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Deaf volleyball players to represent USA | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star
U.S.A. Deaf Women's Volleyball Team players Justine Jeter, Amanda Krieger, and Micaela and Pia Marie Paulone each described the pride that so many athletes feel when given the opportunity to represent this country in international competition. But there's also a deeper level of emotion attached to the experience for these women.
Wearing the red, white and blue communicates one thing very clearly to everyone who sees them: They can play.
"We're role models," Pia Marie Paulone, Fishers, said in an e-mail. "(It demonstrates) there shouldn't be extraneous (non-merit-based) barriers preventing people from doing what they dream (of). When parents tell me that I'm a role model for their kids, I know that I'm doing something right."
The four Hamilton County natives were in Indianapolis this week for fundraising clinics and games at their alma mater, the Indiana School for the Deaf. They held clinics for approximately three dozen kids during the day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and played a game each night.
Each player is responsible for raising a total of $7,500 to attend the 2008 World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Aug. 1 and the Deaflympics in Tapei, China in August of 2009. While the U.S. Olympic Committee sponsors a variety of national teams, the U.S.A. Deaf Women's Volleyball Team does not receive any financial support from the organization.
"If you want to be the best team in the world, you have to be together and train together (and) to do that, we have to pay for it," said Pia Marie Paulone. ,"We want to be recognized for being great athletes who need the support of their community and, of course, we're deaf."
Jeter, Noblesville; Krieger, Carmel; and Micaela Paulone are rising seniors at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and members of the school's NCAA Division III volleyball team that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and '06 (reaching the Sweet Sixteen) and won the Capital Athletic Conference regular season championship this season.
Gallaudet coach Lynn Ray Boren also coaches the national team, which includes six other Bison players. (Pia Marie Paulone is a graduate of Gallaudet and has deferred her acceptance to graduate school at Indiana until after the international competitions.) The players' success at Indiana Deaf -- they were 35-5 as seniors -- and experience at Gallaudet inspired them to try out for the national team.
"My dream was to play for the Olympic team, and the opportunity was there so I figured I'd grab it," Krieger said through Micaela Paulone, who acted as an informal translator for an interview. "It's something special that not many people have the opportunity to do."
Jeter added: "I always wanted to play for the national team. It's a big honor."
In addition to their time together at Gallaudet, several other national team players live in the Washington, D.C., area and they all compete together in the Chesapeake Regional Volleyball Association on weekends. Other members will travel to the area at different points throughout the year to train, and 14 of the 15 players competed in the 2008 USA Volleyball Adult Open Championships in Atlanta last month.
"I've been playing volleyball since the fifth grade, and I just love it," Micaela Paulone said. "We accomplished a lot during my high school career, and Gallaudet went to the Sweet 16 so I thought I had an opportunity to play for the national team. We beat a lot of hearing teams. I'm proud to play for the national team.
U.S.A. Deaf Women's Volleyball Team players Justine Jeter, Amanda Krieger, and Micaela and Pia Marie Paulone each described the pride that so many athletes feel when given the opportunity to represent this country in international competition. But there's also a deeper level of emotion attached to the experience for these women.
Wearing the red, white and blue communicates one thing very clearly to everyone who sees them: They can play.
"We're role models," Pia Marie Paulone, Fishers, said in an e-mail. "(It demonstrates) there shouldn't be extraneous (non-merit-based) barriers preventing people from doing what they dream (of). When parents tell me that I'm a role model for their kids, I know that I'm doing something right."
The four Hamilton County natives were in Indianapolis this week for fundraising clinics and games at their alma mater, the Indiana School for the Deaf. They held clinics for approximately three dozen kids during the day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and played a game each night.
Each player is responsible for raising a total of $7,500 to attend the 2008 World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Aug. 1 and the Deaflympics in Tapei, China in August of 2009. While the U.S. Olympic Committee sponsors a variety of national teams, the U.S.A. Deaf Women's Volleyball Team does not receive any financial support from the organization.
"If you want to be the best team in the world, you have to be together and train together (and) to do that, we have to pay for it," said Pia Marie Paulone. ,"We want to be recognized for being great athletes who need the support of their community and, of course, we're deaf."
Jeter, Noblesville; Krieger, Carmel; and Micaela Paulone are rising seniors at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and members of the school's NCAA Division III volleyball team that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and '06 (reaching the Sweet Sixteen) and won the Capital Athletic Conference regular season championship this season.
Gallaudet coach Lynn Ray Boren also coaches the national team, which includes six other Bison players. (Pia Marie Paulone is a graduate of Gallaudet and has deferred her acceptance to graduate school at Indiana until after the international competitions.) The players' success at Indiana Deaf -- they were 35-5 as seniors -- and experience at Gallaudet inspired them to try out for the national team.
"My dream was to play for the Olympic team, and the opportunity was there so I figured I'd grab it," Krieger said through Micaela Paulone, who acted as an informal translator for an interview. "It's something special that not many people have the opportunity to do."
Jeter added: "I always wanted to play for the national team. It's a big honor."
In addition to their time together at Gallaudet, several other national team players live in the Washington, D.C., area and they all compete together in the Chesapeake Regional Volleyball Association on weekends. Other members will travel to the area at different points throughout the year to train, and 14 of the 15 players competed in the 2008 USA Volleyball Adult Open Championships in Atlanta last month.
"I've been playing volleyball since the fifth grade, and I just love it," Micaela Paulone said. "We accomplished a lot during my high school career, and Gallaudet went to the Sweet 16 so I thought I had an opportunity to play for the national team. We beat a lot of hearing teams. I'm proud to play for the national team.
