Finally tonight, the story of a young girl who’s begun to see her future in a way she never allowed herself to imagine. Steve Hartman met her on the road.
STEVE HARTMAN: Last month in their home opener here at Mile High Stadium, the brand-new Denver Summit women’s soccer team went scoreless. But for one girl in attendance, it was a huge win because she found a role model.
– Just put your arm up.
STEVE HARTMAN: Why was it so important to you to meet her?
– I want to be a professional soccer player when I grow up, and she was able to do that, and it really fills me with hope that I’m able to as well.
STEVE HARTMAN: Nine-year-old Hayden Stine was born without most of her right arm. So when she went to that game and saw number 16, Carson Pickett, a player just like her, Hayden says she saw something in herself.
– Role models make you feel like you can do anything, just like them.
– Her confidence has skyrocketed.
STEVE HARTMAN: Parents Jonathan and Christina.
– At school, on the soccer field, it’s through the roof.
– Yeah, she scored three times at practice.
– Yeah, yeah.
STEVE HARTMAN: They say meeting Carson was truly life altering, and yet Carson says it almost never happened.
STEVE HARTMAN: So the old you might not have gone up and talked to Hayden?
– No. No, probably not. I didn’t want to be known as the girl with one arm that plays soccer. I just wanted to be known for the girl that plays soccer.
STEVE HARTMAN: For years, Carson says she hid her arm in pictures and avoided even talking about her limb difference. Until one day, she says her mother told her she was missing an opportunity, a purpose. Carson later posted, “Finding out that the journey is a lot less about myself and a lot more about the hearts I can touch along the way.”
STEVE HARTMAN: So now you’re the complete opposite.
– Complete opposite. I want to meet all the kids, all the families, all the adults. I want to meet everyone that I can.
STEVE HARTMAN: In fact, Carson has now so embraced the role of role model that this week, she surprised Hayden at her practice.
– Hi, Carson Pickett.
– How are you?
– Good.
– Good to see you.
– It’s good to see you too.
STEVE HARTMAN: Carson plans to stay in touch–
– This is really cool.
STEVE HARTMAN: –and maybe help Hayden find her purpose, too, because when it comes to role models, it takes one to be one.
You could become a role model someday for somebody else.
– Yeah.
STEVE HARTMAN: You up for that job?
– Yes, I am up for it.
STEVE HARTMAN: OK. [LAUGHS]
Steve Hartman on the road in Denver.