ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – An Abilene softball coach who’s been wheelchair-bound his entire life says he was recently kicked off a field due to his disability. 

Adrian Gomez, a base coach for Glory Adkins Gold WTX softball team, was coaching his girls at a USSSA fast-pitch tournament in Plano, Texas Thursday when umpires asked him to leave the field.

When asked why, the umpires cited safety and legal reasons, saying no unauthorized equipment, including wheelchairs, are allowed on the field. 

Gomez says he’s never experienced this issue a single time in his prior 20 years of coaching and says he was shocked when he wasn’t allowed to keep coaching from base. 

“I don’t see myself as different than anyone else out there. Any other coach is doing the same thing I’m doing,” Gomez explains.

Disability has been a life-long battle for Gomez, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and spinal atrophy at the age of two. 

Gomez told KTAB, “this wheelchair is me. I’m not in this wheelchair because I have something temporary that has me in a wheelchair.”

USSSA Fast-Pitch is standing by their decision to remove Gomez from the field due to safety reasons, saying “we intend to enforce the prohibited equipment rule as safety of the participants is our primary concern.”

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TONIGHT on KTAB News – Get the full story of Gomez’s experience at the softball tournament and what he hopes will happen in the aftermath.