Looking up to Zach Hodskins

Basketball is a big part of our life during this time of the year. Jordan loves the challenge. She loves being on defense. She is starting to understand the intricacies of the game. She’s grown a lot as a player. I also knew there are mentors in the basketball world. I met Kevin Laue in late 2013 after watching a documentary about his college basketball career just as Jordan was starting hers. I knew one-handed basketball is possible.

College basketball has a new one-handed player with freshman Zach Hodskins. He’s a preferred walk on player for the Florida Gators. I’ve kept my eye on his success and since the Gators are in the SEC, I was excited knowing his team was going to visit the Missouri Tigers this month. We have two season tickets to watch Mizzou and I had hoped Jordan would get a chance to meet him and watch him play.

With the help of a Missouri coach and folks at Nubability Athletics, we were able to get a chance to drop by Florida’s practice to meet Zach and meet most of the team’s coaches. We were also invited to stay and watch the team work out while they were in town. Jordan was ecstatic. She not only got to meet Zach, ask him a few questions and watch practice, we went to the game and had a chance to talk to Zach a second time after the game.

Zach mentioned how growing up, he didn’t know other kids with upper limb differences. He didn’t get to run ideas with other people on how to tie shoes, rebound basketballs and all the other tiny challenges that come with a limb difference. He was ready to help answer questions Jordan might have. She mostly wanted to know if he uses his little arm when he’s defending the basketball. Her generation has so many more opportunities to get to know kids (and adults) like her thanks to the Internet. Meeting Zach was a huge deal. And to add to the big deal, she’s featured in one of our local newspapers. It’s a very sweet article about her basketball world and the opportunity to meet Zach.

Missouri ended up winning the game, breaking a long losing streak. Jordan had very mixed feelings about the result. Win or lose, I know she won. She has a new mentor to look up to. And as usual, I consider her a very lucky kid.