When she was pregnant with her first child, Dayani Bover learned that her baby boy’s right leg and some of his fingers would not grow to their full length.
Here’s what nobody knew at the time: Her child would turn into quite a basketball player and make a habit out of overcoming any challenge.
Meet Bryan Atorresagasti, 17, who can do just about anything on a basketball court -- dribble, pass, defend and shoot.
“There’s no limit for me,” Bryan said. “Nobody can tell me what I can’t do, because I’m doing it.” Bryan’s entering his senior year at Horeb Christian School in Hialeah, where he plays point guard on the basketball team and averaged 12 points per game as a junior.
Bryan, of Hialeah Gardens, has used a prosthetic limb since he was a toddler. He has pursued athletics throughout his childhood, playing football, soccer and swimming.
He also learned how to box, which is fitting since he’s clearly a fighter.
“To me, I am normal,” Bryan said. “I can do everything anyone can do.”
He has lived up to that declaration, with his family’s support.
“He has always been a strong child, dedicated and an enthusiastic dreamer with many goals,” said Bryan’s father, Yassiel Atorresagasti, 37, whose son translated his comments from Spanish.
The father transports cars within the United States for a living.
“Like all parents, we try to teach him to do his best and we are seeing the results,” Atorresagasti said.
Bover said Bryan’s parents and her husband Lino Alvarez, who has been in the boy’s life for 14 years, are his biggest cheerleaders.
“I’m so proud of Bryan,” said Lino Alvarez, 44, who owns an air conditioning business. “He always wants to do his best, at whatever he chooses to do.
“And if he wants to do something, he’s going to do it,” Alvarez said.
Bover, 36, a general manager for Alma Medical Centers, said of her son, “I constantly encourage him to do anything he wants to do and don’t let anything, or anyone, stop him.”
Bryan made the varsity basketball team at Horeb Christian in Hialeah during his freshman year.
During his sophomore season, he endured a major injury to his right knee and underwent surgery that benched him.
Doctors told him he may never play basketball again because his muscles were no longer strong enough to allow him to jump or run.
Bryan said his prosthetic wasn’t made for playing sports. So doctors designed a new device that protects his knee and gives him more mobility on the basketball court.
He came back to play his junior year and thrived.
“I was so happy,” Bryan said. “I kept the faith and never gave up.”
When Bryan returned to the basketball squad after his injury, he became the floor general and led the team to its biggest win of the season in January, 65 - 63, against Westwood Christian School in Miami, said Walter Caballero, Horeb Christian’s coach and athletic director.
Caballero said Westwood is the Mustangs’ biggest district rival and had beaten Horeb Christian by 40 while Bryan was recuperating.
But when they played this past season, Bryan scored 10 points, plus had five rebounds and seven assists, Caballero said.
“Bryan was the main reason for that win,” Caballero said. “The win was big not only for Bryan but for the growth of our program.”
His team went 10-8 last season, falling short of a playoff berth.
Their goal for Bryan’s senior year is to make the postseason.
“My teammates are supportive of me,” Bryan said. “They help me up when I fall down in practice and in games. They count on me to play well.
“I hope I’m an inspiration to people and that they can do anything they want to do,” he said.
Caballero met Bryan when he was an eighth-grade student and tried out for the flag football team.
“From the first day I met him I knew he was special,” Caballero said. “There was no quit, no drill he would not do, no position that he would not play.
“Anything and everything I asked him to do, he did proudly, humbly, and to the best of his ability,” Caballero said.
The coach said he has watched Bryan grow from a young man with some doubt in himself to the person he is today.
“He is a natural leader on the team,” the coach said.
Bryan hopes to play college basketball and attended a summer youth camp to improve his skills.
Bryan’s younger brothers, Lino Miguel Alvarez, 12, and Angelo Miguel Alvarez, 6, are non-disabled.
The younger boys play soccer, Lino at Inter Miami CF Academy and Angelo at Agape Soccer Academy, their mother said.
“They ask Bryan for advice and tips in soccer so they can get better,” Bover said.
Says their big brother, “I told them to focus on their goals and the results will come in.
“And they can’t give up, no matter how hard it gets,” Bryan said.