"Every test in our life makes us bitter or better, every problem comes to break us or make us. The choice is ours whether we become victim or victor." – Unknown

When told she had a right leg tibia stress fracture last winter shortly before the spring golf season, Amber Bosworth easily could have crawled into bed, pulled the covers over her head and started feeling sorry for herself. It meant her 2014-15 golf season was all but over. A golfer's inability to walk and navigate a course is similar to a baseball pitcher being asked to throw with a torn rotator cuff. 

Here she was some 700 miles away from her Southlake, Texas home. Angry. Frustrated. Amber shed some tears in frustration knowing that she would be unable to compete in the spring portion of her sophomore season, to be a part of the Lady Govs team effort. But she quickly wiped them away. When her roommate and teammate Morgan Kauffman left for trips, Bosworth admits to some low moments.

However, to know Amber Bosworth is to understand she is not one to wallow in pity. She literally has become an expert in moving forward, in rewriting her own script. She subscribes to the theory that strength is not derived from what you can do, but from overcoming things you believed you couldn't.

Amber has aspirations of being APSU's top golfer and the best in the Ohio Valley Conference…perhaps playing professional someday. Since she started playing the sport relatively late in her youth, she always has been playing catch up in the sport. She didn't start playing the sport until she was 16—most college golfers begin playing as a youth, at the ages of eight or nine years old.

When she was younger, Amber's father, Dwight, attempted to coax her into playing golf, a sport he loved to play. Amber shrugged him off. She loved playing basketball and volleyball…and she excelled at them while golf was a little too slow-paced in her mind.

But during the fall of her freshman high school volleyball season, she and a teammate went up at the net to block a spike attempt. Amber came down first and quickly—and fundamentally—shifted into defensive cover position for her teammate. At the same time, her teammate's elbow came crashing down into Amber's left eye. The eye literally exploded—she had a torn iris. It was literally a million-to-one occurrence… Nonetheless Bosworth was blind in that eye.

Picture the eye as a sink with a faucet constantly flowing…with an open drain. In Bosworth's case think about the drain clogged with the fluid (aqueous humor) having nowhere to go because the eye itself is compartmentalized by the eye socket. Amber underwent two surgeries to repair the damage, one saw a man-made valve inserted into her eye to allow drainage, similar to surgeries performed on glaucoma patients. Her eye, her sight was restored.

Undeterred by her injury, Bosworth came back to play volleyball and basketball with one warning ringing in her ears from the ophthalmologist: 'If you get hit in the eye again, you will not be able to see; I will not be able to help you.'

So Bosworth donned goggles, similar to what Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon used to wear in their NBA days, and returned unabashedly to the court…but not for long.

"I hated wearing the goggles," Bosworth said. "My friends (and teammates) also were afraid to hit me. I looked up (into the gymnasium lights) and the glare just really bothered me. I just decided it wasn't what I needed to do." 

That following summer, seeking another sport to play, she started chipping and putting, giving her a taste of the sport of golf. Even though Bosworth's eye injury recovery prevented the uncoiling of a full swing, she was catching the bug. At the same time Amber started learning the game, so did her brother, Brad, who is four years Amber's senior.

"I started in August and was chipping with my brother and we both fell in love with it," Bosworth said.

Yes, she misses playing volleyball and basketball. At the same time, she absolutely bears no resentment to the teammate whose elbow changed her life. In fact, Bosworth looks at the elbow from a positive perspective.

"It brought me to golf," she said with a smile. "If that didn't happen I wouldn't be here (at Austin Peay). I love being here. As I always joke around, (the injury) was an eye opener." 

"When life places a wall in our path, we have two choices…we can beat our head against it, or we can figure out a way to get around it."-- Randi F. Fine

Normally one would think someone Amber's age already has experienced adversity of a lifetime with her harrowing eye injury and the subsequent delicate surgeries, let alone last winter's stress fracture. But no, Amber's battle to overcome physical challenges started at a much, much earlier age.

When Bosworth was two years old she became extremely sick. First, she fell ill with the chicken pox. At the same time she also developed an ear infection. As the illness lingered and afterward, the normally talkative, out-going, rambunctious young child suddenly became sullen, quiet…and introverted.

"Doctors said I was just being stubborn, 'she just doesn't want to talk'; I would only respond to (the words) yes and no and to mom and dad. My parents went around and around about it (with the doctors). They said, 'no, something is wrong.'  Finally when I was four the (doctors) put me to sleep and did a hearing test.

"The doctor came out and said 'she is half deaf.'"

To this day, no one is sure exactly what caused the condition. The illnesses occurring simultaneously…the antibiotics…the combination of it all?

Bosworth was fitted with hearing aids at that time. "I always have been self-conscious about (the hearing aids)," Bosworth said. "Just always being different than most people, having that extra barrier.

"It is like a kid wearing glasses, you just need a little help is what my dad said."  

It was literally a rewind for her parents and Amber in her interrupted development, but at least they had answers and, more importantly, their youngest child was able to hear again.

Hearing also is critical to speech and language development. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, "the earlier hearing loss occurs in a child's life, the more serious the effect on the child's development. Similarly, the earlier the problem is identified and intervention begun, the less serious the ultimate impact."

For the next 12 years, Bosworth was involved in intensive speech therapy. Remarkably, most cannot detect any perceptible speech impediments. In fact, much of the time Bosworth's hair covers the hearing aids. If not for her hair being pulled back or wearing a visor, few would notice the hearing aids and realize she is hearing impaired.

