Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Former pro golfer tours U.S. teaching and encouraging deaf children to take their swings
Squeals of glee, sprinkled among a few of dismay, rose from the driving range at Edgewood Country Club as boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 9 were in a line thwacking at tennis balls with oversized plastic golf clubs yesterday.
The kids smiled broadly when, on the rare occasions, a ball actually got airborne and sailed maybe 20 yards down the fairway. They swung with gusto for about an hour while Rob Strano offered instruction and encouragement using sign language. When they finished they received T-shirts and a certificate and a group of older kids took their place.
About 50 children from The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf participated in the inaugural Steel City Deaf Golf Camp sponsored by Economics Pennsylvania that provided a unique opportunity for instruction from a golf professional teaching completely in American Sign Language.
Strano, a rabbit on the PGA Tour from 1988-2003 who spent his Mondays each week trying to qualify for a tournament, founded the United States Deaf Golf Camps in 2004 and will instruct nearly 1,000 beginners at 18 camps throughout the United States this year.
When a series of injuries forced Strano, 42, to quit playing competitive golf, he clicked on his computer and searched a number of Web sites looking for golf camps that catered to the deaf.
"It shocked me, I couldn't find one. There's nobody teaching the deaf in sign language. I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me,' " he said. "I didn't know a lick of sign language and I didn't know a deaf person, but I knew what I wanted to do."
It didn't take long for Strano to become proficient at sign language and organize the camps.
"It's important for these kids to be taught by an instructor in sign because sometimes it can be a problem with a translator," Strano said. "Some of the words used in describing the golf swing could have a different interpretation in sign language. That would confuse the kids. Some abstract words don't translate into sign language.
"I'm very clear in my signing with the kids."
And the kids are quick learners.
"It's easier to teach them because they have to be more focused, they have to take it in sign. They can't mentally go away," he said. "The message doesn't get lost."
Strano gives the younger children a couple of minutes of visual instruction and then lets them take their cuts.
"I want to get them going in golf, let them do it, and let them have fun," he said. "With the older kids, I do a little more hands-on teaching. Most of the kids are good athletes who play other sports. For some, though, what they struggle with most is balance because they have inner-ear issues."
The kids are curious about Strano's golf career.
"The first question they ask me is, 'Have you ever beaten Tiger Woods?' "
Strano always answers with a smile, "No."
But these camps aren't about winning and losing.
"They're about showing these kids they have no limitations," he said. "Every one of them has greatness inside of them waiting to come out. This is just one way to give them a chance to see what they can do."
Squeals of glee, sprinkled among a few of dismay, rose from the driving range at Edgewood Country Club as boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 9 were in a line thwacking at tennis balls with oversized plastic golf clubs yesterday.
The kids smiled broadly when, on the rare occasions, a ball actually got airborne and sailed maybe 20 yards down the fairway. They swung with gusto for about an hour while Rob Strano offered instruction and encouragement using sign language. When they finished they received T-shirts and a certificate and a group of older kids took their place.
About 50 children from The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf participated in the inaugural Steel City Deaf Golf Camp sponsored by Economics Pennsylvania that provided a unique opportunity for instruction from a golf professional teaching completely in American Sign Language.
Strano, a rabbit on the PGA Tour from 1988-2003 who spent his Mondays each week trying to qualify for a tournament, founded the United States Deaf Golf Camps in 2004 and will instruct nearly 1,000 beginners at 18 camps throughout the United States this year.
When a series of injuries forced Strano, 42, to quit playing competitive golf, he clicked on his computer and searched a number of Web sites looking for golf camps that catered to the deaf.
"It shocked me, I couldn't find one. There's nobody teaching the deaf in sign language. I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me,' " he said. "I didn't know a lick of sign language and I didn't know a deaf person, but I knew what I wanted to do."
It didn't take long for Strano to become proficient at sign language and organize the camps.
"It's important for these kids to be taught by an instructor in sign because sometimes it can be a problem with a translator," Strano said. "Some of the words used in describing the golf swing could have a different interpretation in sign language. That would confuse the kids. Some abstract words don't translate into sign language.
"I'm very clear in my signing with the kids."
And the kids are quick learners.
"It's easier to teach them because they have to be more focused, they have to take it in sign. They can't mentally go away," he said. "The message doesn't get lost."
Strano gives the younger children a couple of minutes of visual instruction and then lets them take their cuts.
"I want to get them going in golf, let them do it, and let them have fun," he said. "With the older kids, I do a little more hands-on teaching. Most of the kids are good athletes who play other sports. For some, though, what they struggle with most is balance because they have inner-ear issues."
The kids are curious about Strano's golf career.
"The first question they ask me is, 'Have you ever beaten Tiger Woods?' "
Strano always answers with a smile, "No."
But these camps aren't about winning and losing.
"They're about showing these kids they have no limitations," he said. "Every one of them has greatness inside of them waiting to come out. This is just one way to give them a chance to see what they can do."