The sounds of silence (HS Football Team at TX School for the Deaf)

From the Austin American-Statesman (may require registration):

The Sounds of Silence: football, locker rooms, life
At the Texas School for the Deaf, hearing-impaired players find a home to learn and play

It was after school when Sherman Lemelle used to feel down, a little depressed, locked in a lonely, silent shell.

It was hard enough being confused in the classroom. It was tougher when the final class at Cypress Creek High School was out. When his classmates went to the football practice fields and basketball courts, he would go home, by himself, and watch TV.

It wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to tackle. To sweat. He wanted to play football. But Lemelle — who is deaf — found out the hard way how hard it can be trying out for football at a public school.

You get lost in translation.

“Out at practice, the coach would tell me, ‘Try and do it’ and then I would make a mistake. And the coach would say, ‘Try again.’ And I would try again and make a mistake,” Lemelle said, using a combination of sign language and an interpreter. “I couldn’t understand . . . the communication wasn’t there.”

That’s not a problem for Lemelle anymore. He is the newest member of the football team for Austin’s Texas School for the Deaf, the only kindergarten-through-12th grade school in the state strictly for hearing-impaired students.

His teammates are deaf. His coaches are deaf. And Lemelle is the happiest he’s ever been.

His 27 Ranger teammates probably think the same thing: stepping onto that gridiron is one of the best things that the school has to offer.

Being a Ranger isn’t about winning and losing as much as it is about opportunity and overcoming obstacles. And attending a Rangers game — like the one they played Sept. 15 against St. Stephens — is proof.

From the minute they step in the locker room to the last second on the clock, the Rangers do the same things any other football team does.

They just do it all a little differently.

Preparing for battle

The atmosphere is more fit for taking the SAT than getting ready for a football game.

Instead of loud, rousing pre-game speeches, you hear the locker room air conditioner turning on and off.

Instead of football players yelling, you hear the sounds of shoulder pads being adjusted.

You don’t hear the intensity.

You feel it.

….. As different as it seems, coaches and players at TSD say there isn’t any disadvantage when it comes to deaf athletes playing football.

“We can do anything hearing people can do,” Hamilton said. “There are small, small disadvantages on the football field. Sometimes we want to make a change someplace, a last-minute change, and that’s where we have problems.

“Hearing people can talk when they want to make a change. If we want to make a change, we have to get everybody’s attention. We have to make sure that 11 players are looking at the coach. If I as a coach see the other team is changing the defense, then I want to change the play to beat their defense. I have to wave down all the players so they know what to do.”

Lessons learned

But football is football.

The Rangers — 1-4 so far this season as they prepare to play an annual game against the Mississippi School for the Deaf this Saturday — keep waving and signing. They keep helping each other out. They keep competing in every game, as a deaf team.

That’s exactly what Hamilton wants.

“I want sports to teach our kids,” he said. “I want them to learn things that will help them relate out into the world. I want to encourage them to play with others, no matter if they’re deaf or hearing. I want them to improve their self-esteem, their confidence. I want them to know that they can do everything except for hear.”

It’s working.

“I am a different person since coming to school here,” Finch said. “Before I got here, I really felt inferior. Before I got here, I felt like I was being pushed aside, like they didn’t want me. Now I feel wanted. I feel like I can play football and go to college.”

That’s all because of TSD?

“All because of TSD,” Finch said. “I don’t know where I’d be without this school. I mean that.”