Inspiring Athletes

By Harris M. and Joshua M.

The chances of a person playing a professional sport are small, but it is even smaller to play professionally with one hand or one arm. Shaquem Griffin beat the odds. He is a professional football player who only has one hand.

Shaquem, who played for the Seattle Seahawks, was born with a deformed hand. As he got older, he started to feel more pain. According to Sports Illustrated, one night he tried to cut his hand off but his mom stopped him. The next day they got it surgically removed. 

Despite having only one hand, he still continued to play football. Football runs in the family as Shaquem has a twin brother named Shaquil who also played in the NFL. The boys had been dreaming of the NFL  since they were 11 years old. At that point, Shaquem started working out every day. In high school, both brothers became superstars and received college offers to play football. However, Shaquil received more offers than Shaquem as  recruiters didn’t think Shaquem would be able to meet the demands of college football with only one hand.

In the end, both brothers were given scholarships to play football at the University of Central Florida. Shaquem struggled to get as much playing time as his brother. Shaquil was drafted to the NFL while Shaquem remained in college for another year. That year, he became a starter. He led his team to an undefeated season and won Defensive Player of the Year, leading the NCAA in sacks. 

After college, he did not initially receive an invitation to participate in the NFL combine, which is a series of interviews and physical tests that help players get drafted. When he was finally invited to the combine, he would run the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds, which is a record for linebackers.  But he still didn’t get any calls from NFL teams. When it was Draft Night, Shaquem could only watch in his living room and pray. Things didn’t look great, but in the 5th round, he got drafted to the Seattle Seahawks where he would play with his brother! He had finally accomplished what he wanted when he has 11 years old.

In conclusion, Shaquem Griffin defied the odds and made it to the NFL with one hand, proving that anything is possible.  Even though he had faced many challenges, he never gave up.

By Patrick B.

Hansel Emmanuel is a one-armed basketball prodigy. This is his mind-blowing story.

Emmanuel is currently a high school basketball player and is originally from the Dominican Republic. When he was a little kid, he wanted to be a professional baseball player. But he had no idea  what was in store for him. At 6 years old, he was climbing a loose brick wall  when suddenly the wall completely collapsed on his arm! He was pinned to the ground for 2 hours. Luckily,  his dad came to the rescue and immediately rushed him to the local hospital. Sadly, they had to amputate right below the shoulder of his left arm. This completely changed his life because he couldn’t play baseball anymore.

Emmanuel was completely devastated that he couldn’t play baseball anymore but he set his sights on basketball. However, there was just a little problem. He was terrible at basketball with two arms, so now you can imagine what it would be like for him with only one. But, despite this, he kept on working hard and fell in love with the sport. He woke up at 5 am every day and practiced even though his neighborhood was one of the most dangerous in the Dominican Republic. 

His practicing paid off when he was recruited to play basketball at  Life Christian Academy in the United States. According to ESPN, one of the most inspirational moments for the team happened when Emmanuel missed a layup. This is because if you missed a layup in practice, it was a team rule that you had to do 20 pushups. Everyone expected Emmanuel to just leave because he couldn't do it. But Emmanuel got on that ground and did 20 straight pushups with one arm! He gained the respect of everyone around him after that.

At Life Christian, he became known for crazy dunks, shots and passes. He has recorded multiple 20-point games. So these performances eventually caught the eye of D1 colleges such as Tennessee State, University of Memphis and Bethune-Cookman in Florida. It will be fun to see where he goes to college and if he can make it to the NBA. Emmanuel's story teaches us to believe in ourselves, work hard, and  never give up.