Born with only one hand, Vega achieves athletic success

Growing up, Larose native Jacob Vega wanted to be just like all the other kids. He loved to joke around and have fun with his family and friends, just like all the other kids.

And he played ball like them, too, making numerous All-Star teams on both the basketball court and the baseball diamond.

But there was always one thing that set Vega apart from his friends – it was something that easily caught the eyes of anyone who watched him make a crossover dribble or a 3-pointer in traffic.

Jacob has just one hand – his left. His other arm extends just below his elbow.

“When I was a kid, I never thought of anything different in terms of how to live,” Vega said. “So I just coped with everything – any challenges that would come my way, I’d just try to think positively about it and just do as much and the best as I could, without getting any help.”

Vega was born with the disability, and he wore a small prosthetic as a baby.

But by the time he started walking and doing things on his own as a toddler, he developed a self-described independent personality and relied strictly on what God had given him.

“He ended up putting his prosthetic in his toy box,” said Jacob’s mother, Bobbie Jo Thibodeaux. “He used to tell us when we’d try to help him, he’d push our hand away and say, ‘Jacob no need no help, Jacob can do it.’ He wouldn’t let us or anyone else help him … That’s just the way he’s always been – even since he was a baby.”

Sports became a part of Vega’s repertoire at age 3, when he started to play basketball.

And he and his parents admit, opposing players or parents might have thought he couldn’t play with the so-called “normal kids” at first.

That was until they saw Jacob play.

“He’d use both sides of the court when he’d take guys 1-1,” said Jacob’s father, David Vega. “He knew what he had to do. Defenders would eventually try to cheat over to cover his weaker side. But the second they did, he’d burn them. So after a few years when they figured out that, they were stuck. They couldn’t trap him anymore.”

No matter how self-sufficient Jacob proved he could be, there were always people along the way who wanted to go above their call of duty to help.

David recalls a time when his son’s shoe came untied in a basketball game.

“I tried to run on the court to help him,” the father said. “Needless to say, I never did it again. Jacob didn’t like that.”

“That gets old really quick,” said Jacob with a laugh, when asked about people overanxious to help him.

Time moved by, and the age, skill and size of the players Jacob went toe-to-toe with increased. But along the way, the youngster continued to beat the odds and progress, too.

“You know, there were times that I’d overlook how special this truly was, because I was his coach,” said Jacob’s father. “But when I’d step outside of the situation a little bit, I’d just say, ‘Wow!'”

The 7-8-year-old Biddy All-Star moved on and became a teenage All-Star.

Then with Biddy finished, he took his game up yet another notch and made the South Lafourche High School freshman basketball team last year, and he plans to continue playing next year – his 10th grade year.

“I played middle school and no one was really growing yet. And I was still real small, too,” Jacob said. “Now everyone is starting to grow and I’m catching up with them in terms of height and strength, so I’m just hoping that with the fact that everyone is going to get bigger and better and stronger, that I’ll be able to find a way to fight through that and keep going.”

If basketball doesn’t work, Jacob will have a Plan B this fall.

The soon-to-be sophomore plans to be a wide receiver for the Tarpons’ football team in the 2010 season.

Just this past week, Vega received a custom-made prosthetic with a hook where his right hand would be.

“I bought some Under Armour gloves at Hibbett, and I got my grandma to help me cut off the fingers in one hand, and re-sew it, so I’ll have both arms taken care of. But hey, it works.”

He plans to use his newly-made prosthetic to lift weights, which will allow him to build equal strength in both of his arms.

“His arms were always equal until puberty, but the stronger side got a lot bigger than the other side now,” Thibodaux said. “So that’s why he went ahead and got the prosthetic – to help him even that out.”

When he was looking for the prosthetic, Jacob’s father said he told the doctors he “wasn’t going to wear it except to work out.”

So that means Jacob will be streaking down the field the same way he does on the basketball hardwood – with no help on his arm.

“Trust me, I can catch,” he said. “They throw it my way, I’ll be ready … Trust me.”

Following high school, Jacob said he plans to go to college, but he is undecided about his major.

But no matter what the final decision will be, his handicap will not play a role in what he wants to do as an adult.

Like in sports, he’s just like the other kids.

“It hasn’t slowed me to this point, it’s not going to slow me then,” he said. “That’s not going to have any impact … I can do anything I want to do if I motivate myself and think positively.”

Larose native Jacob Vega holds a ball under his left arm at his home last week. Vega has had a fruitful basketball career, despite having just one hand. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR