{"id":8423,"date":"2015-11-16T04:30:33","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T10:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/?p=8423"},"modified":"2015-11-18T05:44:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T11:44:18","slug":"nsr-softball-prospect-overcomes-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/nsr-softball-prospect-overcomes-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Hunter’s hearing loss inspires her to help children"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sarah<\/a>
Sarah Hunter signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball at Wayne State in Nebraska.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“My name is Sarah Hunter. I am a 2016 outfielder and first baseman in Overland Park, Kan.\u00a0 But, I will play anywhere my team needs me to.\u00a0 I attend Blue Valley West High School.\u00a0 I play club ball for the 16A\/Gold KC Freedom. My dream is to not only attend college, but play softball at the collegiate level.\u00a0 I believe in hard work and dedication. I give 110% effort in everything I do.”<\/p>\n

Those are the first sentences Sarah Hunter sent to college coaches in her National Scouting Report personal message.\u00a0\u00a0But\u00a0behind those words\u00a0is an inspiring story of a young woman who overcame a disability to\u00a0go far beyond the obstacles in her way.<\/p>\n

Last week, Sarah’s dream came true when she signed a National Letter of Intent to play softball for Wayne State\u00a0College in Wayne, Neb.\u00a0 The school is located in the Northeast corner of the state.<\/p>\n

She couldn’t have been more excited about her choice of schools.<\/p>\n

“I did have other offers, but Wayne State is known as a teachers college and I liked that,” she said.\u00a0 “They will allow me to pursue two majors rather than one and I liked that, too.”<\/p>\n

Teaching is something Sarah always wanted to do.<\/p>\n

“I love kids and want to enrich their lives someday,” she said. “I want to inspire and encourage my students to pursue their dreams and to have confidence in doing so.\u00a0 I want them to love what they choose to do.<\/p>\n

“Upon request, I have mentored younger children with hearing loss like myself.\u00a0 I want them to know that having a hearing loss does not have to be a disability. It is what makes them unique and special. College is in their future — just like it is in mine. Dreams can come true.”<\/p>\n

Diagnosed at age 5 with moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears, Sarah knew her journey would not be easy.<\/p>\n

“I wear hearing aids,” she said. “My hearing loss\u00a0has made academics challenging for me, but nothing can hold me back. My work ethic has enabled me to maintain a 3.3 grade-point average. I take this work ethic to the field with me. Nothing is impossible.”<\/p>\n

Sarah credits her parents and coaches.<\/p>\n

“My coaches have taught me not only the game of softball but loyalty, dedication, responsibility, and commitment. My parents have been my No. 1 supporters. They have spent countless hours taking me to practices, games, camps, lessons and team events. I owe both my coaches and parents all my gratitude for making me who I am today.”<\/p>\n

She said she also owes a lot to NSR.<\/p>\n

“NSR really helped me,” she said. “I don’t know, honestly,\u00a0 how I would have done it without them.\u00a0 The company and my scout have been a real benefit.\u00a0 They made sure I was doing everything I needed to do to be recruited.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“My name is Sarah Hunter. I am a 2016 outfielder and first baseman in Overland Park, Kan.\u00a0 But, I will play anywhere my team needs me to.\u00a0 I attend Blue Valley West High School.\u00a0 I play club ball for the 16A\/Gold KC Freedom. My dream is to not only attend college, but play softball at … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[301,340,31,222,79,338,339,343],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8423"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8482,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8423\/revisions\/8482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}