AKRON, Ohio — Golf isn’t just a sport to Brandon Crayton, it’s a way to learn life skills.
What You Need To Know
- Empower Sports works to break down barriers through sports for people with disabilities
- Brandon Crayton has high-functioning autism and said he loves sports
- Crayton’s coach said he is learning life skills through golf
“It flies 100 yards. It’s like way up in the yards, it’s like far, far away,” Crayton said after hitting the ball with his driver.
Crayton has high-functioning autism. Golf helps him get into a routine. It’s all about muscle memory and repetitions.
“Golfing is my life. I want to be a legend of the golf,” Crayton said.
He’s played other sports as well. He said he likes to rip lacrosse balls past a goalie.
He also got to shoot a basketball over legendary NBA shot blocker Dikembe Mutombo.
Crayton is a member of Empower Sports, an organization that uses sports to break down barriers for people with disabilities. Jake Jackson helped teach him.
He said Crayton needed little convincing to try it. A new skill he’s learning is social etiquette while out on the links.
“When most people play golf, they know ‘okay, I hit and somebody else hits and somebody else hits.’ Out on the course, Crayton might want to go up, hit, go up, hit,” Jackson said.
On the green, Crayton learned that it’s more about control in the short-range game.
“That way, when I take my time and that’s the way it goes, right in the hole,” Crayton said.
Jackson said people with autism often like a routine and teaching Crayton how to swing the same way every time is a great exercise.
“As you walk up, you get into your stance, you hit the ball, and it always is the same thing,” he said.
Empower Sports said players like Crayton show how the organization turns disabilities into abilities.
