Routine issues to Samantha Heyison.
On the times when she is ready to take part in monitor and area meets, the senior at Urbana High drinks a pink Gatorade within the morning after which a C4 vitality drink within the afternoon. She has reined in her behavior of consuming a chocolate bar however at all times listens to Survivor’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger.”
“That might be a must before my Gatorade, my Snickers bar, my energy drink,” mentioned Heyison, who lives in Adamstown in Frederick County. “That is the best song to listen to before a track meet.”
The rituals are paying off for the 17-year-old Heyison. Despite being born with a clubbed left foot with all 5 toes partially amputated, a proper foot with three toes fused collectively and a proper hand lacking two fingers, she is going to defend the state championship she captured within the discus throw final spring when the Class 4A state meet begins Friday on the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex in Hyattsville.
Heyison’s success isn’t restricted to this space. She reset her personal Americas report within the discus eventually weekend’s U.S. Paralympics Track and Field National Championships in Chula Vista, California, and is No. 1 within the discus and shot put within the Para Athletics Official World Rankings.
Deb Waxman, who has coached Heyison since she was 9 years previous, mentioned {the teenager} is pushed by a robust work ethic that has her throwing a minimal of 5 days per week for no less than two hours per session along with weight and agility coaching.
“Even on days when we don’t have contests or practices or we can’t because of holidays, Sam will find some place to go to practice on her own,” Waxman mentioned. “She’s that devoted.”
Heyison’s athleticism traces again to her dad and mom. Marc Heyison was a ninth-round draft decide of the Orioles in 1983 who performed third base earlier than accidents derailed his profession, and the previous Tanya Brown performed volleyball at UMBC.
When the couple visited their physician for a sonogram in 2005, the scan confirmed the fetus having a clubbed foot, and Samantha was born 5 1/2 weeks early in August. They later discovered the clubbed foot was brought on by constriction band syndrome, a situation that happens when tissue bands within the lining of the uterus wrap round an arm, leg, fingers or toes, in accordance with Boston Children’s Hospital.
“At that moment, seeing your child, you’re like, ‘Oh my God. Are there any more issues we need to worry about?’” he mentioned. “But Samantha has never felt sorry for herself, and we consider ourselves very blessed that this is what we’ve had to deal with when others have dealt with so much worse.”
Marc and Tonya took their daughter to the International Center for Limb Lengthening at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore for 2 tenotomies to elongate her Achilles, a number of casts and boots with metallic bars till she was 5 years previous. But Samantha mentioned she by no means thought-about herself completely different till she reached highschool.
“I would be sitting in class, and it would go by for maybe a couple weeks, and then someone would look down at my hand and notice,” she mentioned. “But most of the time, it wasn’t an instant thing that people would point out.”
After studying that former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman and former soccer celebrity Mia Hamm overcame clubbed ft, Marc and Tonya Heyison launched their daughter to sports activities. She discovered a haven in monitor and area, which she started on the age of six.
Waxman mentioned Heyison is blessed by an unlimited quantity of persistence.
“She is very motivated to be the best she can possibly be and has not allowed any of her physical disabilities to get in her way,” she mentioned. “Her parents never treated her like a disabled child, and I admire that in them.”
Heyison additionally lives by a robust sense of equity. At the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports World Games in November in Santo Antonio, Portugal, a factors system awarded her the gold medal within the discus regardless of her throw of 35.81 meters trailing a world-record 39.26 meters tossed by Poland’s Faustyna Kotlowska, who competes at a distinct classification. After the medal ceremony, Heyison traded her gold medal for Kotlowska’s silver.
“I did it because I feel like a world record doesn’t deserve to be remembered as a silver medal,” she mentioned. “If you hit a world record, it’s probably going to be one of the most exciting moments of your life, and based on what I saw, Faustyna was ecstatic, and she should have been.”
Heyison’s gesture moved the Polish delegation and her father.
“Samantha asked me if I would have done that, and I said, ‘Probably not. I might have thought about it, but I don’t have your grace,’” Marc mentioned with amusing. “I think that speaks to Samantha as a person who you would want to represent the United States on the international stage.”
Named in December the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field’s High School Athlete of the Year for the second time in a row, Heyison made her debut with the U.S. nationwide group eventually weekend’s championships. In addition to her Americas report within the discus (37.89 meters) on the F44 stage of competitors, she took residence the nationwide title within the shot put with a profitable distance of 10.77 meters.
“It was exciting that I was able to leave my mark at the track meet,” mentioned Heyison, who will proceed her monitor and area profession at Wake Forest.
Heyison would be the youngest member of the U.S. nationwide group on the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris from July 8-17. If she represents the United States on the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, she will likely be accompanied by her dad and mom and Waxman, who hasn’t flown commercially since Sept. 11, 2001 however made a promise to affix her if she certified for the World Championships.
“I’ll be there to support her,” Waxman mentioned. “… She’s been like a grandchild to me.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com