Legally Blind Gymnastics Hero Lola Walters

The above video is courtesy of King 5 TV. The story is done by  Kim Holcomb of Evening Magazine and posted on December 6, 2011 at 8:00 PM.

Not the First Time We Have Heard Lola’s Story

Two years ago, Rick at GymnasticsCoaching.com and others, first let us know about the ABC News story about thirteen year old, legally blind gymnast, Lola Walters and the video about her. Then last year (2011) the above video came out about Lola on King 5 TV.  Her story has continued to spread and an article appeared about Lola Walters today (Feb 23, 2012) in the Daily Mail news from Great Britain. Her story continues and continues to inspire.

New Article in British News

Today there is a Daily Mail new article out about her, this time from the United Kingdom, to which Lola’s story has now spread and continues to spread and inspire.

Heroic and Stoic

Lola does not consider herself a hero (that seems to be a common characteristic of those who the rest of us do consider heroes) and does not tell others about her “problems.” She went to Bela Karolyi’s summer camp a couple of years ago, told no one of her condition and no one was the wiser. it is not only her training and competing with her condition that is heroic, but her stoic and heroic attitude about her situation. She is an inspiration to her teammates and should be an inspiration to all the rest of us in the sport of gymnastics.

Imagine Beam and Vaulting Blind

Lola Walters is currently a USA Gymnastics Level 6 gymnast, which means she is doing handspring vaults, jumps to the high bar and flyaways on bars, back walkovers and leaps on beam while being legally blind. She has a special condition which allows her no depth perception at all, severely limits her vision to only a few feet, causes her to see double sometimes and also causes her eyes to flutter – conditions which should normally cause havoc, when trying to compete and train in gymnastics. Her mom, Beth Walters, says “She can see. It’s just that what is in front of her constantly moves and she can not judge distances or focus.”

Her Coaches and Gym Owners are Heroes as Well

Lola Walters, now age 13 in 2012, trains at Black Hills Gymnastics in Lacey, Washington. Black Hills Gymnastics says on their web site that their gym “specializes in teaching life skills through the sport of gymnastics.” Lola and her teammates, who work with her and learn alongside her, prove that is most certainly true. We salute the gym and gymnastics coaches who allow this inspirational miracle to happen.