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Jules Hoogland, a 17-year-old basketball player at Zeeland East High School in Michigan who is completely blind, thrilled spectators and inspired many on Tuesday. During the last game of the season for Zeeland East’s Unified Sports basketball team — a program made up of students both with and without disabilities — Hoogland scored her final free throw of the season in front of a crowd of approximately 2,500 people.
With the assist of a tap on the back of the board as an auditory cue to indicate where to shoot, Hoogland made her shot, causing her school’s gymnasium to erupt in cheers. Video of the shot has since spread across the internet since:
This was amazing ❤️🙏
The crowd went silent so she could hear the hoop!
(via @zeelandschools) pic.twitter.com/SeztTiHyzF
Hoogland, a junior at Zeeland East, was born three months early with retinopathy of prematurity, which is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth in the eyes of premature infants. Hoogland gradually lost her eyesight and was completely blind by the age of three. Hoogland was also born a triplet — she has one sister that is sighted, and a brother who died at four weeks old.
The junior began playing basketball in middle school. Hoogland, who cites her religious faith as the source of her perseverance, told local media that she was excited to have made her free throw after the nerves of having to perform in front of a large crowd.
“I was really nervous because all these people are staring at me,” Hoogland said in a report by Melissa Frick of MLive.com. “Luckily, I couldn’t see them staring at me.”
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