "wonderful, beautiful person". The Kimberly M. Switzer Scholarship Fund will support Welcome to a New Life mentees pursuing educational opportunities. "At Welcome to a New Life, we often say change doesn't happen all at once. It happens one step at a time, one relationship at a time," Carla Benjamin, the organization's executive director, said before Hoffman's remarks. She said the most dangerous part of incarceration can be the moment an individual leaves prison. Then, things can either move forward or fall apart. "But when someone begins to believe, 'I can do this differently,' everything starts to change," she said. "They show up. They stay consistent. They reconnect with family. They find employment. And they begin to build a life that they're proud of." Welcome to a New Life mentors and mentees shared statements in a video presentation about what the program had meant to them. One mentor said he hadn't realized how fulfilling the experience would be for him, as well as for his mentee. They have truly become friends, he said. "He has grown immensely in the couple of years we've worked together," he said, adding, "I just really appreciate him trusting me." A mentee talked about starting drinking at age 17, then moving on to cocaine, which she continued using for years, until her life fell apart. She went to rehab and, at the time of the video, had been sober for 67 days, with the support of Welcome to a New Life. (After the video, Benjamin said she now had more than 100 days of sobriety.) "You just have to believe in yourself and trust yourself," the woman said. Jayme Barfell, mentor network coordinator, said afterward that the need for mentors continues to grow. "We have more individuals than ever that are ready to take steps forward for a healthier, more stable life," she said. "But they can't do it alone. They need someone willing to sit next to them." She also thanked the mentors already doing this work. "You show up without judgment," she said. 'You listen. You encourage. And, because of that, lives in our community are changing." For more information, visit https://www.welcometoanewlife.org/