Legally blind Chicago ballplayer Triston Burns has no limits
CHICAGO (CBS) -- On the West Side, one young athlete is not letting anyone stop him from getting better in baseball and basketball.
CBS 2's Jackie Kostek reports how everyone on his team is now learning from the example that he is setting.
The team is part of the Chicago Westside Sports Conference. Their motto: Where everyone gets the chance to play. It's not just in terms of economic barriers. The program is free, but it's also for kids who have different physical abilities too.
"That's all he do. He eats, sleeps and breathe sports," said Christina Person, the mother of 13-year-old competitor Triston Burns.
"I don't jump the highest, but I manage to get blocks and I like defending people. It comes easy to me for some reason," Burns said.
The West Side eighth grader will admit there weren't a lot of things that came easy when he first got into sports three years ago.
"I started out at the lowest level. I was not good," he said.
"When he first started, I did tell him, 'you know, you personally have to work twice as hard because you have your sight against you,'" said Person.
Triston wasn't just learning to play the games - baseball first, basketball second - but learning to do so without being able to see much of what was happening around him. Triston is albino, which means his body produces little to no melanin, the pigment responsible for the color of a person's skin, hair and eyes.
It also causes vision problems. Triston is legally blind.
"I can see the hoop and when I'm pitching, I can see the back catcher," Burns said. "Not the glove, just the back catcher."
"I kept worrying about him getting hit by the ball," Person said, admitting he's been hit. "A couple of times. But, I think he got used to it."
Triston said his vision poses a challenge in sports, but it's a challenge worth facing head on. Like when he was learning to pitch his first season.
"It was like, just throw it at whatever you see down there as hard as you can. Somehow, it worked out. He pitched the whole season. Every day of practice, he got better and better. He was trying harder and harder. Every game, he was surprising everybody and he never gave up," said Jessie Duncan, Chicago West Side Sports coach and mentor.
But it wasn't just perceived limitations Triston was up against, but his teammates' perception of him.
Duncan - "You know as a kid, they're blunt. If they think it, they say it. Who's that? Why is his hair that color? Things like that," Duncan said. "He always accepted it. He just answered the question. 'I'm albino.'"
Things shifted when the players realized their opponent wasn't on their own team.
"I'm pretty sure the first year we went undefeated. I was in Group C. We were supposed to be the worst group but ended up being the best group. Then we just grew from there," Person said.
In growing together on the baseball diamond and on the basketball court, they grew together off of it too.
"There's no more seeing color. There's no more seeing hair. It's just a family environment."
And a team.
"Yes, definitely a team environment. Because the team comes together, especially around Triston, so it's been a blessing to see that."
Triston Person's team has been gearing up for the winter season and will play their first game this Saturday at the Peace Corner Youth Center in Austin.
Last baseball season, Triston was selected for the All Conference Team and played in a citywide tournament.
