By Analah Wallace | Special to The Observer
It’s hard to believe a basketball player of Loismary Justice’s caliber had little interest in the sport when she was first introduced to it. Now she’s a star player on her team – and among the best in the Sacramento area.
Justice – a 6-foot sophomore powerhouse on the West Campus High School girls basketball team – is a baller. To people watching her play, it would be difficult to tell that she has a vision disability.
“It wouldn’t stand out to somebody else because when you watch me play, it wouldn’t be noticeable,” says Justice, 16. “But to me, it’s going on, you know?”
Justice was born with albinism, a condition characterized by a lack of melanin in areas such as the hair, eyes, and skin. The lack of melanin led to a condition called nystagmus, which causes uncontrollable movement of the eyes. She says it decreased her vision over time.
Justice is legally blind. She wears prescription glasses, which steady her vision and help improve her depth perception on and off the court. She can identify shapes and colors, but cannot make out faces. She has a cell phone of course, but the type has to be enlarged for her to send text messages with her friends and family. At times, she needs special accommodations for class to make sure she can enlarge type for assignments or use audio books when available.
“I know there are different types of albinism, and people have worse vision than I do. I’m grateful for the amount of melanin that I have because that’s why I’m able to do certain things,” Justice says. “There are people who aren’t able to, and I would like them to feel inspired when they see me out there playing.”
And, boy, can she play. Justice averages 18 points a game for the Warriors, third highest on the team. She is the team leader in rebounds (11.8), field goal percentage (49%), and blocks (1.4) per game. West Campus, which lost a Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal, still qualified for the Northern California regionals. First-round matchups will be announced Sunday afternoon March 2.
While she does most of her damage offensively around the basket, Justice also can hit the long ball, making 6 of 21 three-point attempts.
Justice was born in Nigeria and moved to the U.S. with her parents at age 6. As a kid, she was always outdoors and rarely liked to be inside. One of the first sports Justice found an interest in was gymnastics, which she learned about watching it on TV.
Not until middle school did Justice begin to take an interest in playing basketball, and joined her seventh grade team. Justice’s condition didn’t stop her from learning the ins and outs of the game.
“When I was young, I was naive. I didn’t really see it as a struggle,” Justice says. “ I just kept going.”
John Langston, West Campus girls basketball coach, says he has seen Justice play basketball since the eighth grade. He describes her as hardworking, confident, and naturally strong.
“I saw her as an eighth-grader over the summer develop her feel for the game – her shooting, her dribbling, her movement,” Langston says. “And during the freshman season, I saw her do some things that other freshmen normally can’t do.”
The more Langston worked with her, the more he found ways to help realize her potential. He took what she was good at and worked to create plays that benefited her skills as well as accommodated her vision challenges. Still, Langston says he pushes Justice just as hard as the rest of the team, if not harder.
Langston notes that Justice has an impressive memory and that plays came easier to her if they were repetitive. He started working to adjust practices so that she could remember how they felt. Over time, Justice figured out how to use her speed, strength and memory to her advantage on the court.
“She has figured out how to play this game differently than anyone else I’ve ever coached,” says Langston, who won state titles in 2017 and 2018.
“I admire her for doing what she’s doing and not just looking saying ‘I can’t do it’. I’m sure she has her moments, and I’m sure at times she’s frustrated with things,” Langston says. “Her life is really different and she tried to make it as normal as everybody else.”
Now that she’s older, Justice says she no longer sees vision as a factor in how well she plays. She says she believes she doesn’t need 20/20 vision to be able to play basketball well and that she wouldn’t ask for anything more.
“I’m self-taught in pretty much all the things I’ve done throughout these years,” Justice says. “And now that I keep going forward, I’m meeting these people who are willing to help me, and I’m really happy for that, so I can get better.”
Outside of basketball, Justice enjoys hobbies such as dance and acting. She even has interest in being a model, and would love to be on-screen in one way or another in the future. She hopes being a model with albinism will spread a positive message.
“I want to be inspiring in the photos I take,” Justice says. “Everyone is beautiful, no matter what they look like. They’ve just got their own unique features. I believe I’m unique in my own ways.”
Justice’s main goal after college is to play professionally. But for now, Justice is dedicated to her position on the West Campus girls basketball team and winning the Division 4 playoffs.
“I just love the team, love the school, love the game,” Justice says.