DEVON Hammond is the schoolgirl Tryathlon star whose face stares out from the Weet-Bix cereal packet on your breakfast table.

But behind the beaming smile is an inspirational story of courage and love – Devon was born blind.

The 11-year-old Bay of Plenty intermediate pupil has a rare brain condition resulting in one eye being extremely short-sighted and the other long-sighted.

While she has undergone treatment and now has two healthy, normal-looking eyes that see properly, her brain still struggles to "put the messages together" as quickly as other people.

"It has always made her uncoordinated in sports, which in turn has made her doubt her ability, be cautious and remote when playing sports at and through school," says her mum, Cherie Hammond.

"She has cried at every school cross-country, triathlon and swimming sports."

Cherie and husband Mark knew the way to overcome Devon's mental block from her vision difficulties was to build her confidence.

The goal became for her to compete in last year's Tauranga Weet-Bix Tryathlon – a fun way to get Kiwi kids into the multidiscipline sport. Cherie admits training for the event was tough on her daughter.

"We trained very, very hard, it was a battle. When we first started she couldn't even make it to the end of the street and she would be in tears.

Devon agrees the training was hard, and frustrating, as she watched brother Lleyton sprint ahead with no training. But her confidence slowly grew.

"The more I trained the better I got."

Cherie says since the competition the change in Devon has been marked.

"It's quite miraculous how it changed her perception of herself and she started seeing what my husband and I have always seen in her."

Devon admits she is now known as the "Weet-Bix box girl" by classmates at her new Papamoa school.

Her advice to other kids is simple: "Don't think that something can slow you down – it won't. Some people think things might be a disadvantage but really they can be an advantage.

Just try."

The 2011 Tauranga Weet-Bix Tryathlon is on March 27. Seven-year-olds swim 50m, bike 4km and run 1.5km; 8 to 10-year-olds swim 100m, bike 4km, run 1.5km; 11 to 15-year-olds swim 200m, bike 8km and run 1.5km.