Nothing Stops Shasta Miller

Shasta Miller stretches toward second base, one foot lightly touching first. The ball makes a low hiss, then a pop as it lands in her glove. The 17-year-old strips the mitt, jams it under her arm, and plucks the ball from the pocket before tossing it back to the mound.

The quick maneuver isn’t the way other softball players field. But Miller was born with half her left arm missing, so she’s developed a unique athletic style in Timpson, Texas (pop. 1,094).

“I am not handicapped,” the bright-eyed Timpson High School senior insists. “I often have to tell people not to treat me differently, because I am not different. Sometimes I have to prove it to them.”

Miller has been playing sports all of her life in the piney woods of east Texas. Now that she’s on the high school level, success is finding her. She has lettered in three sports: basketball, softball, and track—and this fall she added cheerleading.

But it isn’t her skills that her teammates, coaches, or school administrators talk about first. It’s her can-do attitude. “We don’t talk about her disability,” says Jo Redmon, Shasta’s softball coach. “It isn’t something we think about. She doesn’t want sympathy.”

While Shasta has athletic ability, Redmon says her leadership is what truly makes her stand out.

“I was trying to teach my girls how to bunt,” Redmon says. “Most of the girls said they couldn’t, but Shasta said ‘I can do it,’ and she got in there and did. The other girls followed suit.”

Former teammates Jenny Rhodes and Ashley Walker, who graduated last spring, agree Miller inspires because of what she’s overcome.

“She helps me a lot when I get down. She has helped me when I have thought I couldn’t shoot or I can’t bat. It makes me think that if she can do it, so can I,” Redmon says.

Walker adds she’s proud to be on a team with Shasta. “Everybody looks at her. She intimidates others. And she doesn’t worry about what other people think. If she can do something, I know I can,” she adds.

Miller knows others look to her for guidance because she has achieved what she wants. “I do because I can. If I can do it, you can, too. My family is proud of me, but I am not the type of person who thinks they are better than anybody else.”

Shasta finds her own inspiration from family members, especially her grandfather, the late Thomas Ard.

“I really looked up to him,” she says. “He always told me T-R-Y doesn’t spell can’t. My mom and dad have always pushed me to do what other kids do. If I thought I couldn’t do something, they were, like, ‘Yes you can,’’’ she says.

The always-smiling athlete dreams of playing college and professional women’s basketball.

When Miller moves about the hardwood floor of the basketball court, spectators’ heads snap in a rapid succession of double takes—not because of her arm, but because she plays defense like a whirling dervish. She is always in the mix. On offense she isn’t afraid to stop and drop in an outside jump shot with a method that is as unique as she is. When shooting, Miller braces the ball with her left arm and lets it fly from her right hand.

“A lot of kids believe they aren’t capable of doing stuff,” Miller says. “I do what I do to prove that they can do it. When I first started playing softball, no one thought I would be able to. The way I look at it, whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

Grandfather Thomas would be proud.

Jay Arrington is a freelance writer in Jonesboro, La.

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