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Florida Atlantic's Natasha Basma is the only deaf tennis player in NCAA's Division I
Unlike other players on the tennis court, Natasha Basma can't hear the ping of the ball hitting the sweet spot on her racket. Or an opponent calling a serve "Out!" Or even the cheers of the spectators.
Basma is the only deaf player in NCAA Division I tennis, according to deafdigestsports.com. But her impairment hasn't stopped her from developing into one of the top singles players for Florida Atlantic University.
"It wasn't something that kept me from doing anything in life," said Basma, 19, a sophomore from Boca Raton who is preparing for the spring dual-meet season that begins this week.
"I think of it like not being able to see well. They have glasses for that. I wear hearing aids for my hearing loss."
Basma said she was born with what she describes as "profound" hearing loss. Her 14-year sister has mild hearing loss. Their parents have normal hearing, but hearing loss is hereditary in their father's family.
Natasha, who grew up in South Florida, was living in her parents' native Lebanon when she was diagnosed before she turned 2.
"In Lebanon they told me, 'Oh, you can't do anything for her.' Just like that," said her mother, Nada Basma. "We decided to come here. They told us you can use hearing aids, and with a speech therapist she'll be fine. She has been with her speech therapist since she was 3."
With her parents' encouragement, Basma danced ballet, took up swimming and played piano and volleyball. She did well but none of those appealed to her the way tennis did when she started playing at Fort Lauderdale's Pine Crest School at 13.
Marcy Hora-Cava, FAU's women's tennis coach, said she didn't know about Basma's handicap on her first recruiting visit to Pine Crest.
"It's tough to find athletes with character who don't complain, who fight every day," Hora-Cava said. "She probably gives me more effort out here than most of the other girls on the team."
Basma said she has turned her condition into an advantage.
"I'm definitely more focused, looking at the ball and making sure I have the right spot with my racket," said Basma, who last year won five of six matches at No. 3 singles. "And because I hear the fans less, it gives me more focus."
The coach and her players have improvised visual signals to communicate with Basma during matches and practice.
"There are challenges, but I think it's getting better,' said junior Erika Mrazkova, Basma's doubles partner last year. "When I am serving, she is showing me where to return our opposites. When she is serving, I am at the net, so I am showing her where to serve."
Opposing players haven't always been so accommodating.
"Some of the opponents can be really rough on her. They've mocked her on the side of the court," Hora-Cava said. "There was this one match -- the other parents who were watching didn't know she was hard of hearing and made fun of the way she talked. That's a challenge because it frustrates me as a coach that people can be so arrogant. With all that being said, she stayed focused and won the match.'
Basma, who has a 3.4 grade-point average, is majoring in biology. She'd like to become a dermatologist, but her goal is to become a pro tennis player.
"I don't know any other sport that requires so much mental concentration," she said. "You're out there on your own.'
Unlike other players on the tennis court, Natasha Basma can't hear the ping of the ball hitting the sweet spot on her racket. Or an opponent calling a serve "Out!" Or even the cheers of the spectators.
Basma is the only deaf player in NCAA Division I tennis, according to deafdigestsports.com. But her impairment hasn't stopped her from developing into one of the top singles players for Florida Atlantic University.
"It wasn't something that kept me from doing anything in life," said Basma, 19, a sophomore from Boca Raton who is preparing for the spring dual-meet season that begins this week.
"I think of it like not being able to see well. They have glasses for that. I wear hearing aids for my hearing loss."
Basma said she was born with what she describes as "profound" hearing loss. Her 14-year sister has mild hearing loss. Their parents have normal hearing, but hearing loss is hereditary in their father's family.
Natasha, who grew up in South Florida, was living in her parents' native Lebanon when she was diagnosed before she turned 2.
"In Lebanon they told me, 'Oh, you can't do anything for her.' Just like that," said her mother, Nada Basma. "We decided to come here. They told us you can use hearing aids, and with a speech therapist she'll be fine. She has been with her speech therapist since she was 3."
With her parents' encouragement, Basma danced ballet, took up swimming and played piano and volleyball. She did well but none of those appealed to her the way tennis did when she started playing at Fort Lauderdale's Pine Crest School at 13.
Marcy Hora-Cava, FAU's women's tennis coach, said she didn't know about Basma's handicap on her first recruiting visit to Pine Crest.
"It's tough to find athletes with character who don't complain, who fight every day," Hora-Cava said. "She probably gives me more effort out here than most of the other girls on the team."
Basma said she has turned her condition into an advantage.
"I'm definitely more focused, looking at the ball and making sure I have the right spot with my racket," said Basma, who last year won five of six matches at No. 3 singles. "And because I hear the fans less, it gives me more focus."
The coach and her players have improvised visual signals to communicate with Basma during matches and practice.
"There are challenges, but I think it's getting better,' said junior Erika Mrazkova, Basma's doubles partner last year. "When I am serving, she is showing me where to return our opposites. When she is serving, I am at the net, so I am showing her where to serve."
Opposing players haven't always been so accommodating.
"Some of the opponents can be really rough on her. They've mocked her on the side of the court," Hora-Cava said. "There was this one match -- the other parents who were watching didn't know she was hard of hearing and made fun of the way she talked. That's a challenge because it frustrates me as a coach that people can be so arrogant. With all that being said, she stayed focused and won the match.'
Basma, who has a 3.4 grade-point average, is majoring in biology. She'd like to become a dermatologist, but her goal is to become a pro tennis player.
"I don't know any other sport that requires so much mental concentration," she said. "You're out there on your own.'