PizDoff
3/30/2005 1:31pm,
Accepting No Excuses
Kyle Maynard, a freshman broadcast news and political science major at the University, was born with congenital amputation, a rare condition that left him with only three major joints — a neck and two shoulders. Despite this, Maynard has been active throughout his life and has been wrestling for eight years.
His father was a wrestler and was instrumental in getting Maynard involved in the sport. “The most difficult time of my life was when I first started wrestling,” Maynard said. After losing 35 matches in a row in fifth grade, he began to doubt he could ever win, he said. “It was totally mentally discouraging. Then once I started winning, I realized it was about confidence and hard work, and I placed in the top 12 at nationals my senior year in high school,” he said.
Maynard graduated from Collins Hill High School and finished with a wrestling record of 35-16. Now a member of the University wrestling team, Maynard lives on campus and is on his own for the first time. He travels extensively to speak for the Washington Speaker’s Bureau, a worldwide lecture agency, which pays him a sum that is “definitely more than I could ever fathom,” he said.
Maynard also is writing a book, entitled “No Excuses,” to be released in August. He won a 2004 ESPY award, which is given by ESPN to exceptional athletes, for the Best Athlete with a Disability. He hopes to someday open his own chain of fitness and wellness centers across the country. Maynard recently bought his first car — a 1998 Jeep Cherokee — and has just begun training with a mixed martial arts program at the Hardcore Gym in Athens. While he lives a self-sufficient life, Maynard said, “I definitely need to rely on other people. If I don’t have a can opener, I can’t open a Coke. I know I’ll never be an Olympic sprinter, but I focus on the things that I can do.”
http://www.redandblack.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/30/424a2c92e772a
Kyle Maynard, a freshman broadcast news and political science major at the University, was born with congenital amputation, a rare condition that left him with only three major joints — a neck and two shoulders. Despite this, Maynard has been active throughout his life and has been wrestling for eight years.
His father was a wrestler and was instrumental in getting Maynard involved in the sport. “The most difficult time of my life was when I first started wrestling,” Maynard said. After losing 35 matches in a row in fifth grade, he began to doubt he could ever win, he said. “It was totally mentally discouraging. Then once I started winning, I realized it was about confidence and hard work, and I placed in the top 12 at nationals my senior year in high school,” he said.
Maynard graduated from Collins Hill High School and finished with a wrestling record of 35-16. Now a member of the University wrestling team, Maynard lives on campus and is on his own for the first time. He travels extensively to speak for the Washington Speaker’s Bureau, a worldwide lecture agency, which pays him a sum that is “definitely more than I could ever fathom,” he said.
Maynard also is writing a book, entitled “No Excuses,” to be released in August. He won a 2004 ESPY award, which is given by ESPN to exceptional athletes, for the Best Athlete with a Disability. He hopes to someday open his own chain of fitness and wellness centers across the country. Maynard recently bought his first car — a 1998 Jeep Cherokee — and has just begun training with a mixed martial arts program at the Hardcore Gym in Athens. While he lives a self-sufficient life, Maynard said, “I definitely need to rely on other people. If I don’t have a can opener, I can’t open a Coke. I know I’ll never be an Olympic sprinter, but I focus on the things that I can do.”
http://www.redandblack.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/30/424a2c92e772a