Maddie Kupsky sees blurry lines on the marching-band practice field, but she has a clear vision. Legally blind since birth, the 15-year-old is focused on marching with the Dublin Scioto High School band, then ranking as the first blind member of the Ohio State University marching band to participate in all performances. Her goals are fueled by relentless optimism and determination.

Maddie Kupsky sees blurry lines on the marching-band practice field, but she has a clear vision.

Legally blind since birth, the 15-year-old is focused on marching with the Dublin Scioto High School band, then ranking as the first blind member of the Ohio State University marching band to participate in all performances.

Her goals are fueled by relentless optimism and determination.

"Instead of saying, 'If I get into the (OSU) band' - because, to me, that's saying, 'Oh, I might not make it' - I say, 'When,'" Maddie said. "So it makes it more of a positive thing to say, 'I will get into the band, and I'm going to make history.'"

First things first, though: mastering the routines of her high-school band.

To that end, she is surrounded by a supportive team - from her mother, Jenni, to students and teachers at both her former school, the Ohio State School for the Blind, and Dublin Scioto.

"She has such a great attitude, and I really want to see her do well," said Scioto band director Jim Gray, who called Maddie the first visually impaired marching-band hopeful he has taught in his 31-year career.

She was born with a rare condition known as cone dystrophy.

Two types of cells, cones and rods, form the retina, the layer of tissue in each eye that processes light into images. In her case, the degeneration of the cones leaves her with poor vision in the center, colorblindness and a high sensitivity to light - but some peripheral vision.

Jenni Kupsky, a single mother of one, remembers being told about the condition.

"They sat me down with a box of tissues to tell me these things," she said, "and I said, 'OK, great, what do we do from here?' And they were like 'Aren't you sad about this?'

"And I said: 'No, not even a little. My daughter is not going to die; she can live a completely productive life with her vision the way it is, and we're good.'

"Everybody has some things they have to overcome in their lives. Eyesight is her thing, but she can do everything she wants to do; she just needs to figure out a different way to do it."

Which explains what her daughter did last week, as marching-band practices got underway.

Maddie attended the blind school from grades four through nine, playing trombone and taking part in the marching band the past three years.

Although most marchers there are accompanied by sighted guides, Maddie declined to have a guide the past two seasons - a decision easing her transition to Dublin Scioto.

"I don't want any special treatment," she said.

The move to Scioto was rooted partly in academics (she wants to study veterinary science at OSU) but spurred, too, by advice from Paul Droste, a former OSU marching-band director.

Droste met the Kupskys in 2014 at a Lions Club event, where the organization was donating an instrument to the blind school.

After hearing her goal to make the OSU band, he advised Maddie to attend her public school. He also gave her free private lessons.

Droste had served as director when Greg Daniel arrived at the OSU band in 1971.

Daniel, who is totally blind, auditioned though the standard procedures but marched only occasionally during his four-year tenure, standing on the sidelines at other times.

"We sometimes referred to him like a designated hitter," Droste said. "If we were in a stand-still formation, he would march on and play a number. He did all the parades and Script Ohios, too."

According to Daniel, a resident of the Clintonville neighborhood who met Maddie when he addressed the blind-school band last year, her biggest challenge might involve making adjustments when she finds herself out of place.

"Everybody makes mistakes, but they use visual cues to correct them," he said.

On a recent steamy morning, Maddie sweated along with the 115 other Dublin Scioto band members and seemed to do well on basic drills.

Afterward, she said, she commented to other musicians that the yard lines seemed faded.

"They told me that they had just been painted," she said. "So that told me I had to work even harder to make sure I was in the line."

In addition to the field movements, she is adjusting to a baritone horn - given that trombones aren't used in the Scioto band.

Her fellow band members seem to have accepted her.

"I think she does fine," said Rachel Riggs, another 15-year-old sophomore and baritone player.

"We're a really good school district and really good at bringing people in with open and loving arms."

The students are attending band camp this week in Jackson ahead of two weeks of practices before the first game: Aug. 26 at Westerville South.

The band, Gray said, has "shared positions," so, if not ready for the halftime show at first, Maddie could be replaced by someone else.

Another option: She could participate just in the simpler pregame show - performed only at home games, with the first one scheduled for Sept. 2.

Mindful of her attitude, however, Gray added: "She has very high goals. Her goal is to march at OSU, so we have three years to get her ready."

kgordon@dispatch.com

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