[nfbwatlk] Blindness Not Enough To Sideline California Teen, NPR Weekend Edition, November 6 2011

[Julie Warrington]

Thanks Noel.
This is a most inspiring story!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nightingale, Noel" <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov>
To: <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 1:22 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Blindness Not Enough To Sideline California Teen, NPR 
Weekend Edition, November 6 2011


> From Sunday morning on NPR.
>
> Link:
> http://www.npr.org/2011/11/06/142031957/blindness-not-enough-to-sideline-california-teen
>
> Text:
> Blindness Not Enough To Sideline California Teen
> by Gloria Hillard
> November 6, 2011
> Weekend Edition Sunday
>
> Taylor Howell told Vasquez High's football coach that if he wasn't blind 
> he sure would love to play football. The coach told him he'd have to come 
> up with a better excuse than that. The sophomore now plays center on the 
> junior varsity team.
> Gloria Hillard/NPR
>
> It's afternoon practice for the junior varsity football team at Vasquez 
> High in Acton, Calif. A high desert wind somersaults a discarded paper 
> plate across the line of scrimmage just before it becomes a pile of white 
> jerseys and purple helmets.
>
> "You were offsides," the coach yells after blowing his whistle.
>
> The players dust themselves off and line up for the next play. At center, 
> is Taylor, a lean 15-year-old. His quarterback, Bryan McCauley, is a few 
> yards behind him in shotgun formation.
>
> "Down, set, hike, good," Bryan says.
>
> That "good" from the quarterback is valuable information for Howell, who 
> is blind. It means his aim was dead on.
>
> "Breaking out of the huddle after he calls the play, it's up to my guards 
> to get me up to the line of scrimmage, make sure that I know where the 
> ball is," he says.
>
> On the field the tackles tell him what to do and if Taylor has a question 
> he goes to Bryan.
>
> "I make sure he's straight so he doesn't snap the ball crooked," he says.
>
> Head coach Tim Jorgensen says initially he played Taylor as center during 
> the point after touchdown.
>
> "Cause that's somewhat a protected position you can't hit him because 
> their heads are down and he's an excellent snapper," he says. "And then 
> about a couple games in, the coach says 'Well, he wants to play regular,' 
> and I said, 'Put him in there.'"
>
> During the water break, Taylor takes off his helmet. He has short, light 
> brown hair and a no-nonsense demeanor. But when asked about the practice 
> and if he took any hits, his face lights up.
>
> "I've taken a few hard ones," he says. "It happens. It's part of 
> football."
>
> You take the hits as they come, Taylor says. That's something he learned 
> at a very young age. He was just a toddler when he was diagnosed with 
> cancer. After a year of radiation and chemotherapy, he lost both of his 
> eyes.
>
> "We've never discouraged him from doing anything he's wanted to do," says 
> his mom, Jennifer Oudekerk
>
> She says her son learned the alphabet in Braille when he was in preschool.
>
> "He's always been a little ahead of his time, which has been amazing," she 
> says. "He is a daily inspiration for me."
> Taylor's teammates look out for him and give him cues on the field.
> Enlarge Gloria Hillard/for NPR
>
> Taylor's teammates look out for him and give him cues on the field.
> Taylor's teammates look out for him and give him cues on the field.
> Gloria Hillard/for NPR
>
> Taylor's teammates look out for him and give him cues on the field.
>
> Teammate Hector Hernandez remembers when Taylor told him he was going to 
> try out for football.
>
> "And I like, I didn't think he'd actually do it," he says. "He's pretty 
> tough, he gets banged up every day and he's still hanging in there."
>
> The players don't cut their center any slack, but they're watching out for 
> him all the time, whether it's a gentle tug on his jersey or verbal cues - 
> a step forward, a little to the right.
>
> It's more than two hours into practice. The sun is setting behind the 
> hills and those white jerseys are more a shade of dirt and grass now. 
> Taylor says he plans to try out for varsity next year and has talked to 
> Jorgensen about playing college ball.
>
> "I'm realistic with him. I said, 'Well you know you're going to grow, and 
> ... you gotta lift weights to get your strength up and as we get into it, 
> we'll see,'" Jorgensen says. "We'll take it one step at a time, one year 
> at a time."
>
> That was good enough for Taylor. For now he's focused on winning the next 
> game.
>
> "That's a feeling you can't describe, you know, after you've come off the 
> field knowing that you helped your team just win," Taylor says.
>
> A whistle blows and, after the dust settles, a tall guard with wide 
> shoulders gently guides his center back to the offensive line.
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