California youth football coach David Nichols didn’t quite know what to expect when he received several messages from a determined teenager named Jasen Bracy in 2019.
Bracy, then 13 years old, only had one request of Nichols — he wanted a chance to play for his team.
“I called around, and other teams told me no,” Bracy recalls in this week’s issue of PEOPLE.
When Nichols finally called back, he found out there was much more to Bracy’s story than he expected.
“I said he was more than welcome to come out,” 42-year-old Nichols, coach of the Modesto Raiders, says. “Then he told me, ‘Coach, there’s just one problem, I can’t see. I’m blind.’ "
Courtesy David Nichols & Jasen Bracy Sr.
“I can see light here and there,” he says. “Objects, I can’t see objects, can’t see figures, letters, numbers, anything that’s in print. I can’t see a book or anything like that.”
Despite the health setback, Bracy held onto his dreams of playing sports — especially football. That’s why, when he was gifted a smartphone two years ago, he used the device’s accessibility features to call coaches around Modesto, asking them for a chance to play.
Bracy’s parents, Wendy and Jasen Bracy Sr., admittedly had no idea what he was up to.
“Next thing you know I get a call from Coach Dave, and I’ve never heard of the man,” dad Jasen Sr. says. “I never spoke to him before or anything, and he tells me, ‘I got a phone call from your son saying he wants to come and play football.’ "
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“He never was without his spirit no matter what he had to go through, he never takes no as an answer,” he adds of his son. “He never succumbed to what he was going through and never changed who he was … He has no fear.”
Bracy has since become one of two quarterbacks on the team thanks to his dedication to memorizing plays and positions, and the guidance of his father, who gives him advice through a speaker in his helmet while he’s on the field.
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Becoming a quarterback, Bracy says, is something he doesn’t take lightly.
“A quarterback is a leader, and the leader has to lead a team through whatever they’re going through,” he explains. “Doesn’t matter if it’s raining, it’s windy, and we’re losing big time, you still have to keep that motivation that you had at the beginning of the game, keep that with you.”
Bracy hopes he can inspire others to persevere through difficult circumstances.
“Don’t give up,” he says. “Do not give up no matter what.”
source: people.com
