Home Cartoon characters Blind Mountain View wrestler sees the mat as a safe haven | High school

Blind Mountain View wrestler sees the mat as a safe haven | High school

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His dominance was evident.

Within two minutes of the fight, Jahmil Garrett-Bey had his opponent on his back, writhing in a desperate attempt to keep both shoulder blades from making contact with the mat. The referee, sensing a pin was imminent, lay down on the ground for further examination.

Before that happened, however, the whistle sounded and the period was over. From around the corner, Garrett-Bey’s trainer passed on the second 152-pounder at Mountain View High School which was obvious to anyone watching his match for third place at the Commonwealth District Championships last weekend.

“It’s 5-0, Jahmil,” shouted Gary Woods II. “You’re doing well, buddy!”

Only Garrett-Bey could not see the score, displayed on a television a few meters from the mat. He couldn’t see the three fingers raised by the referee to mark a near fall. In fact, he sees nothing.

Born with a rare form of glaucoma, 16-year-old Garrett–Bey navigates the wrestling mat — and the world beyond — completely blind.

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Supported by teammates who are sometimes literally attached to his hip and rule changes designed to mitigate his handicap, Garrett-Bey is not a newcomer, he is a wrestling prodigy.

“He can easily win a state title,” Woods said.

‘Something is wrong’

Delwin Garrett-Bey and his wife, Joy, have always had concerns about their son’s vision. As a child, Jahmil tended to cry and seemed to prefer to keep his eyes closed.

“My wife insisted that something was wrong,” Delwin Garrett-Bey said. “Something is wrong.”

The parents’ suspicions were confirmed after seeing Dr. Mohamad Jafaar, a nationally renowned pediatric ophthalmologist, when Jahmil was 2 years old. Dr. Jafaar diagnosed Jahmil with congenital glaucoma, a condition that affects 1 in 10,000 infants, according to WebMd.

He underwent a series of three surgeries, performed at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, in an effort to save his sight. The procedures did not take.

Jahmil’s vision loss was gradual. For a moment, he maintained sight in his right eye, while his left eye could only discern shadows. His fleeting memories of being able to see are what you might expect from a toddler: colorful cartoon characters.

“Mickey Mouse, Elmo.” he said. “I know what they look like. But not much else.

By the time Jahmil turned 4, he was completely blind. For the Garrett-Beys, it was overwhelming. But the family’s devastation gave way to determination as they prepared to help her live with her disability.

Like most kids, Jahmil learned to ride a bike when he was 5 years old. Delwin designed an old-fashioned housing by sticking a baseball card into the spokes. Jahmil would follow the sound and cruise around his neighborhood of North Stafford with his friends.

With the help of a paraeducator, Jahmil has always thrived academically, even though his parents find it difficult to help him with his homework as it is in Braille.

“At the end of the day, we had to make sure Jahmil had a full life,” his father said. “I never turned him away from anything.”

‘I go by sensation’

In many ways, wrestling is the ideal sport for a blind person. Hand-eye coordination is not a prerequisite, and there are rules in place to level the mat for the visually impaired.

So when the Garrett-Beys were looking for an athletic environment in which Jahmil could thrive, wrestling made sense.

And make no mistake, he needed to find a sport. Delwin played football and basketball and ran track in high school, while Joy is a former volleyball player. The eldest of their three children, Khalis, became a standout running back at Colonial Forge High School last fall.

When it became clear that football would be a failure for his middle son, Delwin Garrett-Bey brought Jahmil, then a third-grader, to Powerhouse Wrestling.

Tom Kibler didn’t know what to expect. Kibler, who founded the Spotsylvania County-based wrestling club 19 years ago and serves as its head coach, has mentored children facing a variety of behavioral and physical challenges.

But he had never met a blind wrestler before.

“At first, I didn’t know how it would turn out,” he said.

Progress was slow, especially at first. Kibler would help Jahmil count the steps for sprints or windwheels so he wouldn’t be afraid of running into walls. Teaching techniques – takedowns, holds and defensive maneuvers – was an equally methodical process.

Kibler would enlist two more wrestlers. One would perform the technique on Jahmil, then the other would serve as defensive support for him to try it himself.

“I go for the feel,” Jahmil explained. “When the coach shows the move, he describes it, so I walk away. I visualize it, and when the move is done on me, I have a better image in my head.

By the time Jahmil was in seventh grade, he had become a VAWA State Champion wrestler whose unnatural grip strength helped him overcome any shortcomings in technique.

“Even if he’s in a bad position, he’s so strong there’s nothing you can do about it,” Kibler said.

He has also started to show growth off the mat. A shy kid who would have preferred to spend all day tinkering with audio on his computer, Jahmil found a social outlet in grappling.

“He didn’t talk much, he was very lonely,” Delwin Garrett-Bey said. “But once he started to struggle, he immediately changed. It brought him out of his shell.”

Regroup

Ten minutes before his match for third place, Jahmil paced the perimeter of the Riverbend High School gymnasium with his right arm wrapped around a teammate’s elbow.

This arrangement is an integral part of Jahmil’s day-to-day existence with the Wildcats. Inside the Mountain View wrestling room, there is no need for the cane he uses during the school day.

Whether he’s conditioning or drilling, a partner never leaves him. When the team runs outside, Jahmil is attached to a teammate with a rubber exercise band so he can feel the change in direction of the peloton and adapt.

“He kind of adds a sense of family,” said Ben Meinert, 126 pounds from Mountain View. “We’re all here for him, and he’s kind of that focal point.”

When Woods learned he would have a blind wrestler in his room this winter, his first call was to Kibler, and he implemented many of the same teaching strategies that worked so well at Powerhouse. However, he learned to be less personally involved.

“I’m the first to get on the mat and wrestle with the kids,” Woods said. “With Jahmil, I hesitate because he is so strong and so unpredictable.”

With a 16-8 record in his freshman season in high school (he retired as a rookie last winter due to COVID-19), Jahmil enters the Region 5D Wrestling Tournament on Saturday with a realistic chance of finishing in the top four and a place. in the state tournament.

His matches play out much like those of his peers, with two exceptions. The top and bottom positions are the same, but when wrestlers start in neutral, they do so with fingers touching, one palm up and the other down.

“Visibly impaired wrestlers always maintain contact, if they separate, the official is required to stop the match and start over in the correct position,” reads Section 30 6.2.4 of the Wrestling Rulebook. National Federation of High School Wrestling Sports.

It’s a subtle but not insignificant deviation for his adversaries, some of whom favor wrestling from space.

“They don’t wrestle in a way that they’re comfortable with, and I’ve wrestled that way all my life,” Jahmil said. “If I grab someone, I hang on and never let go. That’s my style.

Opponents may be visibly frustrated. At the end of the match, however, it is often these same opponents who bring Jahmil back to the center of the mat if they go out of bounds. No matter the outcome, he wins them.

And there is another phenomenon at play wherever Jahmil competes.

“When we go to tournaments, we have so many kids from other schools coming onto the mat just to watch Jahmil wrestle,” Meinert said. “Because it’s a pretty cool thing to see.”

Joey Lo Monaco: 540/368-5045

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@joeylomonaco