LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Her bump may not seem like much.
For six-year-old Kennedy Adkins and her family, it was a bump with meaning.
Kennedy attended her first Racing Louisville FC game and was there to see her favorite player, Carson Pickett.
Kennedy, like Carson, was born without her left forearm and hand. Pickett has become an influential figure for those with a limb difference.
“She can do anything and that’s what we tell [Kennedy] her everyday – you can do anything anybody else can do and Carson is a good example for her to see that,” Desirae, her mom, said.
Carson feels it is rewarding that people see her as an influential figure and impact their lives, no matter the age, in a positive way.
However, it was not always like this for her. When Carson first attended Florida State, she tried to hide her arm from the new world.
“I remember my first summer there,” she recalled. “I wore sweatshirts because I didn’t want to be different than anyone else. I didn’t want people to stare at me, I didn’t want people to ask what happened to your arm – really, I just wanted to go in there and be my own person without talking about my arm.”
Carson eventually settled in and became one of the best soccer players in the country.
She was not exactly ready to be an advocate for others until she was encouraged by her parents one year after the ACC Tournament.
“An older disabled man – he had approached me – I guess my hat had Carson on it. He said, ‘are you Carson’s dad?’ I said yes, and he said he would give anything to meet her – ‘she’s my hero’ [and] ‘she’s the reason I’m here’,” Mike Pickett said.
Carson added, “I realized this is an opportunity not a lot of people get. I’m different and I need to run with that.”
One of her greatest moments happened in 2019 as a member of the Orlando Pride she met three-year-old Joseph Tidd, leading to a viral moment on social media.
“And the second I put my arm out, it was almost like he realized we were the exact same person and the exact same arm,” Carson explained.
Carson works with the Lucky Fin Project, a non-profit organization to raise awareness and celebrate those with a limb difference.
“That makes us really proud. She’s taking on the ownership of that and taking on the responsibility of it,” Treasure Pickett, Carson’s mother, said.
Mike added, “To see the impact she's making off the field is way more important than anything she can do on the field."
It’s an impact that will last much longer than the autograph for Kennedy.
"I think it's given her a little more confidence and that's the biggest thing seeing someone else like her. It’s like, ‘oh I'm not alone’," Desirae said.
Perfect, just the way she is.
"Knowing that even though you look different, doesn't mean you're different than anyone else and your dreams can be just as big," Carson said.
Perhaps becoming the next Carson Pickett.
►Contact sports reporter Kent Spencer at kspencer@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@WHAS11Kent) and Facebook.
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