Community Champion: Monserrat Velarde

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The El Paso native, Monserrat Velarde, picked up an athletic scholarship to Cecil college after sitting out her last two seasons of high school ball and while dealing with dyslexia.

Velarde and her family discovered she was dyslexic when she was in the first grade.

"It's definitely something I'm still overcoming," Velarde said. "I definitely had to work at it, everyday it was sitting at the kitchen table with my dad crying because I didn't understand something or I didn't get something as fast as the other people. Dealing with dyslexia and being a competitive person wasn't easy."

The 18-year-old wasn't getting the opportunity she needed on the mound at Eastwood High School so she decided to play for the El Paso Yung Guns softball club, where she met head coach Miguel Chapa.

"Going through my journey I found coach Chapa," Velarde said. "He's somebody who gives opportunities to girls who can't get it anywhere else. It goes to show that he builds girls confidence just with a game."

Being dyslexic and being a pitcher doesn't necessarily go hand in hand. However, coach Chapa trusts her and leaves it to her to choose play calls.

"I allow her to make her own plays and call her own pitches," coach Chapa said. "It helps with the anxiousness and she's confident in what she's going to throw. She knows how to deliver."

"You'll get a lot of people telling you that you can't do something," Velarde said. "Just because you don't take the traditional path doesn't mean that you can't get to where you want to be, there's different ways to get to where you want to be."