Katelyn Pavey is a real-life inspiration. Born with one arm, she persevered, overcame her struggles — and, against all odds, played college softball.
Pavey’s incredible journey is told in “I Can,” a film that shows God’s grace throughout life’s many trials. For years, she rebuffed attempts to make a movie about her story, believing she didn’t really have anything special to share.
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“I didn’t want to be seen as sitting on a pedestal,” she said. “And I also thought there were more people in our congregation that needed their story to be told — and it wasn’t only me who denied it three times. It was also my dad.”
But her pastor, Tyler Sansom — who is also the director of “I Can” — was successfully able to convince Pavey to take part. However, it wasn’t easy, as the family was at first hesitant to open up their story, as elements of it could be seen as unflattering.
But she and her dad, Eric, realized they could make an impact.
“[Tyler] said, ‘Well, if you can inspire one person and if you can help one person find and follow Jesus, would you do it?'” she recalled. “And I said, ‘Absolutely.'”
At the center of Pavey’s story is a difficult reality.
“I was conceived out of wedlock due to an affair,” she said. “Both my parents were married previously, and then when they got together, they had me.”
Adding to the complexity of the situation is the feeling her parents had that her being born with one arm was somehow a punishment for their sin. But her paternal grandmother reminded Eric of something important about Pavey, despite her disability: “God doesn’t make mistakes.”
While Eric’s guilt over the past initially held back a movie like “I Can” from being made, Eric came to realize the importance of telling the family’s story and Pavey’s incredible ability to overcome the odds.
Despite the past, Pavey grew up in a Christian household, with the family attending church weekly. Being born with one arm, of course, presented challenges.
“Gowing up, I faced a lot of adversity,” she said. “I faced a lot of challenges that I had to overcome and adapt to.”
Pavey’s parents told her she could do anything she set her mind to, even if it might look different from others. But even in kindergarten, she had a teacher who complained about tying Pavey’s shoes for her; the educator asked the parents to send their daughter with velcro sneakers.
Rather than give up, Pavey doubled down and learned how to tie her shoes.
“The next day, I walked up to my teacher and I said, ‘Look, I can tie my shoes,'” she recalled. “So it was just things — I call them ‘I can’t moments’ that I had to face growing up.”
Sometimes, parents even stopped their children from playing with her because she looked different. Over time, she had to learn to adjust to such moments.
“You continue to adapt to any adversity that you’re thrown in life, and you overcome that, you become successful,” Pavey said. “You don’t go back to your old ways, you don’t give up, you keep pushing on to be successful, to show people that you can. And that’s just what I did my whole life, especially through the sport of softball.”
Pavey’s love for softball started when she was just 3 years old, with her skills already on full display. Eventually, she honed her talents, learning how to adapt to playing with just one arm.
“[It] took just countless hours in the backyard with my dad, countless times just after practice,” Pavey said. “And it was about when I was like 8 years old, I started playing more competitively. I started on a travel team.”
She continued, “But that’s when there was a lot of words from parents, words from other players, words from coaches.”
And those words weren’t always encouraging.
“I vividly remember I was playing a team, and the coach called timeout, and I was up to bat, and he moved all of his players in,” Pavey said. “He’s like, ‘Move in, move in, move in. She can’t hit, she can’t hit!'”
She naturally felt disrespected simply because of her arm. At other moments, parents would complain about her — to the point that one coach asked her to leave the team.
“I don’t like drama on my team,” the coach said. “You’re causing a lot of drama. … Parents are complaining that a girl with one arm is playing over their daughter with two and they just don’t understand, and I can’t deal with this drama on my team. So I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”
This sort of dynamic would be enough to break some people, but Pavey persisted, using negative words and treatment as “fuel to get better” at the sport.
“Those words hurt — they hurt a lot, and it did make me sad, and it did make me feel bad,” she said. “But I knew that I had a greater purpose. I knew I had a talent in softball. I knew that God gave me this talent and I wanted to use those words as fuel to prove to them that I deserve to be out there, and I deserve to play.”
After leaving the team, Pavey kept working and training, building up her skills and stamina. Soon, her goals became loftier, with hopes of playing college softball. Again, though, she hit roadblocks.
“I’m hearing the same thing from college coaches — ‘Man, you have great skills, I would love to have you on my team, but’ — and there was always a but — ‘I don’t know how to coach a girl with one arm,’ or ‘I don’t know how my players will react to having a teammate with one arm.'”
Pavey continued, “So coaches would never give me a chance.”
But she continued forging toward her goals, becoming an all-state player during her high school career and eventually signing a college scholarship to play softball — a full-ride to Cincinnati Christian University.
It’s truly the ultimate overcome story, and viewers can experience it through “I Can.” Pavey hopes the movie leaves audiences deeply inspired.
“God doesn’t make mistakes,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from. God has a purpose for your life, and He made you in his perfect image.”
Pavey continued, “And you just need to trust in Him that He has that plan for you.”
She wants people to feel inspired to push past their struggles to reach their destinies.
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