McMinn Central guard Karina Bystry not allowing hearing impairment to deter dreams of state titles, college basketball

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BY JESSE SMITHEY

Karina Bystry had every reason to decline the invite, each of the three times it was extended.

And, perhaps, no one would have blamed her — if they knew her.

But the McMinn Central combo guard doesn’t succumb to fear all that easily; she has faced tougher circumstances. So when media requested her to post-game interview sessions after each of the Chargerettes’ three games during the 2023 Class 2A state tournament, Bystry obliged.

Then just a sophomore guard, who had likely never experienced such a press setting, Bystry looked each reporter in the eyes when spoken to and offered back well-articulated answers with conviction. Oftentimes, high school athletes can clam up in that situation, when facing a room full of adult journalists with camera and iPhone lenses pointed at them.

Bystry spoke as if she’d been in that spot dozens of times.

You had to listen closely, though, to understand why she could have easily opted out of the public speaking requests. And when you finally picked up on it, you respected Bystry even more for her efforts.

She wasn’t letting her hearing loss nor her slight speech variance prevent her from her duty.

Not on the court. Not off the court.

“Karina has always been one who’s super confident,” said her mother, Kimberly.

“She’s never been one to worry about her hearing aids.”

CONNEXIN 26

Karina Bystry was born on May 13, 2007, and on Mother’s Day, no less.

She was the second-born child of Andrew and Kimberly Bystry, who had also had a son together in 2005. Their first-born failed his newborn hearing screening; however, when he was just a few months from turning 1, the Bystrys were told his hearing was OK.

When Karina was born, naturally, they wondered if she might fail her hearing screening, too.

And that is precisely what transpired.

Something was amiss.

They did follow-up testing on Karina, and she failed that hearing screening, as well.

“At that point, we knew she had hearing loss and we had to figure out what severity her loss was and do testing with our other kid,” Kimberly Bystry said.

“I was an emotional wreck. Not only did I find out my daughter, who I’d just had as a baby, had hearing loss, but literally — in that same month — found out both my kids were hearing impaired. I was an emotional wreck. I didn’t know what to expect.”

According to CDC.gov, the GJB2 gene in human DNA “contains the instructions for a protein called Connexin 26. This protein is needed for a part of the ear called the cochlea to do its job. The cochlea is a very complex and specialized part of the body. It needs many instructions to form and work correctly. These instructions come from many genes, including GJB2, GJB3, and GJB6.

“Changes in any one of these genes can result in hearing loss.”

The testing on Karina revealed she, at that point, had mild-to-moderate hearing loss caused by Connexin 26, her mother said. The hearing loss later increased.

Karina received hearing aids when she was just three months old.

Speech therapy began before she was even a year old.

Kimberly drove Karina to those sessions at the University of Tennessee four times a week.

“She would be there for about an hour, even when she was that little,” Kimberly said. “Then, as she got older, they put her in group (speech) therapy. So we would do an hour therapy as an individual and an hour in therapy with other kids, to get that (social) connection with other kiddos.”

THE FOUNDATION

On Thursday, Feb. 15, 2023, Karina Bystry had a ho-hum start to McMinn Central’s District 3-2A Tournament semifinal against Tellico Plains. She had just two points through the first couple of minutes and then sat on the bench for a small spell.

When she checked back in with 3 minutes, 35 seconds left in the first quarter, she went from two points to 42 in a hurry.

She hit a step-back 3 at the 3:20 mark and then the points just started pouring — drives into the lane, 3-pointers, free throws, all of that.

At the end of the first quarter, she had 17. By halftime, 33. She hit the 42-point mark with 2:20 left in the third.

Bystry could have shattered the program record for most points in a single game. But there was no sense in her staying in any longer, and McMinn Central coasted to a 92-29 win.

A 5-foot-10 guard with one of the more versatile skill sets in the area, Bystry was an All-5Star Preps selection last season when she averaged 17.9 points per game as a sophomore, led the team in 3s made, and pitched in 6.3 rebounds per game.

She is well on her way to being all-state this season.

In 30 games, Bystry is averaging 20.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.9 steals, and 1.6 assists per game as a junior. And McMinn Central (26-4) remains one of the favorites to challenge for the Class 2A state championship.

Division I programs are taking notice, and USC-Upstate offered her on Jan. 13.

“It’s definitely relieving to have gotten those offers and to know I’d have my education paid for,” Karina said. “I know I have a door to college, so all I have to work on is my game. It took a lot of stress off of me, that offer from Upstate.”

Chip off the old block.

