2007-01-08
Edition: HO
Page: C1
One foot, no problem
Robert
Toombs Christian senior Kimmie Champion said
she suffered her first disability last year when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament before basketball season.
"I've
never had a problem getting around until that happened," said Champion,
who plays around 20 minutes per game for the Crusaders' basketball team.
"It was rough,"
If you have
ever seen Champion, you might have to do a double take. But to her, this was
the first athletic setback of her life, and that may surprise you.
Champion was
born without a right foot.
But she has
never let that affect her, according to her head coach Ricky Worsham.
"She
works as hard as any player out there," Worsham
said. "She starts for us when we go with a taller lineup and she's always
one of the first off the bench if she doesn't start."
Despite
being born without a foot, Champion was walking at seven months old. She was
fitted for a prosthetic leg before she turned 1. When she was old
enough, Champion was playing t-ball.
"The
younger you have an amputation or if you are born without it, the easier it is
to cope," said Champion, who wears a black athletic prosthesis that looks
almost like a support brace or a sleeve. "I've never known what it was
like to have that foot. So I really can't miss it. I just did what anyone else
did to play sports."
RTCA junior
Alex Stanley has played sports with Champion since the two were in elementary
school and said that Champion has never been held back by her disability.
"She
works very hard to play sports, and she doesn't want to be thought of or
treated differently," said Stanley, who is also on the softball and track
and field teams with Champion. "It's pretty inspiring to see her compete
the way she does."
But
Champion's story isn't just a feel-good one about a girl who has overcome a
disability to make the team.
She's good
at every sport she plays.
Champion
finished second at the discus, third in the high jump and sixth in the shot put
at the 2005 GISA state track meet. She played first base for a Crusaders team
that advanced to the state semifinals the past two seasons. And she's one of
the better rebounders on the RTCA team.
"I was
like everybody else at first. You're kind of amazed at what she does," Worsham said, remembering the first time he saw her
compete. "I've had many coaches and parents come up and say how impressed
they are with her playing. They are just amazed that she isn't held back by
anything."
Worsham
said he has never had any problems with Champion adapting to the Crusaders'
pressing style of play.
"It
didn't take long for me to realize she could do it," he said.
The only
thing that has held Champion back was that torn ACL, which was in her right
knee.
She had to
miss last year's basketball and track seasons, ones in which the Crusaders
advanced to the Class A championship game and finished second at the state
track meet, respectively.
"It was
hard not to be there last year," she said.
Said Worsham, "She would have really
helped us in basketball. She's a physical inside presence."
Champion
stayed around the team but was relegated to crutches for the first time after
difficulties from the injury prevented her from wearing her prosthesis.
"I
really wanted to come back from the injury for my senior year," said
Champion, who has gone through about 20 different knee sockets and more than
100 prosthetic feet.
Champion is
now fully recovered from the injury. And now she, while wanting to be treated
the same as everybody else, has the same goal all of her teammates share.
"It's my senior year, I've never won a state title," she said. "I want to win a state title."