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Blindness Doesn't Deter Spriggs's Mat Vision
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Their curiosity didn't end there. Spriggs's teammates struggle to understand losing something as fundamental as sight. They ask him questions about the last thing he remembers seeing or the last movie he saw. When Felder asked Spriggs if he "sees" total darkness, Spriggs replied, "It's like a mirror without a reflection."
"We have moments like that where I just won't understand it," Felder said. "Mike inspires me, though, that's for sure."
Spriggs said he hasn't noticed his other senses heighten since he lost his sight, but the way he shoots his legs backward when he feels an opponent reach for them or leaps up from his mat-side chair when he hears wrestlers tumbling toward him suggest otherwise. When other Flowers matches are unfolding, a teammate always sits next to Spriggs and delivers play-by-play to keep him involved in the match.
"He'll get more into a match than I will," said McBride, the team captain. "I'm like, 'How do you know he has to make that move?' "
Evan Henderson, a 189-pound junior, stood next to Spriggs when the team lined up according to weight at the beginning of the season. That day, Henderson became what McBride calls "Mike's designated guide." Anytime Spriggs is without his cane, Henderson must be at his side. He clutches Henderson's right elbow and lets his teammate lead him onto the scale for weigh-ins, around the mat for warmups and from the bench to the scorer's table to the center of the mat at the start of each match. Spriggs calls their interaction a "partnership."
The most important thing for Henderson or any teammate is never to leave Spriggs alone. "I always wondered how he got around," Henderson said. "It was hard to get our timing down, like when I would stop short, he'd run into me. But we've figured it out."
Spriggs, who has learned so much to live at such a high level, wants to continue opening minds and imparting lessons throughout his life. It's one of the reasons he hopes to become a teacher.
"I want to help people achieve what they think is impossible," Spriggs said.
He has plenty of firsthand experience.
