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wgrz.com | Buffalo, NY | Deaf Swimmer Defies Limitations
The sectionals are where Western New York's top high school swimmers come to compete. A sophomore from North Tonawanda, just 15 years old, blends into the crowd of elite athletes. He's earned the right to be here-- among the area's best. This is how family and friends describe him:
"He is determined. He will not give up. He is a fighter and he's very confident." "He has more of a drive than most other kids." "He's just an animal! There's no other way to put it."
And there's something else about Scott Farrell you'd never know by looking at him.
"The next thing I knew they told me he was profoundly deaf." Scott's mother Suzanne Williams recalls that fateful conversation with a pediatric hearing specialist. "It was a shock, it was overwhelming. At about 12 or 15 months he just started not talking as much, or repeating."
Doctors performed a battery of tests but gave Suzanne no real explanation for Scott's dramatic hearing loss. They told her he did have some slight ability to hear low tones, and that sound could be amplified by hearing aides. With those in place, Suzanne enrolled Scott immediately at St. Mary's School for the Deaf.
"It was frightening in a way," she says. "Here I was sending a 2 year old off with a backpack and he had a smile on his face and he couldn't wait."
Scott's enthusiasm and drive helped him do well at St Mary's for 12 years. He excelled academically and in all kinds of sports. But Scott's physical size left him towering over his competition and he longed to compete on a higher level.
"I decided then that it makes me stronger, smarter and more confident to go outside and experience the outside world," says Scott.
So two years ago, Scott started attending 8th grade at North Tonawanda Middle School for a half day. The NT school district provided a sign language interpreter who attends every class with Scott. He did so well with the transition, he made the risky decision to leave St Mary's for good. And that leap of faith was rewarded when a leap into the swimming pool caught the attention of the varsity coaches.
"Immediately we could tell how strong he was because as an 8th grader, he was as tall as I am," says NT Varsity Swim Coach Paul Becigneul. "He's developed his muscle and build and as a coach I saw great potential."
Scott became a force of nature in the pool and was soon challenging some of the school's best swimmers. He was enjoying new equality as an athlete and a new brotherhood with his teammates.
Reporter Maryalice Demler asks, "What's it like being on the swim team? Do they treat you special or are you just one of the guys?"
"They treat me like a friend," says Scott. "Except sometimes they tease me and I tease them back. They make fun of me, I make fun of them. But they always want to ask me, 'how do you sign, like, a bad word,'" he laughs.
Friends and fellow NT swim team members Brad Koslowski, Jason Costangelo and Matt Jones say, "It's not that big a deal. We treat him like a regular kid, pretty much. We make fun of him like everyone else. He's just one of the guys. That's pretty much it."
And it was another one of Scott's teammates who came to the rescue when he needed some technical support. You see, at swim meets, Scott could never hear the starting horn and he was always getting a late start off the block because he had to turn his head and watch the starter lower his hand to begin the race.
"A year ago..." says Coach Becigneul, "you would hear the gun and everyone else would go and he'd be the last one in the water."
One of Scott's team mates who was studying electrical engineering found a strobe light that attaches to the starter horn with an adapter. The light flashes when the horn sounds. And now Scott doesn't have to focus on anything else but the light.
"Before I got my light I was frustrated because I couldn't get a good start," recalls Scott. "Then I got my light and it helped me be much better because as soon as I got the start, I could get my best time."
Now with all things being equal, Scott is truly on a level playing field; a natural athlete who has overcome challenges in the classroom, in his friendships, and in his sporting arena.
"He doesn't use his disability as a crutch," observes Coach B. "He doesn't want you to know that he's deaf. He doesn't want you to give him any special treatment and the kids don't, ya know. Kids are very honest. And they've accepted that and they've accepted him."
Now this extraordinary young man is free to show everyone how his optimism, fearlessness, hard work? and a loving family are guiding his way to success... in the water and in life. Scott sums it up this way:
"They said never give up. Keep trying. It gets easier and easier every time you try it. Try your best."
