In most ways, 15-year-old Lola Ho is just like any other teenager. She studies hard, makes good grades, and enjoys spending time with her friends and family. Those closest to her would describe Lola as funny, outgoing, talkative, and a talented long distance runner. Lola has also been blind since birth.

According to Lola’s mother, Erica Ho, “She’s just trying to just be the most typical 15-year-old girl she can be. Although it takes her longer to complete some tasks because she has a different set of hoops she has to jump through, she gets there, and what she’s able to do is pretty amazing.”

Regarding long-distance cross-country running, Lola “gets there,” with the help of a guide runner, a sighted person who matches her step for step. This guide provides verbal cues to assist in navigating the course and calls out potential obstacles, while remaining connected to Lola at the wrist by a small piece of rope called a “tether.” 

Initially, Erica served as Lola’s guide runner, “I did guide for her for a long time, but as a parent there comes a time when it’s not the best idea for your child to have her mother instructing her because there’s enough of that at home.”

The relationship between sighted guide runner and visually impaired runner is complex because it requires an enormous amount of trust on the part of the visually impaired runner. 

As Erica explains, “Just put yourself in that position. If we blindfolded you and said, ‘This person is going to take you on a three-mile run as fast as you can go.’ What would that be like for you?” 

Becoming a guide runner requires superlative communication skills, as well as the ability to anticipate the things most sighted runners take for granted, including varied terrain, trail obstacles and hazards, as well as maneuvering the course in general.

This year, Lola will attend Liberty Creek High School in Gallatin as a freshman, after making the move from Station Camp Middle School. For most of the summer, the Liberty Creek Wolves have undergone rigorous training under the direction of Head Coach, Scott Wietecha, and Assistant Coach, Daryl Bridges.

Prior to making his own move to Liberty Creek last year, Daryl Bridges had coached Lola at Station Camp Middle School. 

According to Erica, “He was very invested in helping her to be the best runner she could be. He wasn't at all about, ‘Let's just give her a participation award.’” 

Most impressively, Bridges treated Lola just like any other team member, and he made it clear that his goals for Lola transcended her blindness. 

Not making it a “big deal” has been paramount for Lola who agrees her coaches have been accommodating and helpful. 

In essence, Coach Bridges didn’t want Lola to simply excel as a blind athlete, he wanted her to excel as an athlete, period. To accomplish this, Bridges spent a considerable amount of time researching creative accommodations that were empowering for Lola. 

As Erica describes it, “As a teenager, you don't always want to be dependent on other people, but when you are functionally blind, sometimes you have no choice.” Coach Bridges made it his mission to find ways for Lola to fully participate while fostering a spirit of independence that is crucial for any teenage athlete.

The addition of Scott Wietecha as Head Coach sealed the deal on what Erica describes as a veritable, “dream team,” for Liberty Creek Cross-Country. A seven-time winner of the St. Jude Nashville Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon, as well as a 2016 USA Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier who has been featured in Runner’s World Magazine, Wietecha had already established a successful cross-country program at Beech High School in addition to T.W. Hunter Middle School and Knox Doss Middle School. 

As fate would have it, Lola and Scott Wietecha had already met several years prior to his appointment as Head Coach for the Liberty Creek Wolves. 

Erica explains, “Years ago, when I was still guide running for Lola, we were at a meet, and I was very sick with an upper respiratory illness. Just before the race, I said, ‘I'm not going to be able to run,’ and on the fly, Scott picked up and guide ran for Lola. He didn't know us at all, and I was so grateful to him for doing that. From then on, we would see him at different meets, and he would always remember her.”

The fact that Scott Wietecha had signed on at Liberty Creek was the confirmation Lola and her family needed to assure them that they were indeed in the right place. 

“In all the years Lola has been running, we've never encountered anyone quite like Daryl and Scott. They’re wonderful people, and the amount of effort they’re willing to put in to see Lola succeed is amazing. They both see what she's capable of and they help inspire her to rise to the occasion. They’re champions of a kid with a disability in just the best, most empowering way,” says Erica.

The Liberty Creek Cross-Country coaches are making an incredible impact on Lola, her family, and the rest of the team as well. Cheers to them, and good luck this season!