(Photo by Blake Benard - KJZZ)

Tempe Preparatory Academy Coach Josh Brittain talks to his team.

At Tempe Preparatory Academy, they know they don’t need a perfect athlete.

Tempe Prep head football coach Josh Brittain is a commanding presence on the field.

Brittain was born with cerebral palsy, a physical disorder that stems from brain damage and typically affects a person’s muscles and ability to move. For Brittain, it affects his lower body, a bend in the right knee and a dragging of that foot. Still, he walks with confidence and during practices he regularly runs laps around the field.

So don’t call it a disability around him.

"I put it in quotes because I don’t look at it that way," Brittain says. He says it shouldn’t have an effect on coaching in athletics. "Coaching, unlike being a player, is all about relationships with people. It’s all about leadership."

Brittain played football for Tempe Prep in 2007, during a season that saw the school advance to the state semifinals. That experience is helping him shift the thinking about athletic and coaching stereotypes.

"With all the talk of superstars and Lebron James and Steph Curry, we lose sight of the beauty of sports," he says.

That beauty, Brittain says, is that regardless of a disability, sports helps young people. "That’s true for any man, whether you’re 6-7, 300 or 5-11, 200 with cerebral palsy. Football gives you the opportunity best version of yourself because it challenges you," he says.

High school can be a confusing and strenuous time for young people. And Brittain says pushing away sports stereotypes can help. "Kids in this day and age with all the electronics and the Facebook and the Twitter, it’s harder for kids now to find out their identity ... to take a leap in courage. To take a leap in faith," he says.

That leap of faith is the athlete’s decision.

"For someone other than the disabled athlete to make that decision seems unjust, unfair and like you’re robbing that young man of opportunity of a lifetime ... if a kid wants to play, and it’s not unsafe, he deserves to play," he says.

Roderick Townsend is a track and field coach at Northern Arizona University. He won two gold medals in the high jump and long jump at the recent Rio Paralympic Games. 

"At birth, I was a really large baby. The umbilical cord  was wrapped around my neck a couple times and the doctor had to break my collarbone to dislocate my shoulder. It ended up damaging all the nerves in brachial plexus," Townsend says.

As a result, Townsend has limited strength and range of motion in his right arm. He agrees the sports realm is becoming more accepting of those with disabilities because he’s experienced it.

Before joining the paralympic movement, Townsend was a decathlete on scholarship at Boise State University, competing against the best NCAA Division One athletes in the country. Since graduating and training for paralympic competition, Townsend has seen what he believes is the main issue surrounding disabled athletes in sports. 

"Exposure. We’re not given the exposure that we need to let people know what we’re about," he says. "If I go to London, for example, I can’t walk 10 feet without somebody asking me for an autograph. That’s because they know about the Paralympic movement. They accept people's disabilities."

Townsend is referring to the 2012 Paralympics that attracted about 3.4 billion international TV viewers.

"That’s the type of reward that be had from taking such risk. That one broadcast station basically made it possible for the paralympic movement to grow vastly," he said.

The lack of exposure in the United States has led to a financial inequality among disabled athletes.

"I’m a two-time gold medalist at the paralympic games. I won four medals at the world championships last year. Two gold medals at the Pan-American games. I have a world record, two paralympic records. Out of all of that, I’ve made $13,000," Townsend said.

By contrast, U.S. olympians earn about $25,000 dollars for each gold medal.

"For me to put in all this work over two years and to be compensated $13,000 for it is just a slap in the face," Townsend said.

For both Townsend or Brittain it’s about understanding that the sports landscape is changing and normal athletic stereotypes are disappearing.

Brittain says, "I’m surely not a great athlete. I hope I’m showing those guys that it’s not about how many touchdowns you score, but how hard you play."