Breaststroker Chuck Katis is an Olympic hopeful, looking to kickstart a magical run to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Luckily for him, he’s also an experienced magician, and used his performance talents to find a pretty cool way to help the homeless in San Francisco.
You can check out the video above, courtesy of Katis on YouTube.
If you’re interested in supporting Chuck’s work, you can donate to the Magic For Homeless GoFundMe page here.
You can also keep following the movement through Katis’s social media: he’s @chuckkatis on Twitter.
For more on Katis, check out this excerpt from a profile we did on his magical endeavors just over a year ago:
From Dec. 2014:
Cal-Berkeley breaststroker Chuck Katis is an All-American in the pool, and was a big part of Cal’s NCAA title run last winter.
But out of the pool, he’s the heart of the nonprofit “The Magic of Miracles,” which seeks to improve the lives of hospital patients by performing magic.
The program is based on the “concept of astonishment.” In Katis’s own words:
“[Magician Paul Harris’s] concept of astonishment essentially says that the moment of disbelief (or astonishment) one experiences when observing the impossible leads to an incredible presence – the past and future no longer exist and your conception of the world changes, if only for a second,” he says. “I know, a little deep. But not too far from what any swimmer often experiences during a lifetime best swim.“Anyway, the exploration of these ideas led me to believe that if I could provide this experience to these young, incredible patients to help them forget about the countless tests, pain, and fear, that could change something, even if briefly, about how they perceive their situation. In no way can I speak for these patients, but it has certainly changed me.”
Does he travel and do clinics??
I bet he would give fantastic clinics. Even for the fastest swimmer, it’s hard to keep little kids engaged when talking about technique and hard work. Imagine, though, a swimmer inserting a little magic here and there just to keep them on their toes. I dunno, just a thought, but I think kids would love it.