Derry often got ahead of her peers and classmates with daily routines such as tying shoes, zipping jackets and even riding bikes.

So when she joined her older brother, Dylan, shooting baskets in the driveway when she was 5-years-old, nobody batted an eyelash or told her basketball was something she shouldn’t or couldn’t do.

Derry, now a freshman at Newton Falls, has maintained that approach her entire life despite being born with hypoplasia, which is a medical term for incomplete development of an organ, tissue or body part that remains below the normal size or in an immature state.

In Derry’s case, her left arm is short and forms a nub, without a wrist, hand or fingers.

Staff photo / Brad Emerine Newton Falls freshman Lily Derry had to have a French horn retrofitted so that she can play the keys with her right hand. A fellow student led a fund-raising project to enable Derry to play in the concert band.

Derry, who plays on the junior varsity basketball team for the Tigers, was quick to point out that she terms her status as a “diffability” not a disability.

“It stands for different ability,” she said. “I’ve always hated the word disability because having one hand doesn’t hold me back from anything. I have a diffability instead.”

She said she recalled the day she first shot at ball with Dylan.

“I was 5 or 6 when (Dylan) was playing in the driveway and one day I just went out and asked him if I could join him. I told him, ‘I want to shoot some hoops, too.’

“It was a little difficult to play when I first started because I had to set up my shot a little differently and those types of things. But that wasn’t going to stop me. I love basketball. I use my nub to balance the ball and it’s all fine.”

Jen said she has never doubted what her daughter can do.

“Funny thing,” Jen said. “She was in preschool right before she was 4 years old and she had an IEP (Individual Education Plan). It was never used because the teachers found out quickly that she didn’t need one. She was the one helping other kids tie their shoes and zip their jackets.

“You know, she taught herself how to ride a bike without training wheels when she was 7. If it’s something she wants to do, she finds a way to do it. She was born with the spirit of independence. I wouldn’t say we taught that to her. It’s just who she is.”

Mark Baker, the varsity basketball coach at Newton Falls, said he’s never seen Derry feel sorry for herself or make excuses.

“She’s been coming to my basketball camp since maybe when she was in kindergarten or first grade and she’s never allowed her left hand to inhibit her in any way,” Baker said. “She has probably spent more time playing by herself than most of the girls out here. Nothing slows her down.

“She’s a very intelligent young lady and whatever she may be lacking in terms of athleticism, she makes up for with her cerebral approach. She thinks multiple steps ahead of other players.”

Tony Houshour, the junior varsity coach at NewtonFalls, has been amazed by Derry’s work ethic.

“We’ve worked with Lily for many years coming up through elementary, and her dedication and determination to improve have just been incredible,” he said. “She adjusts so well to everything that we’re doing.

“She does a good job making up for (a shorter defensive reach), by adjusting and overplaying on her good side to compensate. Even with dribbling, she has worked very hard and she can dribble a lit bit with the short arm.”

While rebounding and a shorter defensive reach are difficulties, Houshour said Derry has a strong shooting form.

“She has one of the best shooting forms on the team because, if you think about it, you’re shooting with one hand anyway and the other is just a guide,” he said. “For a lot of shooters, their offhand and fingers can get in the way and the ball comes a bit sideways or with a different spin. But with no fingers there to get in the way, she usually doesn’t miss left or right. Her misses usually are about the depth of her shot, whether it’s long or short.

“It’s just impressive to watch her compete and do the things she does.”

While Derry loves basketball, there’s more to her than that. She has a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the marching band, and now the concert band — thanks to a close friend.

“Olivia Van Overbeke is a junior who started a GoFundMe Page to purchase, recondition (and retrofit) a French horn so I could play in the concert band with her,” Derry said. “We played mellophone together in the marching band, but there is no mellophone in a concert band. I told her I’m sad and I’d miss her and I didn’t want to play a trumpet.

“So they got me a French horn, but those are set up to play the keys with your left hand and to put your right hand up in the bell to make the quality sound come together. Since I can’t play it that way, everything had to be changed and customized for me. That’s what I call amazing.”

Madison Haidet, who plays varsity girls basketball, thinks Derry can put a smile on anybody’s face.

“She’s got the best personality,” Haidet said. “She’s so funny and everyone loves her. You look at her and you don’t even notice she doesn’t have one hand because you’re engaged by her personality. She makes everyone happy. She’s just great to be around and she treats everyone so well.

“She’s the biggest joker, too. She can make anybody laugh. You see her and she just makes you happy.”

Haidet said some who don’t know Derry personally have made mean remarks in the past.

“She fits in with everybody, but some people who don’t really know her, have made mean comments,” Haidet said. “But that’s only based on Lily being different, nothing that she has done or said led to that. If you know Lily, you know that what makes her different is what makes her great. That’s what makes her Lily.”

Even though Baker and Houshour have known Derry for a long time, they said coaching her on a regular basis was a little odd at first.

“I’d catch myself quite often saying something I immediately wanted to take back,” Baker explained. “That was true, especially at the beginning of the season. I’d be yelling at all the girls to ‘put two hands on the ball,’ ‘pass the ball with both hands,’ or ‘use your left hand,’ sometimes even directly to her. Then I think, did I just say that to Lily? So you catch yourself and you don’t want it to be presented or taken the wrong way.

“But she’s fine with it. She doesn’t want to be taught any differently than the rest of the girls. She can actually shoot it some with her left hand and she can dribble with both hands. We have ball drills using both hands and she does those drills. She doesn’t want to be held any less accountable than any other girl on the team.”

And that’s the way Derry hopes things will be for her entire life.

“I’m looking forward to playing varsity basketball and getting some varsity starts in the future,” she said. “That’ll make me happy, but I’m just going to keep moving forward until then and after that, too. That’s not the finish line.

“I want to be happy and enjoy what I’m doing my entire life, and I want to do whatever that is well and without limitations.”