Show Blind high school wrestler has opened others' others eyes ey I Alan Goldenbach Thc The Washington Post V fv r. r i f i f Michael Spriggs ggs grabbed d of to a a teammates teammate's shoulder and headed headed for the gymnasium wall al where f William a a pound junior on Springdale Md Md- s CH CHi Flowers High School wrestling team rested after winning his first match Leaning in closely Spriggs Spriggs' peppered w with th questions about whether the advice he had before the match had helped I wanted to know what he waS was thinking out there what kind of moves he was using said Spriggs a pound senior Im glad he used the techniques I taught him carefully chose his words to describe the match to Spriggs including the reversal that led to the eventual pin He had to be very specific because Spriggs couldn't see sec the match Spriggs who is nearing the end of his final season as a high school wrestler has been blind for more than five years For two of those years he also has been one of the most valuable members of the Flowers team He shows me how to do things in instead tead of telling me me said He knows what hes he's talking about Though Spriggs had limited wrestling experience prior to enrolling at Flowers in h August 2006 he proved a quick study primarily because Se he yearned to play playa a contact sport After going 13 12 last season he is 9 17 this season and is the third-seeded third in this is weekends weekend's Prince P ince Georges George's County Md championships Everything that could go wrong for him with his vision has said his father also named Michael Spriggs Spriggs is able to compete because of a simple rule modification by the National Federation of State High School Assoc Associations that allows blind wrestlers to face sighted opponents Both wrestlers must begin the match with their hands touching and always must remain in contact If contact is broken at any point the referee blows his whistle and the two reconvene at atthe atthe atthe the center to touch up Emmanuel a junior at Parkdale High School in Riverdale Md lost to Spriggs in their first meeting earlier this month and said Spriggs's blindness got in his head I got scared thinking maybe hes he's not really that good but hes he's amazing said Hes really strong He has this amazing stamina Spriggs is one of the approximately blind or visually impaired school-age school children in the United States according to the National Federation of the Blind What separates him from many others however r is his ability to have assimilated almost seamlessly with the sighted student population at Flowers What What Michael i does is he he- showcases ab i 1 i ti es 0 fb lind ath 1 etes against sighted athletes and helps to break down the barriers said Mark Lucas executive director of the United States Association of Blind Athletes in Colorado Springs where Spriggs competed last summer for its junior national judo team The majority of blind students sit on the sideline in PE class because a PE teacher doesn't know how to integrate that kid into the curriculum That was exactly the problem facing Flowers Coach Odist Felder when Spriggs approached him about trying out in October 2006 I was constantly thinking How am I going to get him to understand certain moves How am I going to yell out things to him How am I going to coach him in a match Felder said Felder who also was Spriggs' Spriggs math teacher during the 2006 07 school year yea learned the key to teaching his newest wrestler was using Spriggs's other senses In class Felder used pins and rubber bands to help teach all his students basic geometry He saw how Spriggs identified the hypotenuse in a right triangle t t i 1 I L t Ib I- I b ij I f G Washington Post photo by Toni Ton L. L Sandys High school student Michael Spriggs has been blind for more than h five years he is 9 17 this season or the two equivalent sides of an isosceles triangle by feeling the rubber bands Felder realized he could teach Spriggs wrestling the same way We have to use him as the person we practice the move on He becomes the test dummy I Iguess Iguess Iguess guess but that's the only way youcan youcan you can teach him I told him Were going to figure some things out along the way On Oct 28 2002 while competing in a swim meet for at the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia li Spriggs was poked in his x r nghi eye rendering it so damaged th t tit it was removed and ec it ita i ia a prosthesis Shortly afterward afterward- Spriggs said the vision in in his tat left eye began to rapidly decline j jI I had a lot of trouble accepting g git it Spriggs said I didn't want tb t p. p use my cane I didn't use s Braille I was under the impression that I was going to have bad vision the rest of my life but my time time was suddenly running short l' l |