When she’s out on the field, things get a little more dicey. Pop flys can get a little tricky, and although she doesn’t have a lot of problems picking up a ground ball, don’t expect to see her play at first base any time soon catching throws from across the diamond.
“When people hit it and the ball goes straight up in the sky, I have absolutely no idea where it’s going. I can see it when there’s contrast…but when it starts to come down, I’m able to see it, and I have to move myself around,” said Oates. “When the ball is on the ground I can see it because it’s a white ball on brown ground. However, if someone threw a ball at me really, really fast, I can’t see it because my eyes won’t pick it up.”
So why would an athlete who suffers from RP get involved with sports in the first place? For Oates, it’s all about competing, and feeling that rush of energy moments before she heads to the plate, out in the field, or steps up to the beam for a gymnastics competition.
“My parents put me in sports when I was little, and I really, really enjoyed it,” she said. “I liked being active, I liked the adrenaline rush I got when I competed, I liked trying new skills, I liked pursuing it, and it’s something that rally excited me.”
Oates is currently using eye drops to help with her RP, but said it will be years until she sees the full effects of the drops. In the meantime, though, she has no problems proving the naysayers wrong, and proving to herself that she can do pretty much anything.
“Some people have said to my parents, ‘Why are you letting her do gymnastics? It’s so dangerous…she’s going to kill herself.’ My mom always says, ‘She’s enjoying herself, she knows what she’s doing, and she knows her limitations.’ I’m really good knowing what I can and can’t do,” said Oates. “I do have a lot of problems seeing, and a lot of people know that, so sports kind of makes me feel normal, and it makes me feel that I’m capable of doing more than people think. Some people think, ‘She’s blind…she can’t do that,’ and I like going out and showing them I can.
“I do what I want — carefully.”
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