"I have spent more than 12 years trying to talk correctly, talking slower and not mumbling," she said. "Even today it is a struggle for me. You have to be so conscientious and make an extra effort (to enunciate) that most people don't have to.

"Most people are shocked when I tell them (about my hearing impairment). I just don't want to be viewed differently…because I am not. I am able to play sports, do well in school and be a normal kid."

Advances in hearing-aid technology have rivaled most digital devices. Hearing aids now include moisture resistance and wind-noise management along with noise reduction. The new advances are allowing hearing-impaired people to rely more and more on their second sense.

"My older ones affected me when I sweated playing basketball or volleyball and I would have to take them out," Bosworth said. "Sometimes they would fall out. These newer ones are not only smaller but they are sweat proof, waterproof."

In the past, Bosworth admits rainy weather forced her to completely shut off the devices or even remove them, essentially closing off the world from a sound standpoint. But she also laughs about the times she has used those devices to her benefit.  

"Sometimes in golf it can be a huge advantage to turn them off and play deaf," Bosworth laughingly said. "There was one hole in this one tournament where there was this dog yapping…and the other two girls shanked (their tee shot) because the dog yapped during the middle of their swings.

"I went up (to the tee box), looked at my brother and turned off my hearing aid…and I hit is straight down the middle. He laughed at me and said: 'that's not fair.'"

"I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them."—Boris Pasternak

Subconscious with her plight as a youngster, Bosworth struggled at times fitting in. She turned to studying and to sports to help her cope and gain acceptance. Her parents, Dwight and Donna, made sure she had the resources to help her succeed, but also instilled an unwavering work ethic.  

"I had a little extra help (at school) when I was a little kid and I didn't like that," Bosworth said. "I didn't like having that extra help compared to the other kids so I quit going (to those special sessions) and started trying to challenge myself to do better. I read more, paid better attention and taught myself a lot.

"My parents gave me everything I wanted and needed growing up. But I also wanted (people) to see that I could work hard too. My parents taught me nothing in life comes easy: If you want to be good you have to outwork everyone else. If you want to be smart you had to out-study everyone else.

"I wanted to be the best at everything I did. I just have that desire to become better each day."

That drive has never wavered. But it is also that desire that forced her to limp away from the course last spring.   

Bosworth knows just one way to achieve—hard work—to help her catch up. After the 2014 fall season in which she had her ups, including a career-low round and a Top 10 finish, and downs, the now-junior worked out twice a day, trying to gain more strength and durability while gaining better conditioning. Her ambition to succeed didn't sit well with the bone structure in her right leg. It began bothering her before the fall semester ended. The discomfort did not go away while she was at home during the holiday break as swelling began surfacing in the lower portion. After taking a few days off, she continued her attempts to run and condition during the winter hiatus.

Unfortunately, it led to a "break." Originally it was thought she might be able to return to competition later in the spring but head golf coach Sara Robson and Bosworth agreed, because she would need to walk 18 holes on at least consecutive days, it would be unfair to ask Bosworth to play under those conditions.

When the Texas native finally was given the OK to begin conditioning and golf activities in the spring…you guessed it…Bosworth's ambitiousness—or in this case over-ambitiousness—led to her injuring a toe—a stress fracture in her right foot. As a result, her return to the golf course didn't occur until late May. She eventually played in five events in the Northeast Texas region. Although she failed to qualify for the Lady Govs opening tournament in South Carolina, she worked her way into this week's Murray State Invitational lineup. She no longer carries her bag; she uses a push cart to avoid the extra pressure on her legs and feet.

"My problem is trying to be too perfect," she said. "Sometimes I have to take a step back!

"My parents tell me all the time how proud they are of me. If I get frustrated or down they remind me 'you are playing Division I golf after taking it up just 4 ½ years ago."

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved."—Hellen Keller

Bosworth has channeled her ambitious on-course drive to off it…into her education. A 3.8 GPA student, she used last spring's unexpected extra time away from the golf course to become a double major in business marketing and management, with a double minor in entrepreneurship and finance.

Amber doesn't know where this unimaginable journey will lead her. Despite the delayed start playing the sport and the potholes she continues to navigate through, Bosworth wants to pursue professional golf. In addition, she has sat alongside her father, a longtime helicopter pilot, and loves the idea of learning to fly one, perhaps professionally.

But on the opposite front burner, not surprisingly, is the idea of originating a foundation for the hearing impaired or for purchasing athletic hearing aids.

"My brother and I have talked about starting an organization for deaf kids when I get older…creating an awareness of it," Bosworth said. "I know a lot more kids—and it is starting to get out there—are  becoming hearing impaired because of (listening to loud) music, (use of) electronic devices and stuff like that. I just want more people to be aware of it."

If life is a series of experiences, then Amber is much, much older than her 21 years, gaining strength and self-assurance at each step on this adversity-teemed journey. Although her legs and feet may not be able to carry all the weight of those experiences, her broad shoulders certainly can and will, no matter the detours encountered.

"What I have is no worse than other people have to deal with," she said. "It could be worse. I am thankful I have been able to overcome it—not view it as a negative—and just believe there is a reason.

"I just know there is a reason God has put me in these (hearing aids), these barriers, which is why I wanted to play golf and why I want to play on the LPGA…just break down that barrier, to say that it is okay to be different."

-AP-