Eli still works closely with studentathletes, particularly athletes with disabilities. Having survived a stroke after surgery as a toddler, Eli was partially paralyzed on his left side. This didn’t stop him from playing soccer at a young age, and ultimately playing for Milton’s varsity soccer team. While at Milton, Eli volunteered at a local rehabilitation center. The center’s director encouraged Eli to consider the Paralympics. He was a member of the U.S. National Team and competed in both the 1996 and 2004 Paralympic Games. “The lack of awareness and understanding about people with disabilities within the sports culture really struck me,” Eli said after the 2004 Games. That experience led Eli’s commitment. “I spent a lot of time as an athlete trying to be an educator.”
Although he is no longer a competitive athlete, Eli tries to be a connecting point for athletes who want to get involved in social justice work. He also leads a group of student fellows at Brown, many of whom are athletes, working on sports and development projects around the world. Eli describes the many mentors and movers in his life as “positive, supportive, always encouraging, asking good questions, having a global vision with no limitations. “I try to emulate them, but I consider some of these folks to be on a whole other level. I’m still learning. When I’m working with students and building these coalitions, I remember how much I learned from these mentors.”
Eli works with the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville on building student-athletes and a service platform to encourage and promote a holistic approach to being a student-athlete, particularly in the context of service and community engagement. From 2001 to 2010, Eli was the manager of research and advocacy at the Center for Sport in Society at Northeastern University. From 2004 to 2006, he led a global effort to include provisions addressing sport and recreation within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Eli is a graduate of Brown University. LM
“So you educate people by raising good questions. In so doing you’re an advocate saying, indirectly, ‘This change should happen.’ You are pushing people a little bit, but you also want to get them to come to the realization on their own.” Milton Magazine
21