February 13, 2011

Andrew McLeod is ten years old and legally blind, but that doesn't keep him from the pool or racing with the Wichita NW YMCA Neptunes. "I'm just like everyone else, i'm trying to swim and cut my time", McLeod said.

Andrew was born blind, his straight ahead vision has been described as looking through foggy swiss cheese. He can see objects to the side of him better than those in front of him. In the water, Andrew uses the black line on the bottom of the pool to keep him straight.

Outside the pool coach Dustin Welch helps keep the strokes straight in his head. Strokes that McLeod has never really seen. "Without that coaching, there's no way Andrew would be making the accomplishments he's making", said Brady McLeod, Andrew's father. "He's not able to see my movement, where, if I were teaching anyone else, I would mock it for them. With him I have to move his body for him, put him in the motions, which he catches on pretty well", said Welch.

At Saturday's meet at the Northwest YMCA, Andrew won his heats in the breaststroke and freestyle, setting personal best times. "Just get out there and try your best, you might think it's really hard at first, but you keep on trying and trying and you'll figure out you're really good at it", Andrew McLeod said.