Saturday, March 6, 2010

Deaf player's teammates see inspiration.

Cal State Northridge has NCAA’s only D1 basketball player that is deaf. I do not know about anyone else but when I thought about this, not being able to hear in sports especially basketball, I couldn’t imagine it. Michael Lizarraga had a choice of going to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the nation's only liberal arts university for the deaf, but he always wanted to play basketball so he chose to attend Northridge to play D1 basketball. He had a dream and he did what he had to and didn’t let the fact that he can’t hear get in the way. Another amazing part of this story is how his teammates and coach reacted towards him. His teammate and best friend Willie Galick began asking Lizarraga’s interpreter how to say certain words just to goof off at practice, but then began picking up on a lot more and was able to take the place of Lizarraga’s interpreter. Other teammates have also began picking up on certain words and join in conversations, none of them make him feel as if he doesn’t fit in, they all respect him and look to him for inspiration. It’s amazing to see how far a person can go as long as they follow their goals and never give up.
ABeaston
KIN332I Section 2

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