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BCC's Wordell an inspiration on the hardcourt - Fall River, MA - The Herald News
Jessika Wordell quickly established herself as an impact player.
Competing in her first game for Bristol Community College, the Tiverton resident scored 20 points and, in the closing seconds, nailed a 3-point shot and two pressure free throws to give the Bees their second win of the season, 48-47 over Northern Essex.
After the buzzer sounded, Wordell, 22, of Tiverton, enjoyed the congratulations from her teammates and family. What she wasn’t able to savor during and after the game were the cheers from BCC’s fans.
Wordell is deaf. Has been since birth. She also loves basketball and has never let her deafness get into the way of the fun she has on the court.
“I was born deaf, so I’m used to being deaf my entire life,” said Wordell, who signs and has an interpreter, Elizabeth Nadolski, at BCC. “So it doesn’t bother me. There’s no difference between a deaf player and a hearing player.”
Wordell played youth basketball in Tiverton. At the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, she said, she would score 20 to 30 points per game and had 1,555 career points.
Though she has the outside touch, her love is attacking the basket, finishing, and getting fouled.
She attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, N.Y. for one semester in 2008, “but I was not happy there.”
She’s in her second year at BCC, studying early childhood education with a minor in deaf studies. She plans to continue her studies and hoops at a four-year school, and then move into grad school. From there she would like to work with deaf children.
For now, she’s thrilled to be a Bee.
“I love it. I didn’t play in my first year here because I was so busy with academics and I was so focused on that,” Wordell said. “But I decided to join this year and so far it’s gone well. Now I’m hoping to play again next year.”
The curse of slow paperwork kept Wordell, who had bene practicing with the team, from making her BCC debut until last Sunday. If there was any rust on her game, she scraped it off in a hurry.
“She’s just the sweetest kid in the world,” BCC first-year coach Terence Smith said. “And her basketball IQ is just off the charts.”
“Of course I’m having fun,” she said. “I love it.”
Coaching a deaf player for the first time presented some challenges – exciting challenges – for Smith and the rest of the BCC players. The former boys’ varsity coach at Bristol-Plymouth Regional High School,
Smith prepares an informational sheet for games and practices, so he can just give that to Wordell. Her interpreter is able to attend some game and practices, and Wordell’s mother and sister also help with the interpreting.
Having played basketball for so many years, being unable to hear the referee’s whistle is not a problem. When everyone else stops playing, she said, she follows suit.
For communicating while a game is in progress, Smith and his newest player devised a language.
“We have our own little hand gestures and codes that we use,” Wordell said. “And some of my teammates also know sign language. So I know what’s going on.”
Of course, sometimes Wordell isn’t looking at her coach when dearly needs to get her attention, situations where there isn’t time to try to relay a message through a teammate. Just such a situation arose in the last 30 seconds against Northern Essex. That’s when Smith picked up a new coaching technique – the stomp.
“I needed to change defense,” Smith said. “Her mom stomped and got her attention to look at me. We got the defense set.”
And Wordell took care of the offense with the big 3 and the two free throws.
“I don’t think any of us expected her to be this good in her first college game,” Smith said. “She was the cornerstone for our victory.”
Jessika Wordell quickly established herself as an impact player.
Competing in her first game for Bristol Community College, the Tiverton resident scored 20 points and, in the closing seconds, nailed a 3-point shot and two pressure free throws to give the Bees their second win of the season, 48-47 over Northern Essex.
After the buzzer sounded, Wordell, 22, of Tiverton, enjoyed the congratulations from her teammates and family. What she wasn’t able to savor during and after the game were the cheers from BCC’s fans.
Wordell is deaf. Has been since birth. She also loves basketball and has never let her deafness get into the way of the fun she has on the court.
“I was born deaf, so I’m used to being deaf my entire life,” said Wordell, who signs and has an interpreter, Elizabeth Nadolski, at BCC. “So it doesn’t bother me. There’s no difference between a deaf player and a hearing player.”
Wordell played youth basketball in Tiverton. At the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, she said, she would score 20 to 30 points per game and had 1,555 career points.
Though she has the outside touch, her love is attacking the basket, finishing, and getting fouled.
She attended the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) in Rochester, N.Y. for one semester in 2008, “but I was not happy there.”
She’s in her second year at BCC, studying early childhood education with a minor in deaf studies. She plans to continue her studies and hoops at a four-year school, and then move into grad school. From there she would like to work with deaf children.
For now, she’s thrilled to be a Bee.
“I love it. I didn’t play in my first year here because I was so busy with academics and I was so focused on that,” Wordell said. “But I decided to join this year and so far it’s gone well. Now I’m hoping to play again next year.”
The curse of slow paperwork kept Wordell, who had bene practicing with the team, from making her BCC debut until last Sunday. If there was any rust on her game, she scraped it off in a hurry.
“She’s just the sweetest kid in the world,” BCC first-year coach Terence Smith said. “And her basketball IQ is just off the charts.”
“Of course I’m having fun,” she said. “I love it.”
Coaching a deaf player for the first time presented some challenges – exciting challenges – for Smith and the rest of the BCC players. The former boys’ varsity coach at Bristol-Plymouth Regional High School,
Smith prepares an informational sheet for games and practices, so he can just give that to Wordell. Her interpreter is able to attend some game and practices, and Wordell’s mother and sister also help with the interpreting.
Having played basketball for so many years, being unable to hear the referee’s whistle is not a problem. When everyone else stops playing, she said, she follows suit.
For communicating while a game is in progress, Smith and his newest player devised a language.
“We have our own little hand gestures and codes that we use,” Wordell said. “And some of my teammates also know sign language. So I know what’s going on.”
Of course, sometimes Wordell isn’t looking at her coach when dearly needs to get her attention, situations where there isn’t time to try to relay a message through a teammate. Just such a situation arose in the last 30 seconds against Northern Essex. That’s when Smith picked up a new coaching technique – the stomp.
“I needed to change defense,” Smith said. “Her mom stomped and got her attention to look at me. We got the defense set.”
And Wordell took care of the offense with the big 3 and the two free throws.
“I don’t think any of us expected her to be this good in her first college game,” Smith said. “She was the cornerstone for our victory.”