Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/519582
t m c » p u l s e | j u n e 2 0 1 5 10 "She really wanted a balance beam and she wanted to do the uneven bars, and we've never really said, 'You know, I don't think you're going to be able to do that because you can't see,'" said Kenebrew. "We haven't done anything special, we just never held her back. We didn't want there to be any regrets, where we wished we would have let her try something." Originally, Kenebrew never planned on enrolling her daughter in compe- titions, but Adrianna showed a pre- cocious interest in the sport and has consistently surprised both her parents and coaches with her capabilities. "Every time she gets to a new level, her coaches say, 'How is she going to do that? How will she see to jump to the high bar?' But she just does it," said Kenebrew. No one is more impressed than her physicians, who grasp both the clinical and practical challenges the ambitious 12-year-old—who wears customized glasses and uses a special magnifying machine to help her at school—faces. "Glaucoma narrows the visual field, so in addition to being extremely near- sighted, she has poor peripheral vision," explained Kimberly G. Yen, M.D., Adrianna's pediatric ophthalmologist at Texas Children's Hospital and associate professor of ophthalmology and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. "She can only make out the large 'E' on the top of the eye chart and maybe one or two additional letters under that, in one eye. Most people think of gymnasts as having very good vision so they can land on the balance beam and grab the bars, and certainly you would think that peripheral vision is important as well. I think it's incredi- ble that she's been able to compensate and, despite her visual disability, be a competitive gymnast." In typical Adrianna fashion, overcoming these colossal obstacles to be a competitive gymnast is not enough—she's planning to be a great one. In 2013, Adrianna was awarded the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation (TAAF) Female Athlete of the Year for her region in recognition of her work ethic, personality, teamwork and skill. She competed in the TAAF State Meet in May and will train with USA Gymnastics in the fall. Ultimately, she hopes to earn a spot on Team USA, traveling with an elite group to a dazzling new stadium in matching red, white and blue, to compete in the Summer Olympics. "She wants to be the first visually impaired gymnast to win gold at the Olympics," said Kenebrew. "This has been her answer and she came up with this all on her own. She doesn't just say she wants to go to the Olympics. She wants to win gold at the Olympics." After coming this far, it's not diffi- cult to imagine Adrianna on television, with millions of young girls watching her expertly executed routines, some of them turning to their parents and, despite their own obstacles, begging for lessons. "Just keep trying no matter how hard it is," said Adrianna, when asked what advice she might give to others with similar ambitions. "You can always reach your dreams, no matter what they are and no matter how hard they are to reach." She's living proof, after all. "She's an inspiration," said Yen. "Everyone has deficits, and it doesn't matter what they are, you just have to learn to work with the things you have been given, and she's done a great job of that." The crazy thing is, throughout all of this, she hasn't let anything get in the way of her gymnastics. — ASHA KENEBREW Adrianna's Mother