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Andy Jenks
Andy Jenks, second from left, wearing sunglasses, poses for a picture
with Team USA at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
A Courtesy of Team USA
Courtesy of Andy Jenks
s a child, Andy Jenks played soccer, T-ball and other sports
that kids oft en play. But when he got older and those games
moved outside, he could no longer see the ball or his opponents
very well.

Jenks had 20/200 vision, meaning he could see things from 20 feet
away that someone with 20/20 vision could spot from 200 feet away.

Even when he was able to play soccer and T-ball with his peers, he never
felt comfortable.

So at 10, he tried a new sport called goalball for athletes with limited
vision. Teams of three would stand on opposite sides of the court and
try to throw the ball into the opposing net.

Jenks started playing and, as the Philadelphia resident put it, “fell in
love.” More than 20 years later, he’s still playing; this December he will
play for the United States in the International Blind Sports Federation’s
Goalball World Championship in Portugal.

“It’s incredibly meaningful for me to play this game at the highest
level,” Jenks said.

Th e tournament will mark Jenks’ fourth appearance in international
competition in his favorite sport. He represented the U.S. in the 2010
and 2014 world championships and in the 2016 Paralympic Games,
where he helped the team earn a silver medal.

Jenks, 32, grew up celebrating Chanukah with his Jewish mother’s
side of the family. While he’s not religious today, he still eats whitefi sh
salad and knows and appreciates “a good bagel,” he said. He’s also not a
full-time goalball player. Th e athlete works a day job as an educational
assessment specialist at the Center for Teaching and Assessment of
Learning at the University of Delaware. But he is committed to the
sport like it’s a full-time job.

Jenks did not make the U.S. team for the 2020 Paralympic Games
in Tokyo (played in 2021 due to the pandemic). He said he had carried
around multiple injuries that he had “never fully dealt with.” So, he
10 DECEMBER 8, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
walked into a physical therapist’s offi ce
at Excel Physical Th erapy on Ludlow
Street, now Ivy Rehab Physical Th erapy.

“I said, ‘I want to be 100%,’” Jenks
recalled of the conversation.

He dedicated countless hours to
stretches, exercises and full routines
that rebuilt his strength and endur-
ance. Aft er a while, the man who had
recently turned 30 felt like a Paralympic
silver medalist again. Jenks said he was
stronger aft er those months of working
out than before.

Th e athlete also learned a valuable
lesson. If he wanted to make another
national team, he had to become the
kind of scientist that great athletes oft en
are: of their own bodies. He had to pur-
sue excellence in weight training, nutri-
tion and even sports psychology.

“Taking advantage of every oppor-
tunity to get on the court and play the
game,” Jenks said.

When Jenks fi rst played goalball, he
said he felt free for the fi rst time. It was
the only sport he had played where he
was not at a disadvantage due to his
visual impairment. He did not have to
worry about his safety; and his oppo-
nents didn’t have to worry about him,
either. He could just move around, fi re
the ball across the court and stop it from
fl ying into his own net.

“I found there were less of those barri-
ers that existed in everyday life,” he said.

At 12, he started training with a
Philadelphia area men’s team and trav-
eling to tournaments in the Northeast,
Midwest and West. At 16 or 17, he
played in a tournament in Canada.

Today, he has played goalball in 18 U.S.

states, three Canadian provinces, 14
other countries and a U.S. territory.

And he hopes to add to that list.

In 2028, Los Angeles will host the
Paralympic Games. Jenks wants to try
to make the U.S. team as a 38-year-old.

“It would be incredible to make that
happen,” he said.

In goalball, everyone plays off ense
and defense, and Jenks prides himself
on being a willing defender. But he
has always taken a particular interest
in making his throws more diffi cult
to defend. He claims that he was an
“early adopter” of throwing a ball that
bounced high in the air to evade defend-
ers. In 2010 it was relatively new, but
today, everyone’s doing it.

Jenks may be right. Aft er all, since the
age of 15 or 16, he’s taught the game, too,
in sports camps, schools and other set-
tings. One time, a mother of a visually
impaired child in central Pennsylvania
asked him to conduct a clinic in the
child’s school. Th at day, the kid “was
able to come in and be good at that game
in front of her peers,” Jenks said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com