ULYSSES, Kan. 12-year old Quincy Sierra decided he wanted to compete in athletics this year, his first in junior high. But, like everything in life, Quincy has to work even harder than most kids his age.

When he sees he has no central vision, explained Whitney Teeter, Quincys mom. Its like hes looking through Swiss cheese, because there is so much scarring. The vision he does have is very limited.

Quincy is blind, caused by scarring to his retinas at birth. Despite that, he wanted to run.

My blindness does not matter, Quincy said with a smile. I am confident. Even though I have vision problems, I am still confident with that.

Confidence is not enough though. State requirements dictate Quincy must be tethered to adult in order to compete in sanctioned events.

I didnt know how it was going to go down, Teeter admitted. I thought I better start training because I am out of shape.

But Teeter didnt have to worry about that. Quincys coach, Cory Bixler, stepped up to make sure Quincy got his chance.

If I dont do this, he doesnt get the chance to compete, and thats not going to happen, Bixler said. Thats kind of the why you know? If I dont do this, he doesnt get to run. Theres no chance, he doesnt get to run. I mean, somebody else would have done it, but I am going to be there anyway.

Bixler will be there, because he coaches both the Junior High and High School Cross Country teams in Ulysses. But instead of his normal coaching duties, Bixler will run too. Tethered to Quincy, every step of the way.

Thats the point of it, Bixler, a coach for more than two decades, said.This is about helping kids, and thats what it is all about.

Bixler will tell you that anyone would have done what hes doing to help Quincy, and that may be the case as Quincy is pretty popular around campus. But for Quincy, it means something that his coach is the one who stepped up.

Im glad he said you know what its time to help. And its a good thing he did, because we have become a great team, Quincy beamed.

A social media post from Quincys first meet went viral. And the attention has made a difference Quincys life.

He just has so much more he believes in himself, Teeter admitted. There were a lot of times where he was shy about trying new things and nervous. He called me the other day and said mom I tried out for jazz band. He was like I just think I did awesome. Ive seen that in him. More self-confidence.

And while his mom and coach admit they are scared he might stumble, he has, Quincy isnt worried about it. He gets up, and just gets up and keeps running.

He doesnt limit himself. I see that it is inspirational, but I guess for us weve been around it and to us we are like thats just Quincy.

We asked Quincy if he wanted all of this attention to inspire others. He quickly said yes, and added

If you ever have limitations you want to pass the limit. Oh wait, you dont want to pass the limit, you want to beat the limitation you set. Oh wait, you dont set one. The only limits that are there are the ones you set for yourself.

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Blind cross country runner competing with help of coach - CatchItKansas