4 days ago
Legally blind North Texas woman redefines odds, named national finalist after joining cricket team
At the Trimble Tech High School field, 50-year-old Ana Moss begins practice the way she always does.
"Alright, so this is what we say, 'batter ready?'," said Moss, as she practiced her cricket skills. "It hit the wicket. Did it hit the wicket?"
But this cricket practice is a little different than most.
"This is our cricket ball, it has rattles in it, and we use sound to detect where the ball is coming," Moss said. "We shout out audio commands, 'here, here, here' – that's how a batter will line up to us, or a keeper lines up to us."
Moss is legally blind and has been for the last two years, when she started having nerve issues in her right eye.
"It was dark. It was hard to accept," she told CBS News Texas. "Hearing the words legally blind was really tough, so I knew my vision was decreasing, and it could decrease, but I just didn't realize it would decrease that fast. I felt that without vision, who am I?"
But despite her diagnosis, Moss decided she wasn't going to allow it to set her back.
"I was diagnosed with cancer kind of all in the same time, kidney cancer, and I had my kidney removed, and that was kind of a rude awakening as well, it was like I need to get fit, and life is short, so you got to get out there and keep trying," said Moss.
And trying she did, and let alone at cricket, a sport she didn't know much about.
"Total shock, I was like 'cricket?' I was like, 'where did that come from?'" said Rick Moss, her husband. "Obviously, I was thinking different things, like most people do, how do blind people play cricket?"
Looking for a support group, Moss began scouring social media and found a blind cricket team.
"It was kind of like, why not? Why not try something new now? Why not try something I know nothing about, and knowing nothing about it and never playing it, kind of gauges me, from you know down here and little by little, I'm climbing that ladder," she said.
While it's come with growing pains, Moss said she's learning more about the intricacies of the sport every day, and also about herself. Her commitment to the sport has made her a finalist for the USA National Women's Blind Cricket team. She's also the only Texan.
Moss hopes to represent our country at the inaugural Women's T20 World Cup for the Blind in India this fall.
Moss' husband said, "So proud of her, can't imagine how I feel about it."
"I've learned that I'm stronger than I think I am, than I think I ever was," Moss said. "We've all worked really, really hard, so we all want that, but the journey, I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Proving that no matter your age or eyesight, the field is still wide open.
"You can do it, you can do it," she said. "I really want them to be energized and encouraged that, nothing can stop you."
Finalists for the USA team will be selected in mid-August.
