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New Haven Register - Deaf player makes basketball game heard
Tim Head Jr. listens with his eyes as the crowd exhorts him to perform one of his soaring dunks — an uncommon practice at the American School for the Deaf for which Head has become uncommonly proficient.
Some in the stands will be yelling. Many of the students at the school will be emphatically signing the word for dunk. But everyone will be excited, including Tim Head.
He is profoundly deaf. "I can’t hear, but I sure can see them," Head said without a blink of impatience, while signing through an interpreter.
This past season, Head, a lithe 6-foot-3 high school senior center, became the first player at ASD to record both 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career, an achievement of persistence for a young man who is equally known for his prowess in three sports and for his smile.
Next week he will head to Indianapolis to compete on the East squad of the Deaf All-Star basketball game. In a year, he dreams of heading to Taiwan for the Deaf Olympics, either in basketball or track.
Both locations are a long way from grandma Rosa’s house on Button Street in New Haven, where a single basket helped Head grow emotionally stronger with his disability as he grew tall. He would play many hours there with his cousin Marquis, learning to channel his frustration into determination.
"It really started when I was little ... around the fifth grade," said Head, who is also a first-team Deaf All-America in soccer and a track All-American as well. "I was in the mainstream school (East Rock Magnet School of New Haven) and my friends asked me why I didn’t play basketball. So I started to play with them. It was frustrating because they were all hearing. I was the only deaf person. So depending on the position I played, I wasn’t sure exactly what to do. The communication wasn’t easy. But I tried the best I could."
His mom, Doreen, now stationed in Germany as a military police officer with the Army National Guard — where she is awaiting possible deployment to Iraq — played basketball in her youth and was able to teach facets of the game to her son. One of the most poignant moments of this past season was when she flew home from Germany to watch her son’s recent Senior Day game — when he surpassed 1,000 points — before flying back to Europe.
Through encouragement, persistence and the decision that brought Tim to ASD as a seventh-grader, he began to blossom as an athlete and person.
"When I came here, I would watch the seniors and understand what they were talking about," Head said. "It was all new for me. When I was in the mainstream program it was hard. I was able to get by, but here it became so much easier."
His basketball skills grew with each season, but he is particularly famous for his dunking. Crowds will routinely call for him to dunk ... and then revel in his achievement.
"They inspire me ... all this yelling and the support that I get is very inspirational," Head said. "I can see them. I’m just playing basketball. It doesn’t matter that I’m deaf. I just play. There’s nothing I can’t do because I’m deaf."
The motto of the hearing impaired is that deaf people can do anything except hear, and Tim Head has had a young lifetime to understand that.
Rosa Head’s own son, Tim Head Sr., a postal employee in Wallingford, also was born with a hearing impairment. So grandma helped instill the same resolve in her grandson as she did with her son.
"I’m so happy that (Tim Jr.) took my advice, using all of that frustration (to improve)," Rosa Head said. "When he was (at East Rock Magnet School) he’d get very frustrated and I said, ‘Do not let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do. Use that frustration to play and play to your best ability. Don’t get angry with people. Just play to your best ability.’"
As his grandmother speaks, Tim Jr. nods his agreement in implicit understanding. Not only have those words translated onto the fields of play, but in his maturing and positive personality.
"He’s one of the absolute best players we’ve had here," said longtime ASD coach Lou Volpintesta, also through an interpreter. "He has a outstanding attitude. I remember him in the seventh grade when he really didn’t know how to play. He’d smile all the time and just play. He didn’t know how to get serious. But by the time he was a junior he became very serious about playing. It’s been very inspirational for me, and I’m going to be brokenhearted when he goes. I’m extremely proud of him."
The athletic honors he has received are an incredible source of pride to Head. But to everyone else around him, his selfless attitude and ever-present smile are the source of the pride.
Tim Head Jr. listens with his eyes as the crowd exhorts him to perform one of his soaring dunks — an uncommon practice at the American School for the Deaf for which Head has become uncommonly proficient.
Some in the stands will be yelling. Many of the students at the school will be emphatically signing the word for dunk. But everyone will be excited, including Tim Head.
He is profoundly deaf. "I can’t hear, but I sure can see them," Head said without a blink of impatience, while signing through an interpreter.
This past season, Head, a lithe 6-foot-3 high school senior center, became the first player at ASD to record both 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career, an achievement of persistence for a young man who is equally known for his prowess in three sports and for his smile.
Next week he will head to Indianapolis to compete on the East squad of the Deaf All-Star basketball game. In a year, he dreams of heading to Taiwan for the Deaf Olympics, either in basketball or track.
Both locations are a long way from grandma Rosa’s house on Button Street in New Haven, where a single basket helped Head grow emotionally stronger with his disability as he grew tall. He would play many hours there with his cousin Marquis, learning to channel his frustration into determination.
"It really started when I was little ... around the fifth grade," said Head, who is also a first-team Deaf All-America in soccer and a track All-American as well. "I was in the mainstream school (East Rock Magnet School of New Haven) and my friends asked me why I didn’t play basketball. So I started to play with them. It was frustrating because they were all hearing. I was the only deaf person. So depending on the position I played, I wasn’t sure exactly what to do. The communication wasn’t easy. But I tried the best I could."
His mom, Doreen, now stationed in Germany as a military police officer with the Army National Guard — where she is awaiting possible deployment to Iraq — played basketball in her youth and was able to teach facets of the game to her son. One of the most poignant moments of this past season was when she flew home from Germany to watch her son’s recent Senior Day game — when he surpassed 1,000 points — before flying back to Europe.
Through encouragement, persistence and the decision that brought Tim to ASD as a seventh-grader, he began to blossom as an athlete and person.
"When I came here, I would watch the seniors and understand what they were talking about," Head said. "It was all new for me. When I was in the mainstream program it was hard. I was able to get by, but here it became so much easier."
His basketball skills grew with each season, but he is particularly famous for his dunking. Crowds will routinely call for him to dunk ... and then revel in his achievement.
"They inspire me ... all this yelling and the support that I get is very inspirational," Head said. "I can see them. I’m just playing basketball. It doesn’t matter that I’m deaf. I just play. There’s nothing I can’t do because I’m deaf."
The motto of the hearing impaired is that deaf people can do anything except hear, and Tim Head has had a young lifetime to understand that.
Rosa Head’s own son, Tim Head Sr., a postal employee in Wallingford, also was born with a hearing impairment. So grandma helped instill the same resolve in her grandson as she did with her son.
"I’m so happy that (Tim Jr.) took my advice, using all of that frustration (to improve)," Rosa Head said. "When he was (at East Rock Magnet School) he’d get very frustrated and I said, ‘Do not let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do. Use that frustration to play and play to your best ability. Don’t get angry with people. Just play to your best ability.’"
As his grandmother speaks, Tim Jr. nods his agreement in implicit understanding. Not only have those words translated onto the fields of play, but in his maturing and positive personality.
"He’s one of the absolute best players we’ve had here," said longtime ASD coach Lou Volpintesta, also through an interpreter. "He has a outstanding attitude. I remember him in the seventh grade when he really didn’t know how to play. He’d smile all the time and just play. He didn’t know how to get serious. But by the time he was a junior he became very serious about playing. It’s been very inspirational for me, and I’m going to be brokenhearted when he goes. I’m extremely proud of him."
The athletic honors he has received are an incredible source of pride to Head. But to everyone else around him, his selfless attitude and ever-present smile are the source of the pride.