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Being deaf hasn’t slowed Kansas soccer star Emily Cressy - KansasCity.com
At a local burger restaurant on Friday afternoon, members of the Camarillo (Calif.) Eagles Soccer Club found their seats and took their menus.
It looked like a scene stolen from one of those hokey commercials, where the winning team gets to celebrate their match over chocolate shakes and strawberry lemonades and posed pictures where the chaperone dad tries to squeeze all the smiling girls into one frame. Most of the players — who belong to Division I women’s soccer programs on scholarships but have reunited this week to compete in the USASA Under 23 National Cup Finals in Overland Park — have known each other since they were in pigtails, so the conversation and crosstalk picked up in no time.
Emily Cressy, an Eagle lifer and currently a striker for the Kansas Jayhawks, sat in the middle of it all. In between glancing over the food choices, she read her friends’ lips. Sometimes she looked up to Rebecca Klamser, who exaggerated her words, or to Sidney Garza, who used her hands to relay the message.
Satisfied that she had caught up on the latest gossip, Cressy settled on the teriyaki burger.
Cressy may be deaf but at this table, and on every soccer field on which she plays, she is just an ordinary girl.
“I feel like with all this media attention, people view me as like (I’m) different," said Cressy, who was born with a severe hearing impairment that eventually turned into complete deafness by high school. “But I’m just like everyone else. That’s how I view myself.”
And that’s how she wants you to see her, too. Just another 20-year-old who’s counting down the days until the big birthday next month.
On the field, Cressy’s skills demand attention. She and her Eagles have won two national championships already and are trying to become only the second team ever to win three separate age-specific titles. And in the college ranks, Cressy has provided instant offense for the Jayhawks, matching the second-ranked, single-season record with 12 goals last year. As a freshman, Cressy was the Big 12 Rookie of the Year in 2008.
“She’s probably one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with,” said Nicole Sweetman, an Eagle teammate since the girls were 9 years old. “She’s really easy to play with. … You don’t get to play with (many) players like it.”
So as a slick, left-footed forward, Cressy deserves the attention. But it’s her disability that sometimes dominates the perception of who people want her to be.
Cressy was only a few months old when her grandmother visited the family one day. She had this habit of checking all grandbabies for a family trait, one that nobody wished to see passed down and noticed that Cressy wasn’t hearing.
Cressy was fitted for hearing aids and by catching the impairment so soon, the Cressys found specialists to help develop her speech. Cressy attended preschool at 18 months and “normal” kindergarten like the rest of her friends. She took up soccer at 4 years old and when she turned 9, Cressy joined a traveling team based in Camarillo, the Eagles. She wanted to score and celebrate goals and giggle with friends. Just like everyone else. No one could tell her “no.”
“When someone says I can’t do something, I want to prove them wrong,” Cressy said. “I’ve been told before that I couldn’t play soccer because I was deaf.”
The years have passed, so Cressy can’t remember the person who doubted her, but the words still burn her up. It’s just part of her “I’ll-show-you” personality. So Cressy consciously goes against the grain. When most of her California teammates chose to stay near the coast to continue their careers, she landed in Lawrence.
“People were making bets about me when they found out I’m going to Kansas, (saying) ‘She’s only going to last a month,’ ” Cressy said. “But I just wanted to prove everyone wrong. And here I am.”
Although Cressy takes pride in being independent, in soccer she blends in with her teammates in blue — the Eagles and Jayhawks. Although she can not hear a single word of chatter on the field, Cressy stays locked in by constantly looking up and watching. Reading and watching. Attacking and watching. Then, scoring and celebrating.
On Friday, Cressy chipped in the game-breaking goal for the Eagles to beat the ’91 D-Feeters (Texas), 2-1 in their opening-round game. Her teammates hugged her. Just like all the other times, they tried to make Cressy feel their cheers.
“She doesn’t get the chance to hear people celebrate her,” Eagles coach Vince Thomas said. “I know she has mentioned that before. I know that it is something she wishes she could hear — the roar of the crowd and to hear people get extremely excited for something she’s done.”
After those moments pass, Cressy is content to be one of the girls and would much rather share the focus with her friends and teammates. She doesn’t consider herself a role model — not too many 20-year-olds do. But just by being herself, Cressy has gained the admiration from those around her.
“I’m amazed at how well she does, considering she has a huge disability,” Rhonda said. “Sometimes I’m so proud of her because she’s so brave.”
