14-year-old Jamarion has lived most of his life without arms. Tragically, he lost them after contracting a rare bacterial infection when he was just a child.
As a result, he’s had to make some pretty significant adjustments, but is very capable of doing regular activities on his own.
He loves basketball and spent time at his community court hoping to play with the local kids. But he said he was always left out of the games.
“We’d start picking teams and I’d be the only one left out. They’d tell me just go home and stuff. You can break someone’s heart like that.” – Jamarion Styles
So on his first day of eighth grade, he asked the basketball coach if he could join the team.
“He told me: Mr. Woods I’ve never been on a team before. Even if I don’t play, I just wanna be on the team. How could I say no to that?” – Mr Woods, High School Basketball Coach
So Jamarion joined the team.
He was often seated on the bench, but he was their hardest working player – first in and last out to ever practice.
But then one day, Coach Woods put Jamarion in the game with just 6 minutes remaining on the clock.
Someone passed Jamarion the ball while he was in the corner of the court, so he took the opportunity to shoot.
and he scored!
The crowd went absolutely wild! Everyone standing and cheering after Jamarion sunk a three-pointer against all odds. He must have been on cloud nine.
When he was passed the ball again later in the game, with even less time to spare, he sunk another ball!
And not just any old shot – another three pointer!
Jamarion had just scored 6 points within a few minutes when the pressure was on at the end of the game.
His teammates lost their minds, and even members of the other team all rushed the court to surround him, jumping up and down to celebrate his impressive scores.
And he didn’t stop there. He kept playing and working hard, and joined the freshman basketball team the following year.
He now has his sights set on making the high school Varsity team! His dreams just keep on getting bigger and better.
Since becoming the unlikely hero of his eighth grade basketball team, Jamarion is often picked first for the recreational teams down at the community courts.
When interviewed, Jamarion was asked if he would want his arms back.
“If I could wave a magic wand right now and give you your arms back… would you want them?” – Interviewer
“Nah, I don’t need ’em.” – Jamarion
What an amazing young man.
He certainly has a bright future ahead of him, and won’t take no for an answer to reach his goals. What an inspiration to us all!
His story is so inspiring and it just goes to show you can do anything you put your mind to with enough hard work and dedication.
Never let someone else tell you that you can’t do something!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