Karina’s father Andrew grew up in Russia, where he played basketball collegiately and, for three years, professionally.

He moved to America in 2001. His best friend had immigrated to Athens, Tenn., after having been an exchange student there. That same friend later got a masters degree from the University of Tennessee and stayed in America.

That prompted Andrew to come take a look.

“When I came to the States to visit him, I fell in love with the area,” Andrew Bystry said. “I think it’s the most beautiful part of the world. And the people. The people are amazing.”

In 2002, he met his wife Kimberly — a native of Madisonville, Tenn. — and they were married in 2003. Two years later, Andrew began his business which focuses on design, construction and selling of luxury real estate.

Despite trading in his basketball shoes for ones of a different profession, his love of the sport never waned.

And he instilled in Karina the skills he had learned.

“From Day One, we worked hard,” she said. “My dad said, ‘If we’re going to do a sport, we’re going to go at it with all we can — with our best.’”

 

CREATIVE KARINA

Like many kids in their elementary years, Karina tinkered with various sports to see which ones appealed to her.

Gymnastics.

Cheerleading.

Those just didn’t move the needle like basketball did. By second grade, Karina was all in on hoops.

“She would just outrun everybody on the court. She couldn’t shoot a layup to save her life. But she would always steal the ball, run down the court and beat everybody,” her mother said.

“Then, she started shooting 3s out of nowhere. So this girl was shooting 3s before she could even make a layup.”

Her father saw the potential, too, especially when it came to her instincts. And, of course, her 3s.

Eventually the layups started falling, too.

The deeper she dove into the sport, Andrew made sure she had the skills needed to compete against girls who were similarly basketball-crazed.

He looked at Lebron James, the game’s preeminent figure of the day, as the blueprint for his daughter’s development … a bigger guard (possibly forward-sized) whose versatility could aptly fit any role on the floor — and to do it all with a painter’s vision.

“To me, basketball is an art form, like a ballet,” Andrew said. “And it’s almost like martial arts combined with ballet. It’s not just designed to win games, it’s designed to entertain, right? So it’s not just about putting the ball through the hoop, it’s about putting the ball through the hoop with a mission and a style. That’s why when I’d work with her, I’d want to bring some creativity out with her. And her personality is conducive with that. She loves creating. Sometimes you’ll see her do things that are different, the way she approaches her offense.

“So that’s kind of what I think her main attribute is: she’s super versatile and extremely tough.”

‘AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE’

The moment, the stage — neither was too big for Bystry at the 2023 Class 2A state tournament.

She opened with a 15-point, 10-rebound performance in a quarterfinal win over Gatlinburg-Pittman.

She followed that with a 27-point, seven-rebound outing against state power Gibson County in a semifinal win.

And Bystry was the only McMinn Central player to reach double figures in a loss to Westview in the state final, scoring 15.

Many players struggle with arena shooting at MTSU’s Murphy Center, especially when it’s their first time there at the state tournament.

Bystry’s game transitioned well from the high school gym setting to the college floor.

She shot a combined 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) from the 3-point line in McMinn Central’s tournament stay. And her passionate on-court demeanor provided quite the shot in the arm when the Chargerettes needed a boost.

Translation: not only was her versatility on display but so was her mental game.

“I get my shooting, (basketball) I.Q. and playmaking from dad. My aggressiveness, I get from my mom,” Karina said. “She never played sports. But when we played 1-v-1, she would play harder defense than my dad.”

Kimberly and Andrew Bystry are driven and motivated individuals, so maybe a strong will came to Karina innately.

Or perhaps, the genesis of it all dated back to her elementary school days.

Some suggested to Karina’s parents to put her in schools that catered to hearing impaired children. Andrew and Kimberly did not.

They enrolled her in public schools.

That meant sometimes, in the early days of her schooling, that Karina had to work harder to catch up or keep up, especially if she encountered a teacher who didn’t go above and beyond to meet her needs.

That also meant the curious stares and questions from her classmates about her hearing aids and her developing speech.

Karina rose above it all.

“Karina has always been one who’s super confident. She’s never been one to worry about her hearing aids,” Kimberly Bystry said. “As far as her not liking them when she was little, that was because she was a baby. She didn’t want things put in her ears. When she was 3 and started preschool, she never once complained about wearing hearing aids. It never bothered her. She’s always owned up and just knew that it helped her and wanted to wear them.

“She’d come home and say, ‘Mom, they’re super curious about my hearing aids.” I just explained to her that, ‘They’re just like glasses. Glasses help people see better. And hearing aids help people hear better. That’s how you need to explain it to them.’ I don’t think she ever had too many issues with people giving her a hard time.”

