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Varsity Letters: NDP freshman medals in the Deaflympics - The Baltimore Sun's blog covering high school sports - baltimoresun.com
While most high school-aged athletes were settling into their fall sports teams this month, Notre Dame Prep freshman Rebecca Meyers was halfway around the world swimming in the Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan. She swam in six events and won a bronze medal for the 4x200 freestyle relay.
Here is the news release from Notre Dame Prep:
At age 14, NDP freshman Rebecca Meyers was the youngest member of the U.S. Deaflympics Team, which competed in Taipei, Taiwan, in early September. Meyers returned to her home in Towson, Maryland, and to Notre Dame Preparatory School, where her mother and sister both attended, with a bronze medal for the 4x200 relay finals.
“I was so happy because I had accomplished my goal. I was also happy because I got to come home with a medal and not everyone got one,” said Meyers. “The USA team did not get as many as Russia did, and I was proud to contribute one medal to the [U.S. total].”
Meyers has been profoundly deaf since birth due to Usher’s Syndrome, which causes both hearing and vision loss. She hears now, thanks to a cochlear implant which she received when she was 18 months old. She reads lips and with the help of technology called an FM System which teachers wear in her classes, she can hear lectures. Still, she must look directly at a person when he or she is speaking to her, and ambient noises can interfere with her hearing.
Yet for Meyers, the fact that she is profoundly deaf has not stopped this energetic, buoyant teenager, who loves to read, travel and “hang out” with friends in addition to swimming. “Everything excites her, and she embraces it,” says her mother Maria Dachille Meyers ’81. “I don’t know where her spirit comes from.”
Meyers figuratively and literally dove into swimming when her mother “threw her” into the pool at age six. She won first place in her first race, and since then, she has been swimming competitively. These days, she trains six days a week for at least 90 minutes a day at the Loyola-Blakefield Aquatics Swim Club. As one of five female swimmers at the Deaflympics, she swam in six events.
In addition to the competition, Meyers and her teammates received the proverbial royal treatment from their host country. She toured the country, traveling to the beach, shopping in the city and participating in the traditional Moon Festival which is held annually to herald autumn. She experienced a bustling city where most people drive scooters and eat their food boiled. The cultural divide narrowed at the games, however, when all the countries and athletes were honored in a fireworks-blazing Opening Ceremony reminiscent of the spectacular Beijing Olympics.
This was the 21st Deaflympics, which was founded in 1928 and is held every four years. Eighty-one countries sponsored 4,000 deaf athletes for the summer games, which included 18 sports in addition to swimming. Meyers was among 220 athletes who represented the United States.
Photo courtesy of NDP: Sitting from left, Maria Meyers and Rebecca Meyers; standing from left, Marge Potter, learning resources specialist and Sister Patricia McCarron, NDP headmistress
While most high school-aged athletes were settling into their fall sports teams this month, Notre Dame Prep freshman Rebecca Meyers was halfway around the world swimming in the Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan. She swam in six events and won a bronze medal for the 4x200 freestyle relay.
Here is the news release from Notre Dame Prep:
At age 14, NDP freshman Rebecca Meyers was the youngest member of the U.S. Deaflympics Team, which competed in Taipei, Taiwan, in early September. Meyers returned to her home in Towson, Maryland, and to Notre Dame Preparatory School, where her mother and sister both attended, with a bronze medal for the 4x200 relay finals.
“I was so happy because I had accomplished my goal. I was also happy because I got to come home with a medal and not everyone got one,” said Meyers. “The USA team did not get as many as Russia did, and I was proud to contribute one medal to the [U.S. total].”
Meyers has been profoundly deaf since birth due to Usher’s Syndrome, which causes both hearing and vision loss. She hears now, thanks to a cochlear implant which she received when she was 18 months old. She reads lips and with the help of technology called an FM System which teachers wear in her classes, she can hear lectures. Still, she must look directly at a person when he or she is speaking to her, and ambient noises can interfere with her hearing.
Yet for Meyers, the fact that she is profoundly deaf has not stopped this energetic, buoyant teenager, who loves to read, travel and “hang out” with friends in addition to swimming. “Everything excites her, and she embraces it,” says her mother Maria Dachille Meyers ’81. “I don’t know where her spirit comes from.”
Meyers figuratively and literally dove into swimming when her mother “threw her” into the pool at age six. She won first place in her first race, and since then, she has been swimming competitively. These days, she trains six days a week for at least 90 minutes a day at the Loyola-Blakefield Aquatics Swim Club. As one of five female swimmers at the Deaflympics, she swam in six events.
In addition to the competition, Meyers and her teammates received the proverbial royal treatment from their host country. She toured the country, traveling to the beach, shopping in the city and participating in the traditional Moon Festival which is held annually to herald autumn. She experienced a bustling city where most people drive scooters and eat their food boiled. The cultural divide narrowed at the games, however, when all the countries and athletes were honored in a fireworks-blazing Opening Ceremony reminiscent of the spectacular Beijing Olympics.
This was the 21st Deaflympics, which was founded in 1928 and is held every four years. Eighty-one countries sponsored 4,000 deaf athletes for the summer games, which included 18 sports in addition to swimming. Meyers was among 220 athletes who represented the United States.
Photo courtesy of NDP: Sitting from left, Maria Meyers and Rebecca Meyers; standing from left, Marge Potter, learning resources specialist and Sister Patricia McCarron, NDP headmistress
