MANITOWOC, Wis. (WBAY) - Manitowoc Lincoln freshman swimmer Katelyn Zavala is overcoming her visual impairment to make key contributions to the Ships squad.

Katelyn’s vision difficulties began when she was young, but her sight was strong enough to let her learn how to swim relatively easily.

“Swimming - I did swimming lessons when I was really young,” Katelyn said. “It’s only a couple flashes of memory here and there of diving into the pool and learning how to swim.”

But then, Katelyn’s vision worsened in sixth grade to the point that she is now legally blind. Despite the setback, she never gave up on swimming.

Now, she is assisted by a “tapper”, which is essentially a tennis ball at the end of a stick. A coach will tap Katelyn to let her know that she is approaching a wall.

“With tha

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