Andrew Bystry helped set the tone for the family in how to handle the hearing loss, some recessive gene trait that has affected three of his and Kimberly’s five kids.

He addressed it all from a more practical vantage point, not letting its discovery send him and his family into a woe-is-me state.

“When I played basketball, I was 6-3. I wanted to be 6-7. All the shooting guards I competed against when I had dreams of going to the NBA were about 6-7, right? I wanted to be 4 inches taller,” he said. “So hearing loss is no different. You’ve been dealt a deck of cards. You just do the best you can with it.

“Karina,” he added, “she chose to take that disability and make it a superpower.” 

And though Kimberly Bystry had those understandable emotions when learning of her children’s hearing impairments, she quickly found her footing and instilled her personal grit — the same internal drive she uses to make her 4 a.m. workouts — into Karina.

It continues to this day. When she noticed Karina being a bit too passive on the court early one season, she and Karina worked on self-affirmation and empowerment.

“‘You are an unstoppable force,'” Kimberly told her.

“‘It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your day or in the basketball games, you are an unstoppable force. No one can stop you except for yourself. As long as you remember that, you’ll be good.’”

‘THAT KIND OF PERSON’

Karina Bystry scored 26 points with nine rebounds and five assists Monday, Feb. 19, in McMinn Central’s District 3-2A Tournament Championship win, accenting the night of tournament MVP Molly Masingale — a senior guard and Wofford signee who scored 27 points with six made 3s.

The two of them together comprise one of the state’s most palpable backcourts, with Masingale also averaging nearly 21 points per game.

You’d think they had played together all their lives the way the complement one another.

But Bystry moved from Tellico Plains to McMinn Central for high school. And legendary McMinn Central girls’ basketball coach Johnny Morgan — who is nearing 1,100 career wins — had never seen Bystry play when she arrived for tryouts prior to her freshman year. He had only heard of her shooting prowess, as well as some misinformation someone fed him about an supposed lack of defense.

“I looked down there (during tryouts), and she was guarding a girl who was posted up. And she was on the side of them, and had that ball-hand up there. It was perfect, exactly what you’d teach a kid to guard the post,” Morgan recalled. “And I was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. Somebody’s lied about her defense. Because she’s pretty good on defense there.’ But she was always a good on-ball defender. … She’s a pretty good defensive player now.

“I think one of my first impressions of her was how smart of a basketball player she was.”

Morgan didn’t know she was hearing impaired when she tried out for the basketball team but he quickly learned.

But her hearing has never been an issue.

She also reads lips well. The hearing aids help, obviously.

And her teammates always serve as a safety net.

“She’s never let her hearing interfere with anything — being coached or playing or anything,” Morgan said. “She just goes and plays. And she is around a good group of kids, too. If we come out of a huddle and there’s a lot of crowd noise and she’s not sure what I said, the other players are telling her.”

Erasing the pangs of last season’s championship loss is the sole focus of Bystry and her teammates at this point in the season.

McMinn Central will play host to Bledsoe County in a Region 2-2A quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Friday. At a minimum, the Chargerettes need a win Friday, in the region semifinals Monday and then in the state sectionals (March 2) to return to Murfreesboro for the March 6-9 state tournament.

“When we lost (last year), I felt like we could have won,” Karina said of the title-game loss. “There were so many things that I had done wrong. And I wanted to train and get rid of those mistakes. It motivated me over the summer and in AAU games, to try and fix those mistakes.”

The Englewood community is on board, of course.

They’re basketball-minded, especially when it comes to the girls’ program which has one state title (2011), five state runner-up finishes and three Miss Basketball winners in its history.

Bystry is furthering that legacy each time she takes to the court.

And while she admittedly doesn’t know if she’s inspiring anyone along her way, she undoubtedly is.

“My wife loves her,” said Morgan. “My wife just thinks she’s the greatest thing that’s ever been. She’s not around her much — but it’s just watching her. She’s also an inspiration in that even when she’s not doing anything, she’s reading a book. She reads continuously. I think that’s one of the reasons why she’s such a good student academically.

“I’ve had a lot of people brag on her, just what kind of student she is. Most of the time, her hearing isn’t even brought up. They just admire her, whether she’s got a hearing problem or not. She’s just that kind of person.”

When asked about what she feels seeing her daughter now thriving in life and in basketball, the emotions stir once more in Kimberly Bystry.

“I’m super proud of my daughter,” she said, allowing some tears to release.