For Jake Olson, blindness is a conquerable obstacle

Being blind is supposed to be a hindrance, a deterrence that takes away your vision, your future, your dreams.

But don’t tell that to Jake Olson, a freshman long snapper on the football team who has no eyesight but plenty of determination.

When head coach Steve Sarkisian called on him to deliver his first snap during a live field goal drill at practice one Wednesday morning a few weeks ago, Olson jumped right in.

“I felt ready,” Olson said. “It was something I did thousands of times. It was not letting the situation get in your head … Just do the same thing you always do.”

That mindset has pushed Olson through life, helping him cope and overcome obstacles that come with being blind.

Born and raised in nearby Huntington Beach, Olson was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer at birth. The tumor spread fast and caused him to lose his left eye at just 10 months, but doctors were initially able to salvage his right eye.

However, throughout the next 12 years, the cancer came back time and time again — eight occurrences in all. Olson exhausted nearly every treatment — chemotherapy, laser, radiation, chirotherapy — but the tumor was persistent. Fearing the cancer would spread to the brain, doctors had no choice but to remove vision in Olson’s right eye as well.

So, at the age of 12, Olson faced a daunting, unnerving reality.

“It was scary and overwhelming because I was like, ‘How am I going to walk? How am I going to know where I’m going? How am I going to text? How am I going to eat? How am I going to do all these easy things?’” Olson said. “You really have to relearn how to do them.”

Before the procedure, though, Olson received an invitation to hang out with the USC football team from then-head coach Pete Carroll.

At first, Olson thought he was simply going to watch the team practice. But it turned out to be the full package — Olson did everything with the team from eating dinner to sitting next to Carroll on the team bus. Olson’s final night prior to surgery was spent at the USC practice field with Carroll and the team raising his spirits and wishing him the best.

“It really made me part of the team, and I felt like how I feel now … the camaraderie and the brotherhood and the support you get with being on the football team,” Olson said. “During that time of my life when I was going to confront going blind, it really meant a lot to have that love there.”

After the procedure, Olson continued to play flag football in middle school, which he said was not overly taxing. But high school football at Orange Lutheran — a state powerhouse — was too much of an injury risk for him, and Olson reluctantly sat out his freshman and sophomore years.

The competitive itch tore at him. He missed being on the field and having fun with his teammates. So he decided to try out for the only position in football that didn’t require sight: long-snapper. He spent every day for three months over the summer learning the position from scratch.

“When I first started I couldn’t snap the ball,” Olson said. “I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. It took two or three months of really practicing hard to start seeing some progress.”

But he made incredible progress, and when the school year started, Olson became the starting long snapper on the varsity football team.

“It was cool to see the practice pay off, but it was also being on the field and knowing I was contributing,” Olson said.

Olson has also found time to serve as an inspiration to others. Since his story became public, Olson has received numerous speaking requests. His foundation, Out of Sight Faith, raises money for blind kids to receive the necessary technology to succeed in the classroom. He has written two books, the first when he was just eight years old and the second in 2013, titled Open Your Eyes: 10 Uncommon Lessons to Discover a Happier Life.

“There are a bunch of principles in there that can apply to any circumstance,” Olson said on the book, which he co-wrote with leadership coach McKay Christensen. “Just getting through adversity and how to live a happier life. It’s a very inspiring book, and that’s what I’m about — helping people and inspiring them.”

Olson said that in facing adversity it’s important to always push forward and he advises other kids growing up blind to do the same.

“The only thing that’s going to stop you from getting to your true potential is you,” Olson said. “And so find a will, find a way to get things done and get to where you want to be. And trust me, when you do, it’s going to be so satisfying.”

Growing up a die-hard USC fan, his choice for college was a no-brainer. Olson was awarded with the Swim With Mike Scholarship, which funds physically challenged athletes, and he is settling in at USC. He uses his guide dog, Quebec, to get around. Still, there are daily challenges that range from walking to class to brushing his teeth.

“I’ll never say that you cannot do anything, but I will say that it does take an extra step of thinking and being creative in ways to find how to do it,” Olson said. “It doesn’t mean you can’t do it. It’s just a little difficult to just do normal things like walk or do homework or figure out which toothpaste is on your toothbrush.”

If there is a silver lining, Olson said it’s that being blind has given him the chance to appreciate others truly for who they are and not their appearances.

“Sight can really deceive you at times,” Olson said. “Not being able to see has allowed me to view people for who they are. I think that’s a really cool thing. If you ask me, it really isn’t about how someone looks.”

Olson cites his faith in God and his support system of family and friends as his main inspirations. But the motivation goes both ways — Olson said he feeds off others who look up to him, too.

“People tell me how much I inspire them,” Olson said. “But in turn that inspires me because I know that I’m making an impact. That’s what helps me keep going, just knowing that I’m making an impact in people’s lives.”

This positive mindset has gotten Olson to his dream scenario, wearing the cardinal and gold on Saturday nights.

“I’m on the team that I admired for so many years,” he said. “I was so excited [to put on the Trojan uniform]. I couldn’t believe what I was wearing. The first day and the last day, it’s going to be the same feeling of, ‘This is a blessing.’”

His teammates, while attentive to his needs, treat Olson like just another player, which Olson says is a “great mix.” Growing up a die-hard Trojans fan not far from the Coliseum, he said that it is surreal to head out of the tunnel as part of the team.

“I always pictured myself as a kid up there looking down at the players in uniform and admiring them,” Olson said. “And so when I’m in uniform down there, I can only imagine … I’m one of those guys now, which is a crazy thing to think about.”

Which brings us back to that practice a few weeks ago on a Wednesday morning, with Olson receiving the call to take his first live snap. With players, coaches and media watching, Olson calmly stepped up and delivered the snap. Not surprisingly, it was perfect, and the field goal was good, prompting a celebration and good feelings all around, a group of star athletes in solidarity with a blind kid from Huntington Beach living out his dream, continuing to say “yes” when everything around him kept screaming “no.”

“It was a cool moment for everyone out there,” Olson said. “It was awesome.”