US Olympian Genai Kerr

I have been blessed with incredible opportunities in this life, all for which I thank my parents.  My mother and father devoted their lives so that I could have every opportunity to succeed as a child – shuttling me from city to city for art camps, magnet schools and sports programs.  Their support helped me reap the benefits of hard work and dedication, including honors as an artist, photographer, 2003 Pan American Games gold medalist and member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic water polo team.

In a word, my parents taught me responsibility – something that would end up saving my life.

In the days immediately before terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, I had taken some vacation time from my first job outside of college as a teacher and water polo coach at Sage Hill School in Newport Coast, California, to visit my friend Omar Amr back in Boston. 

We started our weekend in New York first.  I’d flown into Newark, New Jersey on Friday and then caught a ride to a nightclub in New York where Omar was waiting with my cousin, who was working at that time as a model in New York.  We spent Saturday sightseeing, hitting all the hot spots – the Twin Towers, Wall Street, even got in to see the Broadway musical “Rent”.  On Sunday, we caught a bus for the four-hour ride to Boston.  We arrived at his Harvard dorm room well after midnight.

The plan for Monday was to spend the day with Omar in his medical school classes, then tour the campus.  I had been totally enthused about doing this until I got in bed that Sunday night.  The guilt was hitting me hard.

In addition to my teaching job at Sage Hill School back in California, I was also the school’s water polo team coach.  Monday afternoon was going to be the boys’ team’s first game of the season.  It was an away game against Mira Costa High School.  I knew when I’d made my reservations to visit Omar in Boston that would mean missing the team’s first game.  I’d lined up my sister, who was the team’s assistant coach, to be there in my place, but suddenly that wasn’t feeling like the right thing to do.

The boys had been training so hard to get ready for that game and I felt that I was being irresponsible and breaking my commitment to them.  So I called United Airlines to change my flight.  The reservation clerk answered saying I would be on standby for Boston to Los Angeles but the chances were good.  That meant I could make it back in time for the Mira Costa game.