Nobody knew that senior Ross Epstein was going to have one hand until the second he was born. It had not come up on the ultrasound and it completely took his mother, Debbie Rothschild, by surprise.

According to Rothschild, she immediately began looking into support groups and prosthetic limbs. In order for Epstein to learn to crawl as a baby, she bought him a special prosthetic hand of which he wore through multiple because he was so active. Rothschild also said Epstein enjoys the term “differently-abled,” and that around the house, they call his right arm “mini-me.”

“What we did for Halloween when he was nine years old, we dressed him up as a White Sox player and we dressed ‘mini-me’ up as a White Sox player,” said Debbie Rothschild. “I put a jersey on it from a White Sox teddy bear and I put a cap on it from a cake decoration and drew a face on it.”

Until Epstein reached high school, he had played baseball. He said he took inspiration from Jim Abbott, a one-handed former pitcher. At the plate, Epstein used a prosthesis to hold the bat. During Epstein’s freshman year he decided to quit baseball and join the gymnastics team. Epstein competes on floor and vault. According to Epstein, he has recently been consistently scoring in the low eights out of ten.

Earlier this season, Epstein injured his back due to an unknown cause and had been unable to practice in the month leading up to the team’s Senior Night on April 22 at Glenbrook North.

Despite his nervousness and his recent return from an injury, Epstein scored an 8.3 out of 10 on floor, a personal best. According to Epstein, that has been his proudest performance this season.

“[Epstein] is an awesome teammate,” said senior Philip Morreale.  “He brings a lot of happiness into the gym.”

Both his mother and stepdad Dan Rothschild said that they have always taught Epstein to use his sense of humor to offset his [physical] difference.  This year, all seniors filled out a questionnaire for Head Coach Ryan Dul to read out loud before Senior Night. According to Dan Rothschild, Epstein wrote that his only advice to the freshmen would be to “always lend a hand.”

Beyond gymnastics, Epstein also pursues other interests.

Epstein says that as a child he always wanted to play sports and learn how to play an instrument despite being “differently-abled.” At a young age, Epstein did just that by learning how to play piano and later the guitar.

“We never said no to him,” said Debbie Rothschild. “And he has never said no to himself.”