Opinion: Huron basketball fan, aspiring sportswriter sees the game differently

“If he wants to learn about something he Googles it,” Amy says. “He’s on YouTube all the time.”

Of course he is.

When Huron High School head basketball coach Waleed Samaha asked me to show Austin the ropes during the Huron-Pioneer basketball game - I agreed.

What Samaha told me next, I’m not ashamed to admit, scared me.

Austin is severely visually impaired. As the result of being shaken by his babysitter when he was four months old, Austin suffered a brain injury and retinal scarring and is legally blind.

Austin’s orientation mobility specialist with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Kathy Christensen, helps Austin learn to do everyday things. That includes introducing him to professionals in fields he’s interested in.

Austin met Samaha in order to practice his interview skills and Samaha, in turn, introduced him to me.

Of course I wanted to help a young person pursue his passion, and, of course, I was more than willing to teach Austin everything I know. I’ve job-shadowed before, and know how important learning a job first-hand can be.

But if Austin couldn’t see, I wasn’t sure I knew how to teach him.

Could I honestly tell this young man that I could be a sportswriter without the gift of sight? That would be dishonest, because, quite frankly, I have no idea how that would be possible.

Nervous, I met Austin at the Huron-Pioneer boys basketball game last Friday and quickly learned limiting what Austin can do to the possible was my first mistake.

Austin Shepherd, 10, enjoyed the Huron versus Pioneer boys basketball from a courtside seat.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

At 20/175, Austin’s visual field is very limited straight ahead, but large objects are decipherable as are bright contrasts in color. As play began, the scoreboard was a big help, as was the crowd noise. He could tell a shot was taken, but the change on the scoreboard above would tell him a 3-pointer was made, just as a cheer from the other side of the stands, a stagnant scoreboard and a change in direction of play would cue a defensive rebound on a missed shot.

Quick squeaking sneakers, bodies colliding, rims shaking and the other sounds of the game, along with what he could gather visually, allowed for Austin to follow the game with ease.

Barely a minute had passed in the game and it was clear my fear that Austin would be limited in his observations was, for lack of a better word, shortsighted.

In the first quarter, both team’s caused a lot of turnovers with their pressure defense and there were many fouls.

“They’re nervous, seem to be rushing…it’s a big rivalry fouls are going to happen,” Austin observed.

In the third quarter, Huron’s A.J. Mathew hit a 3-pointer to extend the River Rats’ lead to their largest of the game. The crowd erupted to chants of “A-J Math-EW.”

“The fan’s are really getting into it,” Austin said. “Huron has all the emotion.”

Pioneer, meanwhile, ended eight straight possessions with shots from the same player, James Kelly.

“As a team, you can’t just rely on one player. They’re passing good, but they need to spread it around, and stop rushing shots,” Austin said.

I wrote down all of Austin’s observations throughout the game, and afterward we interviewed players and Samaha. It was Austin’s first time asking postgame questions, and he didn’t seem nervous in the least bit.

That’s more than I can say for when I was in his shoes. The questions were good enough to garner quotes that we used in the game story on AnnArbor.com.

Two hours into his career and Austin was learning one of the tough lessons of starting out in journalism: Work for free to get your foot in the door.

The next day - after playing in his basketball team’s first win of the season - we wrote a game story together as practice.

The only department in which Austin struggled a bit was in hiding his pro-Huron bias. I explained to him that a reporter is supposed to be objective when writing game stories. Save the opinions for columns.

In Austin’s defense, it was Samaha who had invited him to sit courtside at the game, allowed him to stand with the team during the national anthem, and let him lead the Rats in a post-victory cheer in the locker room. So being a bit of a “homer” was understandable.

We cleaned up the story, made sure the Huron bias wasn’t noticeable, and I have to admit, it looked pretty good. After the entire experience Austin was making me nervous all over again.

What if he really does want my job?

Click to read Austin's game story.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com or 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.