Name: Marney Smithies


From: Canada

How many years have you been collecting? 24 years

How many pins do you own? 500+


Marney Smithies_pinMy most memorable pin trading story or experience was my first. I was the youngest member of my Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team, we participated in the Seoul, Korea 1988 Paralympics. There was of course quite a bit of pin trading in the athlete village but the best place was just outside of the village, in the local community.

I meet so many people from Seoul and being young (18 at the time) and with it being my first trip outside of my home province and country it was a great eye opener.

Trading to people who did not speak my language was not a problem, the people were so grateful to get any Canadian pins, I gave away a ton of pins on my first day, had to go back to teammates, fortunately not all were into pin trading and I could get some pins from friends, and so handing out pins became so much fun and part of the trading experience.

Meeting kids who were running after us for autographs and giving them Canadian pins was just so thrilling, what a rush! Korea will always be a special memory and the start of my pin trading love and passion, for this I will always be grateful to the people of Korea for hosting such a great Paralympics, the people were so kind and generous. Good times!

My latest pin trading experience was very close to home, I am lucky enough to live in Vancouver now and to host the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics was a blast! Again meeting people from around the world at different events and pin trading places was a blast. When you have pins out on your shirt or hat it is an invitation basically that says, “Hey, come and talk to me”.

Being in a wheelchair I have found that people in general do not just come up and chat, well some people do of course, but more often than not people seem to avoid me, but whatever I am used it. However, having the pins to break the ice so to speak has been a real blessing and I am so happy that I have had some great opportunities to meet people and also trade for some fun pins.

At this time I would also like to say good luck to all the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, and of course pin traders. May the Games begin! 

 

Marney Smithies
Canada
24 years
500+
My most memorable pin trading story or experience was my first. I was the youngest member of my Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team, we participated in the Seoul, Korea 1988 Paralympics. There was of course quite a bit of pin trading in the athlete village but the best place was just outside of the village, in the local community.

I meet so many people from Seoul and being young (18 at the time) and with it being my first trip outside of my home province and country it was a great eye opener.

Trading to people who did not speak my language was not a problem, the people were so grateful to get any Canadian pins, I gave away a ton of pins on my first day, had to go back to teammates, fortunately not all were into pin trading and I could get some pins from friends, and so handing out pins became so much fun and part of the trading experience.

Meeting kids who were running after us for autographs and giving them Canadian pins was just so thrilling, what a rush! Korea will always be a special memory and the start of my pin trading love and passion, for this I will always be grateful to the people of Korea for hosting such a great Paralympics, the people were so kind and generous. Good times!

My latest pin trading experience was very close to home, I am lucky enough to live in Vancouver now and to be host to the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics was a blast! Again meeting people from around the world at different events and pin trading places was a blast. When you have pins out on your shirt or hat it is an invitation basically that says, “hey come and talk to me”.

Being in a wheelchair I have found that people in general do not just come up and chat, well some people do of course, but more often than not people seem to avoid me, whatever I am used it, but having the pins to break the ice so to speak has been a real blessing and am so happy that I have had some great opportunities to meet people and also trade for some fun pins.

At this time I would also like to say good luck to all the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, and of course pin traders :) May the Games begin!! :)