VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR)- Every basketball player had that moment where they fell in love with the game. For Chesapeake native Tyler Purcell, getting cut from a team in fifth grade did the trick.
"I didn't make that team," he recalled. "Honestly it's just what made me want to try so hard play basketball. It was just to prove to others that I could do this."
Proving others wrong has been part of Tyler's life story. He was born with VATER Syndrome, a rare group of birth defects that impacts organs and limbs. The Chesapeake high school student has just one functioning kidney, a narrow trachea and no right radial bone.
"It really doesn't affect me too much," Purcell said. "I would say the more my hand goes down, the weaker it gets, but I can really do anything I can do with my left hand. I've just got to try extra hard with it."
Tyler's path to basketball has gone through plenty of doctors' office and operating rooms. He underwent 11 surgeries in the span of 10 years and learned how to live with his own unique set of challenges.
"I wouldn't say I had any struggles in my day-to-day life," he noted. "Just some looks from people and just people asking 'hey what's that?'"
Now Tyler spends plenty of time in the gym working to make a splash on the hardwood. He's put in countless hours of work with his father, personal coaches, at camps and during team practice. The rising senior has worked to perfect his entire skill-set- defense, shooting, dribbling, etc.
"I have to get extra low on my right side so I don't lose the ball or I have to change the way I'm moving," he says of the adjustments he's had to make to accommodate his condition. "Those are really the changes I've had to make."
"Once he got into the seventh or eighth grade, he started taking it very seriously," added Ron Davis, a coach and skill developer at IBall 24/7 in Virginia Beach. "We spent a lot of time in the gym. We put in the work and the rewards started to come from the work he put in."
Every time Tyler takes the court, he does so with a chip on his shoulder. He's determined to prove to everyone he belongs and, be it a practice or a game, leaves no doubt by the time the session has concluded.
"He doesn't want you to give him something extra or make it easier," Davis noted. "If they're doing 45, I want to do 45. If they're doing right hand, I want to do right hand. I'm going to figure it out."
"I just like to stop people," pointed out Tyler. "I know people are like 'I'm not going to see this every day.' I just like to show people something different."
His hard work is paying off. Tyler and his family posted his highlights to the NCSA college recruiting website. That led to elite camp invitations and he received scholarship offers from a couple of prep schools. After standing out on junior varsity and varsity at Great Bridge, Tyler has accepted a scholarship offer to play his senior year at Erie Prep Academy, where he'll get top-notch skill development and college exposure.
"Coach (Dave) Briski reaching out was a big wake-up call to me," said Tyler. "People really believe in me that I can do this."
"The kid is just that good," said Briski, who is the director of basketball strategy at Erie Prep Academy. "He's really, really talented and his ability to overcome those obstacles and make it look like there's no disadvantage is really what makes it special."
Tyler hopes that Erie Prep is just the next step on his basketball journey. He has aspirations to play in college and, eventually, the professional ranks. But above all, he hopes others can learn from his ups and downs and learn that no matter what they are facing, there's always a path to their goals.
"If anybody would use him as inspiration, I would use that and say 'hey, I've just got to make it happen. I've got to find a way to make it happen,'" said Davis. "Get the right people in your circle to make it happen."
"If there are any other kids out there dealing with stuff and they're not wanting to go out there and try their hardest or their not wanting to go out there because they feel like their different, it just proves that with a little extra work, you can do it, if not be better," Tyler said.
The guard and forward will spend the next month working out in Hampton Roads before making his way to Erie at the end of August.
Click here to see how we use AI at WTKR News 3.
