Coach’s daughter provides inspiration for all
Dickinson softball coach Lisa marvels at dedication of his daughter, Jenna
Pardon Dickinson softball coach John Lisa if he’s brandishing a proud, broad smile these days. His 11-year-old daughter, Cameron, just competed in the New Jersey state gymnastics championships and finished seventh overall. That’s enough reason to be proud.
However, Lisa’s older daughter, 14-year-old Jenna, is also a competitor and a battler, just like she has been since she was an infant. Jenna Lisa is a freshman at Raritan High School, the starting pitcher on Raritan’s freshman softball team. She has a 6-5 record, facing some of the best freshman competition in the Shore Conference.
"I’m so enormously proud of what she’s accomplished," said John Lisa, who has been the Dickinson softball coach for the last 17 years and has been coaching football and softball for close to 30 years at Dickinson, after a great athletic career at Hoboken. "She gives her best effort every day. She’s a good student and showed a lot of determination."
When Jenna was just a year old, playing sports had to be the furthest thing from John and June Lisa’s mind. They just wanted their little girl to live.
The story of Jenna Lisa started when she was about six months old, when John noticed his daughter breathing erratically.
"She had a different breathing pattern," Lisa said. "We thought she was just holding her breath."
As it turned out, little Jenna was having an epileptic seizure.
"I didn’t understand it," Lisa said.
Little Jenna was taken for a series of medical tests. A CAT scan revealed that she had a brain tumor called a ganglio glyomia on her temporal lobe. It could not be determined whether the tumor was cancerous or whether it was life-threatening.
"Doctors didn’t know how serious it was at first," Lisa said. "It was a nightmare. We took her to doctors all over the state to find out what was wrong."
Finally, the Lisas took Jenna to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where doctors said that they could do one of two things – either leave the tumor alone and see what happens, or remove it immediately.
"The doctors said if we left it alone, she might lose her eyesight at a later age, like 4 or so," Lisa said. "So Jenna was taken in for 11 hours of surgery and they removed the tumor. When we found the tumor wasn’t malignant, we were on the top of the world."
The elation was short lived.
"I received a call at 2 in the morning, telling me that I better get to the hospital," John Lisa recalled.
After the surgery, Jenna had suffered a stroke in the central canal of the brain, the area that controls all motor functions to the left side.
"Doctors didn’t know if she was going to be paralyzed on the left side," Lisa said. "Or whether she would ever be able to regain full use of her left side. We just assumed that she was going to have to lead a life of being physically disabled. The tumor was so strategically located that we never knew if she would fully recover."
However, Jenna Lisa defied the doctors and the odds. As she grew older, she became able to maneuver, despite the partial paralysis. When she was seven or eight, she would go everywhere with her father, to Dickinson football games, which he videotaped for scouting purposes, or to softball games and practices.
"Jenna always wanted to play softball," John Lisa said. "She would come along and always ask if she could play."
The athletic inspiration could come from her father, who was a tough customer during his days at Hoboken High, or her mother, the former June Sirotiak, who was a standout girls’ basketball player at Dickinson.
One day, while watching the Yankees play, Jenna got the inspiration she needed that would change her life forever. She noticed former Yankee pitcher Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand, yet was still able to pitch in the major leagues and was able to throw a no-hitter for the Yankees.
"Jenna asked me, ‘How does he do that?’" John Lisa said. "I explained what Jim Abbott did, putting the glove under his right arm after he threw the ball, catching the ball and throwing with the same hand. Jenna asked, ‘Do you think I could do that?’ I didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t."
"I just wanted to play," Jenna Lisa said. "I saw Jim Abbott and said, ‘If he can do it, why can’t I?’ We had the same situation. I figured I could do it."
So Jenna Lisa learned how to pitch softball windmill style, using only her right hand to catch and throw. She also worked hard to develop the right side of her body, to compensate for the paralysis on the left side.
"She once wore a brace on her left leg, from her knee to her toes, but that got cumbersome," John Lisa said. "So she did exercises to strengthen the other leg. The hand is so intricate, where even turning a door knob is tough. But she got used to it."
When Jenna Lisa was about 10 or so, John Lisa had to break the news to her that she wasn’t born with the paralysis.
"She caught me off-guard," Lisa said. "She only knew her life as being physically disabled. I had to tell her. She told me that she didn’t think of herself of being handicapped. She has always tried to do whatever she wants and she never says that she can’t do it."
In fact, Jenna Lisa has been such a determined young lady that her father invoked a rule with his players at Dickinson. It’s simply called, "The Jenna Rule."
"Never say that you can’t do something," Lisa said. "That’s the rule. If Jenna never says that she can’t, then they can’t say they can’t either."
"I couldn’t believe that they had a rule for me," Jenna Lisa said. "He used to say that a lot and I didn’t realize it was about me."
Jenna Lisa has never once said she can’t while trying out for Raritan High School softball team. She bats with one hand. She pitches with one hand. She has progressed so well with her leg that she is also able to run.
"She doesn’t have full use of her left leg," Lisa said. "She has what is classified as a drop foot, but she compensates for it. She just runs with an awkward gait, but she can run with anyone."
Jenna was a little worried that she might not be able to handle playing against high school competition.
"At first, I wasn’t sure if I could do it," Jenna Lisa said. "I thought it might be too much. I just wanted the chance to play. I knew I would miss it if I didn’t try. Plus, I knew most of the girls on the team, so they encouraged me. They put in a word for me with the coach. I really didn’t know how well I would do."
The players at Raritan never treated Jenna Lisa as being anything but their teammate.
"That’s perhaps the biggest compliment to Jenna," John Lisa said. "They don’t treat her differently. She’s one of the teammates. But Jenna doesn’t act like she’s disabled. She doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her. She’s never felt sorry for herself."
Added John Lisa, "So many other kids don’t realize what it’s like to overcome challenges like Jenna has. She has overcome a lot to get where she is. She would make my team, not just because she’s my daughter. She earned her place. She didn’t get there by default. She goes out and plays her position on every pitch. It really has been a difficult thing, first as a parent, then as a coach, to watch her want this so much. But she’s overcome all of it."
Jenna Lisa believes that her father has also been a major inspiration to her.
"I was always around him," Jenna Lisa said. "I was always around his team. I wanted to play like them, be like them. I think that inspired me a lot, to want to play even more."
Jenna Lisa turns 15 years old Thursday. There was a time when her parents wondered whether she would see the age of two. But she’s far from a sickly kid who seeks sympathy and pity. Quite the contrary.
"I think she’s an inspiration to anyone who knows the game," John Lisa said. "I try not to talk to her about what she’s done, but I am so proud of what she’s done. She’s an amazing kid. When you see her, you don’t even realize that she’s doing it all one-handed."
Jenna Lisa doesn’t want to be treated as someone who is different, even though she obviously is.
"It is pretty incredible, I guess," Jenna Lisa said with a laugh. "I’m really fortunate. I never thought I’d be able to do this much. I just want to achieve. I don’t have many goals. I just want to play."
Jenna Lisa plays. And with that, she truly is the inspiration that her father knows she is.