On Saturday afternoon, when UCF takes on Kansas, Andrew Cherico will as soon as once more be within the press field, doing the job he loves, precisely the place he is meant to be.
For Cherico, the journey to that seat has been something however simple. Born with spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive neuromuscular illness, he was capable of stroll as a younger boy till the age of 9, when he started utilizing a wheelchair. However regardless of the bodily challenges, Cherico discovered a connection and luxury in his love for sports activities, particularly soccer.
“I type of understood already,” Cherico stated in a section on “Large Midday Kickoff,” advised by FOX Sports activities’ Tom Rinaldi. “These guys work day-in and day-out for 60 minutes on a area. There’s one thing concerning the depth, that zeal, that urge to compete. I really feel in love with that.”
In 2023, Cherico enrolled at UCF and instantly started pursuing his dream of working in sports activities journalism. Final yr, whereas contributing to the “Sons of UCF” web site, Cherico was assigned to cowl a postgame information convention following UCF’s matchup with Colorado, coached by the legendary Deion Sanders.
“I’m within the center, second row, and Deion Sanders walks in,” Cherico recalled. “My coronary heart begins to flutter. I begin getting butterflies in my abdomen. My palms begin to shake. I knew I had a chance I could by no means get once more for a very long time.”
When he requested Sanders a query about stopping UCF’s run recreation, he received greater than a solution. He received a second that may change his life.
“Before everything, I’m happy with you and your resilience and what you undergo on a day-to-day foundation,” Sanders advised Cherico. “I’m so darn happy with you, you don’t have any thought, as a result of I used to be in a chair at one level with these toes being amputated, and I do know what you cope with every day.”
That acknowledgment meant greater than he may ever put into phrases.
“All the pieces I assumed I may do as a child till now was justified by anyone at his stage,” Cherico stated. “These phrases — ‘I’m happy with you’ — meant a lot to me. He didn’t want to try this.”
The journey hasn’t gotten simpler for Cherico. However he retains exhibiting up. Retains engaged on his craft.
“After I go into the press field, I’m the one particular person with a bodily incapacity in there,” Cherico stated. “It’s more durable than lots of people may perceive.”
His mom, Aracelis Contreras, sees that energy from her son each day. “He’s not weak,” she stated. “He’s robust, and he’s preventing for what he needs — and what he needs is to be acknowledged.”
Cherico was not too long ago employed by 247Sports and had the chance to journey greater than 1,000 miles to Dallas this previous summer time to cowl Large 12 Media Days, the place, as soon as once more, he crossed paths with Sanders. “I stated thanks for every little thing,” Cherico stated. “That second we had modified my life.”
That second additionally solidified Cherico’s future.
“If I wasn’t 100% certain about journalism then,” he stated, “I do know that is what I wish to do for the remainder of my life. I can’t cease now. I’m simply getting began.”
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