He can't see high jump bar when he clears it. It hasn't stopped him from being one of Indiana's best

Indianapolis Star

29-04-2025

Batesville senior Ayden Eckstein is one of Indiana's top high jumpers.
The senior has battled injuries and was born blind in one eye, none of which has stopped him.
He will high jump at Marian next fall.
Batesville senior Ayden Eckstein strode toward Franklin's long jump pit, crashing into the sand.
Six tries yielded a top mark of 21 feet, 3-and-a-quarter inches — good for first place at the Bill Self Invitational by nearly three inches.
It's not even Eckstein's best event. That would be high jump, which he placed sixth in at the 2024 IHSAA track and field championship.
"He is a student of the sport," Batesville coach Lisa Gausman said. "He takes in everything that we say and tries to implement it to do better. He watches videos on his own, too, to see what you're talking about."
That work has been key to Eckstein's grasp of the sport. A child who was "not very good (at sports) to start with" — as Eckstein put it — now ranks among Indiana's best high jumpers and is the best combination long and high jumper Gausman, a track coach of 30 years, has instructed.
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Eckstein had a normal childhood. He played soccer through senior year and basketball until he was a sophomore. Baseball when he was a kid. He likes playing video games and watching TV in his free time.
But, when he was an infant, it was unclear just how normal his life would be. Eckstein was three months old when his family discovered he was born with unilateral optic nerve hypoplasia, which caused blindness in his right eye.
A significant percentage of those born with the disorder also have brain abnormalities, his mother Samantha Demaree said.
"They did all of the imaging and everything was somehow completely normal," she said. "It's been awesome. I never thought he would be an athlete."
It was upsetting at the time with plenty of tears, his grandmother Angel Hall said, because they didn't know how it would affect him. But once Eckstein learned to walk and stopped "clipping sides," Hall said, all was good.
The biggest issues are depth perception and peripheral vision, Eckstein said, but not much else.
"I like to say that I had a normal childhood because I didn't know any different and it didn't really affect me in any way," he said.
He was offered special seating in classrooms and didn't take it. There was no impact on his athletic career. When he was scared growing up, he'd only cover one eye in fear — sad but funny, his stepfather Erik Demaree said, because he didn't know what it was like to see out of both eyes.
But what's typical for Eckstein is pretty extraordinary. When high jumping, he clears the bar on his right — the side he's blind on.
"Most people can kind of see the bar," Eckstein said. "I just can't, so I have to really trust my steps and my form."
While Eckstein tried lots of sports growing up, he didn't find track and field until eighth grade. He went to a Catholic school with just 14 students in his class and was allowed to compete in track and field at Batesville because he lived in the district.
Eckstein joined the sport to make friends and at the urging of his track-loving grandparents Gary and Angel, both of whom coached locally. Eckstein didn't start jumping right away but thought, 'Man, I think I'm going to be really good at high jump.'
His freshman year was alright. Eckstein didn't feel things click until the summer of his junior year, when he replicated his then-personal best of 6 feet during his first practice.
Erik and Samantha, however, saw something special early on. Eckstein won a junior varsity meet at South Dearborn his freshman year, only jumping around 5 feet, eight or nine inches. Erik was struck by his agility.
"I took him home after the meet and was trying to hype him up," Erik said. "(I was) super excited, like 'You have so much potential.'"
Eckstein continued to improve, success coming hand in hand with hard work. Gausman said Eckstein always had the technique but found greater success as he got stronger, more explosive and muscular. A growth spurt helped, too. He shot to 6-3 as a sophomore and now stands at 6-5.
Eckstein nearly reached the state championship as a sophomore until he twisted his ankle playing basketball in PE class the week of regionals — the first of several injuries. Last season he twisted his ankle and had patella tendinitis, but it didn't affect his jumping during the season.
This season it's a bone chip in his ankle, the result of slipping on ice leaving his house in January. His ankle swelled up, forcing him to quit jumping for a couple of months. He's seen a chiropractor and massage therapist, in addition to taking it slow in recovery with easier workouts in the weight room and shorter approaches.
Eckstein returned soon before the Hoosier State Relays, where he'd hoped to win the small school division. He finished third — not what he wanted, he said. But just jumping again was alright.
Gausman credited behind the scenes work with Eckstein's success amid injuries, including hitting the weight room, a jump rope routine and strength and mobility drills. Having perseverance and a "little bit of grit" has also helped," she said.
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"He just does it," Gausman said. "You ask him, he's going to do it. You don't have to question and say, 'Hey, you get that done?'"
Eckstein's personal best of 6'10" came at the Indiana All-Stars meet last June. He said he felt like his form just clicked — something he'd been struggling with for a while.
He figured he could outdo it and hit 7'2" this season, which would break Batesville's school record. Eckstein is tied atop the leaderboard with a jumper from 1982. But the injury has taken its toll, so his new goal is reaching 6'10" again by regionals.
Performing well as a senior would be nice, of course, but Eckstein and his family have eyes on the future. He'll jump for the reigning NAIA indoor track and field champion Marian next season, choosing the school over Cincinnati, IU and Indiana State because of its small-school feel and care for the whole student-athlete.
They're excited for the high jump-specific instruction at Marian, which has been a struggle at times — though they appreciate how supportive Batesville's staff has been. Eckstein connected with Hugo Muñoz, a two-time Peruvian Olympian, for high jump instruction through his group Kangaroo Athletics in high school. Eckstein saw improvement right away.
Muñoz has no idea how Eckstein can jump the way he does with the blindness in his right eye. It's stunning to Erik, too.
But it's not shocking to many bystanders because they simply don't know about Eckstein's right eye. He hasn't told many people. Gausman wasn't aware. Samantha and Erik agreed most watching Eckstein at the Bill Self Invitational probably had no idea.
"It's not that he didn't want to people to know," Samantha said. "He just didn't want the attention. It's been kind of an adjustment for him to be good at high jump because people will approach him and he has to talk to more people, and he's not used to that."
Attention comes with the territory. But most of it is from people he already knows and cares about.
He has five siblings. His grandparents and both sets of parents (father Andy Eckstein and stepmother Sharon Eckstein on the other side) attend many of his meets. His grandpa has all of his jumps memorized and often helps set up the high jump bar at smaller meets. Their family vacations revolve around Eckstein's travel, Erik said, including trips to New Balance and Nike Nationals.
Hall watched as Eckstein competed in the long jump at the Bill Self Invitational, filming his attempts on her phone. His parents set up camping chairs with a view of the high jump.
He was a late bloomer, Samantha said — athletic but not a standout at anything until high jump. Samantha and Erik let Eckstein take his time figuring out what sports he liked and develop from there.
It's been a long time since those touch-and-go months where the family wasn't sure what Eckstein's life would look like. Now, they're just enjoying the ride.
"If he went to the moon, we'd go," Hall said.