Shy with his words but fierce and versatile on the basketball court, Hansel Emmanuel Donato Domínguez has left more than one observer speechless when watching him dominate on the court with passes and dunks worthy of an NBA final.
At 17 years old and 6-foot-5, he manages to make passes and penetrations on the court that basketball experts assure will lead him to stand out at a professional level. With hopes of playing in the NBA at some point, he asks everyone who follows him to “not see me as a special kid who has a disability. [I wish] that they only see me as a great player who will go as far as many. That I am a good player,” he said in Spanish.
He’s been in the United States for just months after receiving a scholarship to attend Life Christian Academy school in Kissimmee and is still in the process of learning English, but says it has not been an easy task.
“My thing is to play basketball. I am not fluent in English and that makes it difficult for me to communicate with my teammates, but many of them help me and, well, we understand each other between shots to the basket,” he said smiling.
What is impressive is not necessarily his immense talent, but his dedication and gratitude to God, who He says has a plan for him despite the difficult journey of having to play basketball with only one arm.
“It’s not about what I want to achieve or do in life, it’s what God wants from me,” he said in an interview with El Sentinel Orlando.
Donato Domínguez remembers as if it were yesterday the moment when his life changed forever. He was 6 years old when he was playing in his native Dominican Republic and a wall came down. He was trapped for almost two hours and it was his father who had to come to his rescue. That day he lost his left arm and with this the hope of playing baseball again, a sport that he practiced at that time.
However, what some consider a regrettable situation, the young basketball prospect assures that it is “a blessing.”
“God always has a purpose. I am living His mission, what He wants me to do in this life. Everything I do, I do it with God first and for my family, they are everything [to me],” Donato Domínguez said.
He lives his life following God
Donato Domínguez said that 7 is his favorite number and the one he uses when playing with the AAU, but when he arrived to Life Christian Academy, he was handed a jersey with the number 4.
“I did not choose the number 4; they gave it to me without me knowing. I actually asked for [number] 7. That means it was all God, really,” he said.
He quoted the Scriptures, saying that “four means in the Bible that it is like a new restoration, like a new life and it was actually like that for me when I got here, how my new life has changed everything,” he said.
Even his middle name, Emmanuel, means “God with us,” something his mother, Katy Domínguez Pérez, says she understands now, but 12 years ago, when she found out about her son’s accident, she questioned God.
As he dribbled the ball on the school court, his mother watched him with a look of pride.
“He is everything to me,” she said with teary eyes as she remembered how he fought tirelessly to be in the United States.
She had spent five years without seeing him after she had to immigrate looking for a better job.
His father, Hansel Salvador Donato, who played pro basketball in the Dominican Republic, confessed that he now lives his dream of playing on American soil through the talent of his son.
“My life fell apart when Hansel’s accident happened. I was the one with him and when they had to amputate his arm, I felt like it was all over. But God grabbed us and led us down this path,” the father recalled. “You remember everything [from the accident] because a blow like this is not forgotten, so quickly regardless of all that he is achieving, thanks to God,” Donato said.
Donato Domínguez continued his life and “grabbed a ball again. He asked me, ‘Daddy, how do I do this?’ ‘Daddy, what will happen when I grow up and have no arm?’ But he himself found the love for basketball and began to give it his everything,” the father said.
The accident, said his mom, is “a channel that the Lord has used to connect him with what is happening now. The Lord chose him for an assignment on this earth. He is walking in a prophetic word that my mother gave 10 years ago when no one thought, as his father said, that I thought that his life was over at that moment. I questioned God,” she said.
Almost without being able to contain the tears, Domínguez Pérez said that it has been a big process to overcome that accident.
“He was not born with that condition and you see your child in that condition and you can’t do anything, just accept what happened,” he said with a broken voice.
When she got back to Dominican Republic after the accident, Domínguez Pérez remembers how her mother left the room crying and told her, “I can’t tell you anything else; only that God has a purpose with Emmanuel.”
Today she reaffirms that despite the fact that “you see that manifest today, God is more than good reigns. How one cannot say that God is not real. You see a 12-year prophecy manifested now. We are more than grateful to God that the best is yet to come,” she said.
The young man who bears the nickname of Kikimata has become a sensation, not only on the court, but on social media where his career has been in the spotlight at AAU games.
It is almost inevitable that people will notice that Donato Domínguez is missing an arm. Some have even doubted his ability to perform with the ball on the court or think that the videos that run on social networks are planned. But when they see him live, said his coach Moisés Michell, “It’s a jaw-dropping experience.”
Two basketball prospects
Michell, a former player for the Dominican national team, hosted Donato Domínguez and Ángel Pimentel Montas, who was named MVP of the tournament that brought together the best schools in the country, at his home last year.
Together with his wife, Maria Revelles, he welcomed the young Dominicans to give them a roof over their heads while they were on scholarship at the Florida school.
Michell is the school’s sports manager and basketball coach and now celebrates the improvement the team has made since the arrival of Donato Domínguez and Pimentel Montás.
“These guys are something else, not because they are Dominican or because I am training them, but the dedication and how they perform on the court has led us all to give 200 percent,” he said.
Pimentel Montás, known as “Pica Pollo,” had performances above 30 points in each game. Now the 6-6 player has multiple college offers while just in 11th grade.
He arrived in Orlando a year before Donato Domínguez and says he is grateful to have not only a friend on the court but “he’s like a brother who shares the passion for basketball with me. He encourages us all to be better. Together we managed to be unstoppable,” said Pimentel Montas, whose family is also well known in Dominican basketball.
Neither of them wanted to acknowledge which is their favorite team or school, but they did agree that “the team that gives me the opportunity is going to be my favorite team.”
However, Pica Pollo said that LeBron James is his favorite player and Donato Domínguez said that he likes Kevin Durant.
Focused on their future in basketball, both say they are fighting to excel in school while “doing what we know how to do — playing basketball on the court,” Donato Domínguez said.
To those who face difficult situations, he advises them to “not to limit yourself. If something happens on the way, it was because God wanted it that way. Further forward will be much better,” he concluded.
Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio is an editor and reporter for El Sentinel Orlando. She can be reached at jmarcial@orlandosentinel.com 407-540-4004.
