Richard Rodriguez was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome. His right hand was constricted while in the womb and never fully developed. But, that has never stopped Richard from working the hardest.
Richard is on the King Mustangs Football team, as well as the track team. When asked how he gets past the challenge of a non-fully developed hand, his answer is simply, "giving 100 percent for the team, and give 100 percent for everyone else on the team, so that’s what I try my best to do.?"
King’s Head Football Coach and Athletic Director, Eddie Hesseltine tells KRIS 6, if no one never saw his hand, you would have never guessed because he works just as hard as everyone else.
That alone is Richard’s motto, work hard like everyone else. "I kind of just treated it like if it wasn’t there, and I just did everything that everybody else has been doing," Richard said. "It’s just work for me and no one’s ever told me anything different."
Right now, in the off-season, Richard works on gaining strength. He enjoys working out and currently squats 425 pounds and can bench press 150-165 pounds.
After high school, Richard hopes to go to Texas A&M Kingsville to study wildlife and biology. With hunting and fishing as a way of life in South Texas, he says his dad has taught him a lot about the outdoors and one day he wants to enjoy nature as a profession.
In the meantime, Richard will focus on excelling in his last year of high school and says that even when challenges come up, "My hand is not an obstacle at all, and just to push through whatever I’m going through, and just to do what everybody else is doing and find a way to do it.?"
