FINNEYTOWN, Ohio — The secret to judo is harnessing a sixth sense. But for Team USA's Clara Allardyce, it's technically about mastering a fifth.
Allardyce is legally blind.
At 16 years old, she failed the eye exam portion of her driver’s test.
"When they told me to locate certain things, I couldn’t. So the proctor was like, 'I think you need to go see a specialist,'" Allardyce said.
Allardyce was diagnosed with Retinitis pigmentosa, a rare eye disease that results in blindness.
"It sucked," Allardyce said. "I thought my life was pretty much ending."
"I felt hopeless, I cried. I’m about to now because I remember it," said her father, Peter Lay.
Over time, the NKU grad lost her vision, describing what she sees as "either a backwards (magnifying glass) up to your eye or ... looking through a straw." Instead of focusing on what she didn't have, she started embracing her feel and searching for a new goal.
"I need to do something with my life. What do I want to do?" Allardyce recalled thinking.
"Is this the life we would have chose for our daughter? No. Is this the life we would have chose for us? No. But it’s what we’ve been given and we are going to run with it,” said her mom, Alicia Lay.
Allardyce latched onto judo.
"They were looking for somebody that can coach a sight-impaired person," said Steve Hamilton, Allardyce's Nidan.
Hamilton said he hadn't worked with someone who was sight-impaired before, but Allardyce didn't care. She believed in herself.
"With judo, the nice thing is you don’t need sight to do this sport," Allardyce said.
She proved to be correct as she mostly faces off against opponents who can see.
"I have more control I feel ... not only do I want to be stronger than you, I want to feel that movement on my body," Allardyce said.
Allardyce uses her touch, along with sound, listening to her coaches.
"Just yell — I can hear you yelling when I’m fighting," Allardyce said. "My brain is still actively moving."
Allardyce is the top-ranked visually impaired judo athlete in her weight class in the country, and her sights are set on the 2024 Paralympics in Paris.
"Her will to win, her will to try, will to learn is like none I’ve seen," Hamilton said.
Peter Lay said his daughter is "so inspirational to me."
"I guess that is what I’ve always wanted in life," Allardyce said. "If I can do that with being blind, then there is nothing wrong with me."
It may look different, but Allardyce's sights are set on gold.
