Playing soccer with Cerebral Palsy: Accommodations and Commitment

In my younger childhood I never fully acknowledge that I ever really had a disability, part of the reason was because of sports. Sports have always been my equalizer with other people; they’ve always just made me feel more normal and accepted. But there have been a few different things throughout the years, including accommodations.  When my parents first signed me up for a soccer camp at the age of 4 they knew right from the beginning there was going to have to be communication between me and my coaches. And so that’s what they did. With every new coach or team my mom would always make sure the coach understood my disability and my abilities on and off the field rather than the disabilities. The first accommodation I ever remember was allowing me to wear a leg brace on my left foot for support from the age of 4 to about 7. I can’t remember much about it but do remember that it was never a problem with the league or anyone else.  As I grew older I start to show more differences to other players my age including speed and ability to do things like stretching a certain way. My youth soccer coaches, head Coach John Wolley and assistant coach John Steeh, A.K.A Agent 1 and 2, who coached me from the age of 6 to 13, really help shape me as a player. They did so much for me and helped me reach my full potential on the field. This included finding the right position for me which for a few years was goalkeeper and I loved it and was good at until the goals got bigger and I was too weak on my left side to dive properly, I also had to stop when I could not get a goalkeeper glove on my left hand anymore.   Despite some stretching accommodations I was always expected to do exactly the same and as much as everyone else on the field, even if that meant coming in last on most of the running and fitness drills. And I will admit that some of the stretching accommodations didn’t work at times and I did end up with a few more pulled muscles than necessary.

2006 (age 10)

2009 (age 13)

     

Going into high school co-ed soccer my Freshman year and leaving the two coaches I had built a relationship with for 7 years was the hardest part of this for me. I knew that it was just never going to be the same ever again and weather that meant less playing time or being treated differently, I was not sure. Freshman year was the only year I played co-ed soccer as I could never connected with my coach and struggled through the season. But this was also my most important season of soccer in my 12 years of playing. Most of the kids in the league were playing because they were not committed enough to play high school soccer and I realized I was in the wrong place. It was then I realized my real passion for the game of soccer. I decided that no matter how hard it was and whether or not there was going to be accommodations; I deserved to be playing high school soccer. This still required a meeting over the phone with the school athletic director about if this was going to work for me; I think he thought I was much more disabled than I actually am. But as I expected there were no accommodations at my high school try outs, which led to an injury that took me 3 weeks to fully recover from, which meant that I didn’t play much during the 3 days of try outs. I had a pretty tough time with my Jv2 team mainly because we went through 5 different coaches during the season, YES 5 DIFFERENT coaches during a 3 month high school season! But the coaches were all great and made sure I was playing my best and comfortable on the field. High school soccer is much, much harder than any other team I’ve ever been on, so yes, more accommodations were needed for me including new ones like being able to be subbed out when I get tired and being able to switch to different parts of the field if needed.

2010 (age 14)

                Another really big part of be being able to participate in high school soccer is commitment, Not only in soccer, but in school too. I have realized that I’m not fast and I’m not the most skilled player there is and so I try to make that up to my team and coaches by staying committed to them and the team itself.  When I’m on the bench I always remember that no matter how big or small of an impact I may make in the game, my team needs me in one way or another, and I try to look at it the same way in practice too, even if  it only means staying after to help put balls or cones away.  As I will be a junior next year I must make junior varsity or varsity. And while all I want to do is play soccer, I do realize that might mean different roles for me. My school is a very highly comparative soccer school, and even making junior varsity will be struggle for me next year. So this might mean less and less playing time and more of a supporting type of role on the bench, which I am okay with as I do mature and understand  that even how much I want it I will never be a professional soccer player, but I do hope to always have soccer in my life, especially in the next 2 and a half years before I graduate.                                                      

Training in January 2012

Paralympic Soccer

Check out this great MSN video: USA Paralympics Team

Temryss Lane interviews players and coaches from the US Paralympic national soccer team during their recent camp in Chula Vista, California about the program and the upcoming Paralympics in London. 

“I do not regret the things I've done, but those I did not do.”

“I do not regret the things I've done, but those I did not do.”