The sectionals are where Western New York's top high school swimmers come to compete. A sophomore from North Tonawanda, just 15 years old, blends into the crowd of elite athletes. He's earned the right to be here-- among the area's best. This is how family and friends describe him:
"He is determined. He will not give up. He is a fighter and he's very confident." "He has more of a drive than most other kids." "He's just an animal! There's no other way to put it."
And there's something else about Scott Farrell you'd never know by looking at him.
"The next thing I knew they told me he was profoundly deaf." Scott's mother Suzanne Williams recalls that fateful conversation with a pediatric hearing specialist. "It was a shock, it was overwhelming. At about 12 or 15 months he just started not talking as much, or repeating."
Doctors performed a battery of tests but gave Suzanne no real explanation for Scott's dramatic hearing loss. They told her he did have some slight ability to hear low tones, and that sound could be amplified by hearing aides. With those in place, Suzanne enrolled Scott immediately at St. Mary's School for the Deaf.
"It was frightening in a way," she says. "Here I was sending a 2 year old off with a backpack and he had a smile on his face and he couldn't wait."
Scott's enthusiasm and drive helped him do well at St Mary's for 12 years. He excelled academically and in all kinds of sports. But Scott's physical size left him towering over his competition and he longed to compete on a higher level.
"I decided then that it makes me stronger, smarter and more confident to go outside and experience the outside world," says Scott.
So two years ago, Scott started attending 8th grade at North Tonawanda Middle School for a half day. The NT school district provided a sign language interpreter who attends every class with Scott. He did so well with the transition, he made the risky decision to leave St Mary's for good. And that leap of faith was rewarded when a leap into the swimming pool caught the attention of the varsity coaches.
"Immediately we could tell how strong he was because as an 8th grader, he was as tall as I am," says NT Varsity Swim Coach Paul Becigneul. "He's developed his muscle and build and as a coach I saw great potential."
Scott became a force of nature in the pool and was soon challenging some of the school's best swimmers. He was enjoying new equality as an athlete and a new brotherhood with his teammates.
Reporter Maryalice Demler asks, "What's it like being on the swim team? Do they treat you special or are you just one of the guys?"
"They treat me like a friend," says Scott. "Except sometimes they tease me and I tease them back. They make fun of me, I make fun of them. But they always want to ask me, 'how do you sign, like, a bad word,'" he laughs.
Friends and fellow NT swim team members Brad Koslowski, Jason Costangelo and Matt Jones say, "It's not that big a deal. We treat him like a regular kid, pretty much. We make fun of him like everyone else. He's just one of the guys. That's pretty much it."
And it was another one of Scott's teammates who came to the rescue when he needed some technical support. You see, at swim meets, Scott could never hear the starting horn and he was always getting a late start off the block because he had to turn his head and watch the starter lower his hand to begin the race.
"A year ago..." says Coach Becigneul, "you would hear the gun and everyone else would go and he'd be the last one in the water."
One of Scott's team mates who was studying electrical engineering found a strobe light that attaches to the starter horn with an adapter. The light flashes when the horn sounds. And now Scott doesn't have to focus on anything else but the light.
"Before I got my light I was frustrated because I couldn't get a good start," recalls Scott. "Then I got my light and it helped me be much better because as soon as I got the start, I could get my best time."
Now with all things being equal, Scott is truly on a level playing field; a natural athlete who has overcome challenges in the classroom, in his friendships, and in his sporting arena.
"He doesn't use his disability as a crutch," observes Coach B. "He doesn't want you to know that he's deaf. He doesn't want you to give him any special treatment and the kids don't, ya know. Kids are very honest. And they've accepted that and they've accepted him."
Now this extraordinary young man is free to show everyone how his optimism, fearlessness, hard work? and a loving family are guiding his way to success... in the water and in life. Scott sums it up this way:
"They said never give up. Keep trying. It gets easier and easier every time you try it. Try your best."