MACON, Ga. — Sometimes in life, folks really reach down deep and overcome challenges just because they think they can. Here's a woman with that kind of spirit.
Susan Anglen was an avid tennis player about 30 years ago. She loved the sport, but life happened -- she got married and stopped playing. She recently picked it back up again, and, in some ways, tennis is now more gratifying.
"I'd be here every day if I could," Susan said with a big grin.
Amy Pazahanick jumped right into that lesson with Susan Anglen, but she had some reservations that quickly disappeared.
"She took her first lesson with me at the John Drew Smith Tennis Center back in May," Amy said. "I personally didn't know what to expect, but I was way open to it."
"My right eye is a prosthetic, so nothing in that eye," Susan explained. "In my left eye, I have glaucoma, which has taken about 25 percent of my peripheral vision, but it's also very nearsighted."
She is legally blind.
"So we just started with simple eye-hand coordination types of things," Amy described, and the victories came early.
"When I hit that backhand in front of Amy, I almost cried and I squealed, and I think I hurt her ears, and I jumped up and down," Susan said.
In the span of a couple of months, Susan says the confidence on the court has rolled into her everyday life, and now she's ready for bigger challenges.
"Now, my goals have changed. I hope I can train enough to maybe play in a league and maybe some round robin tournaments in my future," Susan projected.
Amy says with the way Susan is playing, that is well within her reach, and you may wonder if she tells people she's blind when she steps on the court.
Well, she does -- not for pity, but maybe to lift someone else up and do for them what tennis has done for her.
"Part of what I want to do with this journey is to inspire people when life gives you obstacles that you can overcome them," Susan said confidently.
She says it's a message that deserves a lot of love.
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