Kyle Ralphs blazes his own track at Decatur High School

Kyle Ralphs wants to be just another track athlete at Decatur High School. The junior shows up to practice every day, hoping and dreaming of improving his times and ultimately winning a title at the 2009 Class 4A State Track and Field Championships in Pasco.

But Ralphs is a little different than the rest of his Gator teammates. According to doctors, he isn’t supposed to be alive.

While he was still in his mother’s womb, Ralphs was diagnosed with spina bifida, a developmental birth defect in which the vertebrae do not form properly around the spinal cord. Spina bifida can be surgically closed after birth, which happened with Ralphs, but nerve damage is permanent.

“The doctors first told me about it, they told me he would probably die shortly after he was born or would be severely mentally retarded,” said Ralphs’ mother, Teri Robbins. “That was the first thing I was told. Needless to say, I felt differently.”

Ralphs was born by a Caesarean section and immediately stopped breathing. Doctors rushed him into the intensive care unit, where he spent the first eight days of his life.

“He had his first surgery when he was a day old,” Robbins said. “That was the first of the 16 surgeries.”

Ralphs has had some type of surgery on pretty much every part of his body, including his spine, head, bladder and feet, among others. He has been relegated to a wheelchair since he was a small child and doesn’t have any use of his legs.

Ralphs spent the first five years of his life “in and out of the hospital” and was diagnosed with asthma as a 5-year-old, which isn’t a very good prognosis for somebody with spina bifida.

“They said he would just wear out and quit breathing,” Robbins said. “I told them that they didn’t know my son very well. He stuck it out and survived.”

Just 12 short years later, Ralphs is now flourishing on the Decatur track team — something he or his mother would have never even dreamed of. They just assumed participating in an actual sport was out of the question and not something that was in the cards for Ralphs due to his physical limitations and dependance on a wheelchair.

But that all changed earlier this year.

“In our house the words ‘never’ and ‘can’t’ don’t exist,” Robbins said. “We don’t believe in those words. It’s just a question of how.”

The “how” came in the form of Decatur High School science and assistant track coach Terry Frentrop. Frentrop approached Ralphs two years ago about possibly coming out to the Gator track team.

“He asked me if I would maybe like to do it,” Ralphs said. “I wasn’t really sure at first, but he kept encouraging me to do it.”

Ralphs finally succumbed to Frentrop’s pressure and agreed to turn out before the 2009 track season kicked off in February.

“I knew there were opportunities out there for disabled athletes,” Frentrop said. “Kids just don’t know what’s available to them. It’s one thing to come to school every day, but it’s completely different to expose yourself to things outside of the classroom. This gave Kyle an opportunity to be a part of something.”

“We had no idea this even existed,” Robbins said about participating on a high school’s track and field team. “I’m not the only one who didn’t realize it’s out there.”

But Ralphs was in a little different situation than all of the other track and field athletes at Decatur. He couldn’t just show up the first day of practice and start competing.

As a disabled athlete, Ralphs needed a special racing wheelchair, which is completely different from the chair he uses for his day-to-day activities.

Enter Seattle Adaptive Sports. The non-profit organization is dedicated to the promotion of physically-challenged individuals by giving them the opportunity to participate and compete in athletic activities.

Seattle Adaptive Sports reaches out to high school coaches, and provides education and training in teaching disabled students while incorporating them into school sports activities.

The organization provided Ralphs and Frentrop with a three-wheel Shadow Racer wheelchair, specifically built for racing on the track.

“I just got in contact with the right people,” Frentrop said. “We sent numerous e-mails and we were finally able to get an appointment set and they were able to get Kyle fit for a chair. It basically took a year to get everything in place.”

The red Shadow Racer retails for nearly $2,000, but Ralphs has been able to rent the wheelchair from Seattle Adaptive Sports free of charge, thanks to donations to the organization.

“I haven’t had to spend a dime,” Robbins said. “I can’t say enough good things about the support we’ve had.”

Frentrop and Decatur auto shop teacher Luke Thompson completed some modifications to the chair to make it fit perfectly to Ralphs’ body.

“It took about half the season to get him comfortable,” Frentrop said. “We have to calibrate it after every race just to make sure it goes in a straight line.”

“Just a little bit messes it up,” Ralphs said. “It’s really touchy.”

“Now, I just coach him like I would with any athlete,” Frentrop said. “We work on his focus and working toward achieving something. He now knows what being a track athlete means. This is Kyle’s thing. It’s just a natural progression. He is shooting for personal bests every time he’s on the track, and Kyle has been able to do that most of the time.”

And just like every other track athlete at Decatur, Ralphs has good days and bad days.

“At first, I was sore and tired,” Ralphs said. “The first week, I didn’t know if I would make it. But I stuck with it because our family doesn’t give up.”

All of Ralphs’ hard work during the season came to a head during a dual meet between Decatur and Bethel on April 30 at Federal Way Memorial Stadium. This was the first time Ralphs had an opportunity to actually compete against another wheelchair athlete on the track, and not just the clock, when he lined up against Bethel’s Travis Rimestad. For the first two months of the season, Ralphs was always the lone wheelchair athlete at Decatur’s meets.

“Words cannot describe the atmosphere at Memorial Field when Kyle finally competed against another person,” Robbins said. “The support there was just unbelievable and so motivating for all. We were fully overwhelmed by it.”

“Everybody lined up around the field,” Ralphs said. “It makes me want to push harder.”

Ralphs and Rimestad split their two races together, with Ralphs winning the 200 meters and Rimestad taking the 100.

“(Decatur Principal Tom) Leacy even showed the video of the race to the entire staff,” Robbins said. “It was so incredible. You can tell he’s inspiring people to do things they didn’t think they could do.”

“I tell people on the team to don’t give up,” Ralphs said. “I tell them to always believe that they can do it and to keep trying.”

During last week’s South Puget Sound League Sub-district Meet at French Field in Kent, Ralphs finished first in the 100 meters in a time of 27.80, just ahead Rimestad.

Ralphs also won the 400 meters in 2:08.1 and finished second to Rimestad in the 200.

All three times were good enough to qualify Ralphs for the 2009 State Track and Field Meet next weekend in Pasco.

Competing against somebody else, as well as his newfound comfort level in his racing wheelchair, have allowed Ralphs to focus solely on improving his performances in the 100, 200 and 400 in preparation for the state meet in the Tri-Cities. The meet will include several other wheelchair athletes from all over Washington.

“I know he’s had his frustrations,” Frentrop said. “But he is getting there. He is a part of the Decatur track team. Everybody has their frustrations.”

“I just want to get a better time and win,” Ralphs said. “My goal is to get a better time, even if I lose, I still want to improve for myself. It is really fun. I like hanging out with all the people and competing.”

The future looks bright for Ralphs.

He is set to start up a weight training program this summer, which he hopes will improve his times on the track during his senior year in 2010. He is also talking about taking up the discus and shot put.

“Everybody has stepped up — the team, the school. It’s been a community thing,” Robbins said. “It brings awareness and it’s a really simple thing to do. It’s now just a normal thing for Kyle to do.”

“This has paid off in every area of his life. I see a lot more confidence in him now. True, I am biased, but I think it’s a story of not giving up, a story of a school that has rallied around an individual and supported him in his journey.”

A journey that is just getting started.