At a local burger restaurant on Friday afternoon, members of the Camarillo (Calif.) Eagles Soccer Club found their seats and took their menus.
It looked like a scene stolen from one of those hokey commercials, where the winning team gets to celebrate their match over chocolate shakes and strawberry lemonades and posed pictures where the chaperone dad tries to squeeze all the smiling girls into one frame. Most of the players — who belong to Division I women’s soccer programs on scholarships but have reunited this week to compete in the USASA Under 23 National Cup Finals in Overland Park — have known each other since they were in pigtails, so the conversation and crosstalk picked up in no time.
Emily Cressy, an Eagle lifer and currently a striker for the Kansas Jayhawks, sat in the middle of it all. In between glancing over the food choices, she read her friends’ lips. Sometimes she looked up to Rebecca Klamser, who exaggerated her words, or to Sidney Garza, who used her hands to relay the message.
Satisfied that she had caught up on the latest gossip, Cressy settled on the teriyaki burger.
Cressy may be deaf but at this table, and on every soccer field on which she plays, she is just an ordinary girl.
“I feel like with all this media attention, people view me as like (I’m) different," said Cressy, who was born with a severe hearing impairment that eventually turned into complete deafness by high school. “But I’m just like everyone else. That’s how I view myself.”
And that’s how she wants you to see her, too. Just another 20-year-old who’s counting down the days until the big birthday next month.
On the field, Cressy’s skills demand attention. She and her Eagles have won two national championships already and are trying to become only the second team ever to win three separate age-specific titles. And in the college ranks, Cressy has provided instant offense for the Jayhawks, matching the second-ranked, single-season record with 12 goals last year. As a freshman, Cressy was the Big 12 Rookie of the Year in 2008.
“She’s probably one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with,” said Nicole Sweetman, an Eagle teammate since the girls were 9 years old. “She’s really easy to play with. … You don’t get to play with (many) players like it.”
So as a slick, left-footed forward, Cressy deserves the attention. But it’s her disability that sometimes dominates the perception of who people want her to be.
Cressy was only a few months old when her grandmother visited the family one day. She had this habit of checking all grandbabies for a family trait, one that nobody wished to see passed down and noticed that Cressy wasn’t hearing.
Cressy was fitted for hearing aids and by catching the impairment so soon, the Cressys found specialists to help develop her speech. Cressy attended preschool at 18 months and “normal” kindergarten like the rest of her friends. She took up soccer at 4 years old and when she turned 9, Cressy joined a traveling team based in Camarillo, the Eagles. She wanted to score and celebrate goals and giggle with friends. Just like everyone else. No one could tell her “no.”
“When someone says I can’t do something, I want to prove them wrong,” Cressy said. “I’ve been told before that I couldn’t play soccer because I was deaf.”
The years have passed, so Cressy can’t remember the person who doubted her, but the words still burn her up. It’s just part of her “I’ll-show-you” personality. So Cressy consciously goes against the grain. When most of her California teammates chose to stay near the coast to continue their careers, she landed in Lawrence.
“People were making bets about me when they found out I’m going to Kansas, (saying) ‘She’s only going to last a month,’ ” Cressy said. “But I just wanted to prove everyone wrong. And here I am.”
Although Cressy takes pride in being independent, in soccer she blends in with her teammates in blue — the Eagles and Jayhawks. Although she can not hear a single word of chatter on the field, Cressy stays locked in by constantly looking up and watching. Reading and watching. Attacking and watching. Then, scoring and celebrating.
On Friday, Cressy chipped in the game-breaking goal for the Eagles to beat the ’91 D-Feeters (Texas), 2-1 in their opening-round game. Her teammates hugged her. Just like all the other times, they tried to make Cressy feel their cheers.
“She doesn’t get the chance to hear people celebrate her,” Eagles coach Vince Thomas said. “I know she has mentioned that before. I know that it is something she wishes she could hear — the roar of the crowd and to hear people get extremely excited for something she’s done.”
After those moments pass, Cressy is content to be one of the girls and would much rather share the focus with her friends and teammates. She doesn’t consider herself a role model — not too many 20-year-olds do. But just by being herself, Cressy has gained the admiration from those around her.
“I’m amazed at how well she does, considering she has a huge disability,” Rhonda said. “Sometimes I’m so proud of her because she’s so brave.”