During my wellness class today our teacher asked us all what was one regret we have had. I did not share what I really wanted to therefor I now have two regrets…

What I really wanted to share truly takes a lot of guts and it something that I’ve wanted to share for a very long time. Some of you have probably seen me walk with a limp in the halls at school and that is because I have a disability called Cerebral Palsy. It was caused by brain damage which was discovered when I was only a few days old. It affects the left side of my body and affects my coordination, muscle tone and makes it very hard to use my left hand properly. I regret not telling more people about this because of the fact that I was bullied in middle school and people never got the chance to really know me. People always asked what was wrong with my hand and I would always say it was nothing or people asked why I walked with a limp I would always just say I hurt it in soccer practice. Not many people other than my family knew about this but I have decided to tell you this so you don’t ever just have to wonder what’s different about me. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I am very passionate about soccer and in the past I know for a fact my teammates have always noticed that run slower and look different when I run but I’d like to thank those who never gave up on me (especially the Hotspurs :) ) and always supported me. You have also probably noticed that I don’t say much in class because I’m pretty shy, partially because of my disability and while always be that shy person who never really says much at all I’m no longer afraid of my disability and what others think about me, and again can always ask questions if you’re curious, I’d be happy to answer!. I’d also like to thank my family and friends who have always been there for me and gotten me to a point where I’m ok to talk about my disability with others and not let my disability bring me down. :)

oh look, I have one less regret now! :)"-

That was a Facebook status of mine a few days ago. I was getting tired of people not truly knowing who I was so with all the guts I had I took time to write the status. However I did not know the impact it would have on my friends and none the less, me. With 35 likes and 20 comments I was overcome with emotion when I saw this. Every person who commented told me how brave I was and how the will always have my back no matter what, many of them former and current teammates of mine and some of them people who I didn’t even knew me that well. This moved me so much that that night I even had a few tears in my eyes that night. While I joked with my friends the next day that I didn't even now 35 people knew I existed having people that support me is what gives me strength and keeps my passion for the game of soccer going. It reminds me every day that even though I may have obstacles to overcome because of my disability there’s always a way to overcome them and achieve my goals and dreams.  I just wanted to share this because I know there are many people in my life that have done so much for me and I greatly appreciate every little bit of it!! :)

my favorite comments from the post on Facebook-

John S. Woolley The Hotspurs were great on many levels (OK, not so many levels), but this is the part of which I am most proud!- My former youth soccer coach :)

Bruce Wilson That's my daughter, lots of guts, can do anything she sets her mind to, and one of the strongest people I know. Hotspurs were unstoppable- My Daddy :) 

 

Me playing with me club soccer team, the Hotspurs, two years ago.

Gone But Not Forgotten

While this blog post isn’t going to be about soccer I have decided rather to dedicate it to a girl from my school, Sierra Grill, who sadly passed away on Wednesday night. I was checking Facebook while I was getting ready for my last day of finals in the morning and right before I was about to go to bed that night I saw the devastating news. I spent a lot of that night up crying as I’m sure most of the other students and people in the community did. I never knew Sierra but her passing has affected me deeply. Just 15 years old, she took her own life because of bullying. I’ve been bullied and it is just about one of the worst things a teenager could have to go through. For me the bullying started in middle school, probably for multiple reasons including my disability. In the past few years as I have gotten old I have started to more things around me including kids at my school who also have disabilities getting bullied and other disabled people in the public being treated differently. I have come to realize that this is absolutely under no circumstances acceptable for anybody for anybody to do or have to go through. I am trying to bring more awareness to people that no matter what people say, disabled people are sometime treated differently than others and I have seen it myself before. Weather It has been either with other kids in my school, stories I’ve heard from other people or when I once had to stand behind a family, a mother, father and daughter all noticeably disabled get talked to by a store casher like a 4 year olds with no understanding (I wanted to punch that casher in the face at the time).  My point is no matter how disabled a person is whether they can talk or not, walk or not, we all have minds and feelings and we all have great lives with our own great moments. You shouldn’t judge a person if they’re in a wheelchair or use a walker or walk with a limp. In fact you shouldn’t judge anyone at all. We are all humans and all have our place in this world. I’m very glad to say that the bullying I went through all stopped in high school. I thank god for that because in my last year of middle school I began to become depressed and I wonder if things haven’t of change would I have been Sierra? But luckily for me things did change, I found a group of 5 friends and we as about close as you get. Thanks to my friends I have gained a lot of self-confidence and even recently started talking to more people about my disability. Before high school not one person outside of my family knew about my disability. My friends have also made be appreciate soccer, school, the people I love and most importantly life in itself a lot more. I am going to challenge anyone who reads this to start a conversation or just give a simple smile at disabled people when you see them in the public because all I never see is stares and trust me we’re not aliens; we don’t like to be stared at! And try to start thinking of us as perfectly normal people and there’s no need to feel bad for us, cause I never feel bad for myself ever!  J

 While Sierra had no disability she was bullied, to the point where she took her own life. I have decided to dedicate this post to her in hope that maybe someone might read this and change their mind about the way the treat someone and maybe save someone’s life or change it for the better. There are so many questions of why this? Why that?  Just Why? What could we have done to prevent this? The one thing I know is while I am devastated that this had to happen and she only got 15 short years on this earth, I am happy that she is in a better place and she does not have to suffer any more than what she did. I also continue to pray for her family.  Gone but not forgotten  <3