Photo by tthe Photography Center University of Tennessee.

Star Basketball Player
Shuns Hearing Aids to Play

Tamika Catchings, a star basketball player at the University of Tennessee (UT), takes off her hearing aids to play basketball. Catchings is one of UT's top players, said Janya Marshall, who works for UT's Department of Media Relations while pursuing an interpreting major.

"Tamika has broken several freshman records and been selected All-American," said Marshall.

Catchings used to take off her hearing aids because children made fun of her, Marshall explained, but now sweat is the culprit. She sweats so much on the basketball court that the sweat builds up behind the hearing aid, and "she can't hear anyway."

In class, Catchings does wear her hearing aids, she added, and she uses them and speech to communicate.

Catchings is from Duncanville, Texas. She came to UT on a full basketball scholarship. This year she is a sophomore.

Three Cheers
For the Cheerleader

 By Kara Siragusa East Lyme, Connecticut 

I'm 17 years old and a student at the mainstream Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program at East Lyme High School in East Lyme, Connecticut.

I am proud to be a cheerleader. I cheered for football during both my freshman and sophomore years. In my sophomore year, I also joined the basketball cheerleading squad.

For eight years I took ballet and jazz, but when I became a basketball cheerleader I didn't have time for lessons. I plan to take more dance lessons after I graduate.

Sometimes it is difficult to cheer because I don't know what's going on without the hearing girls telling me, but I try my best. I practice every day. My mom is great at helping me. She videotapes my cheerleading squad at the games. When I get home, I watch the tapes and practice the cheers. It helps me so much! Some of the girls in the squad help me too. They are very understanding. I don't understand them sometimes, but they have patience with me. They have been good friends.

General comments may be sent to: Ken.Kurlychek@gallaudet.edu
Last modified November 10, 1998
Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved
Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center

Gallaudet University 800 Florida Ave. NE Washington, DC 20002-3695