When most wrestlers step onto the mat, their minds race with strategy—finding the quickest grip, the perfect takedown, or the decisive pin. But for Alvin “AJ” Buckley Jr., a student at the Mississippi School for the Blind, his focus is on something entirely different: the smooth, soulful rhythm of D’Angelo’s “Spanish Joint.”

At the start of the wrestling season, AJ was the only athlete on his high school team. Early practices meant just him, his coach, and a friend he could talk into being a drill partner for takedowns and throws in a padded room the size of a two-stall garage. It’s a scene that might not surprise many in Mississippi, a state with only 41 high school wrestling programs and no four-year varsity collegiate teams. Wrestling once thrived in the South, but the SEC dropped the sport in 1981 amid Title IX and Olympic-sport funding challenges.

AJ’s journey into the sport started with a classic mix-up. In seventh grade, he thought he was signing up for a career in the WWE. “I was played,” he admits with a laugh. But that misunderstanding sparked a passion that has only grown alongside his love for music. When he transferred to the Mississippi School for the Blind, both wrestling and music began to take off.

The move came after a genetic eye disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa, started affecting his learning. This condition causes night blindness and can lead to tunnel vision, gradually diminishing his peripheral sight. In sixth grade, AJ realized something was wrong when the lights went off for a test and he couldn’t make out the letters on a computer keyboard. That moment prompted the switch to a school better equipped for his needs.

At the Mississippi School for the Blind, AJ learned more about his visual impairment and gained confidence—no longer embarrassed to use his mobility cane when necessary. Like most kids, he was uncertain about the change at first. His dad, Alvin Sr., recalls those early doubts. But AJ has since found his rhythm, both on the mat and with his music, proving that with the right support, limitations can become strengths.