Miss-Delectable
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Inside Bay Area - SIGNS OF SUCCESS
Michael Lizarraga has the look of a college basketball prospect. The 17-year-old high school senior is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound left-hander who wears size 17 shoes.
He plays the part on the floor, too. Wearing uniform No.23 — a favorite of so many kids from the Michael Jordan generation — Lizarraga has a polished offensive game around the basket, handles the ball reasonably well, and seems to have decent court sense.
His defense could be better, but he is unselfish.
He has a 3.5 grade-point average, has played two years for a traveling summer-league program and has been selected to play for a U.S. team at an international tournament in China this year.
At home, he has a shoebox full of letters from college recruiters.
"He told us from the get-go he wants to go to a Division I school and play basketball," said his father, Tavo Lizarraga. "That's all he wants — just an opportunity."
There is one element that distinguishes Lizarraga from the thousands of other high schoolers who dream about playing college hoops.
He is deaf.
Born to two hearing parents, both with the recessive gene for deafness, Lizarraga has been profoundly deaf since birth.
He also has been something of a gym rat since he was a preschooler, chasing around his father, who coached high school ball in their hometown of Dixon, southwest of Sacramento.
Now a senior resident student at California School for the Deaf in Fremont, Lizarraga has become one of the better — if not elite — players in the Bay Area.
Rob Jones, who has coached him on the Bay Area Hoosiers summer-league team, said Lizarraga fits into the second tier of top local prospects.
"Being deaf, Mike obviously has to overcome that challenge, but you wouldn't know it by the way he plays and the way he competes," said Jones, whose program sent Decensae White to Texas Tech last fall. "Everybody wants to know how (his being deaf) plays into it. But people look at his talent and his ability and see he can play."
At the Clerc Classic in Washington, D.C., last weekend, playing against the best deaf schools in the country, Lizarraga averaged26.7 points and 12.3 rebounds, leading CSD team to third place.
A year ago, Lizarraga was voted MVP of the same event, and a more experienced Fremont team won the title.
Lizarraga is a prominent young member of the deaf basketball community, the youngest player selected to the U.S. team that will play at the Deaf World Basketball Championships, June 22-30 in Guanzhou, China.
He said he's excited about the trip, but his basketball horizons are wider still. It was at Gallaudet University in D.C., which hosted last week's Clerc Classic, that Lizarraga first got the sense he could aim high.
He attended a basketball camp at the nation's premier deaf university the summer before his freshman year in high school. He played so well, recalled his mother, Cari, that "the coach said he didn't need to come back."
So it was on to mainstream summer camps and AAU ball, as Lizarraga honed his dream to play college basketball.
Bay Area Hoosiers coach Jones said communicating with Lizarraga has not been an issue, although he certainly would need an interpreter to play on a college team.
Michael acknowledged that playing alongside better players the past two summer developed his confidence and improved his game.
What he's chasing isn't unprecedented, but it's not common. Richmond native Don Lyons, a double-digit scorer for Nevada-Las Vegas in the late 1960s, is regarded as perhaps the best deaf player to compete on the college level. But UNLV was known as Nevada Southern in those days, and still playing small-college ball.
Lizarraga believes he can make it as a college player.
"I have to have confidence in myself," he said through an interpreter.
Oskar Schugg, a 36-year-old graduate of CSD and now the team's coach, called Lizarraga "a natural basketball player with a kid's heart."
He said Lizarraga needs more work in the weight room and continued improvement in several skill areas, but likes his chances of playing somewhere in college.
"His strength is his desire to play, his love of the game," Schugg said. "I am absolutely positive that if he shows his passion and dedicates his time in basketball, he will play for a mainstream college."
The mailbox at the Lizarraga family home has received dozens of letters from Division I programs — some of whom actually know who Lizarraga is. The first correspondence most schools send to potential recruits is a form letter and questionnaire, asking for more information.
Names of prospects are culled from national recruiting lists — Lizarraga's name appears on the rivals.com database — and schools may not even have seen many players who receive letters from them.
Assistant coaches at two Bay Area schools said they have watched Lizarraga play and know he is deaf. That wasn't the reason neither school actively recruited him.
One suggested Lizarraga is good enough to play at a lower level Division I school, or more likely Division II. Another added, "He's an inside guy who plays hard. He's maybe not quite big enough, but he's a good player."
Other schools clearly weren't familiar with Lizarraga's circumstances. Coaches for two Eastern schools who sent him letters said they don't recall the name.
Tavo Lizarraga said one coach phoned and suggested Michael could play for his team immediately.
"When I asked what kind of support (does the school) have for a deaf person, he said he didn't know," the father said. "When it's all said and done, that's our responsibility, to make sure we put him into an environment where he's successful."
That destination appears to be Cal State Northridge, which has the largest deaf student population of any mainstream college in the country.
Lizarraga has been accepted academically to the school, and the coaching staff is aware he plans to try making the Division I team next fall as a non-scholarship walk-on.
"They know I'm coming," Lizarraga said. "They watched me during AAU games."
Northridge features the National Center on Deafness, which provides support and services for more than 200 deaf and hard-of-hearing students each year.
There are sign-language interpreters in every classroom, captionists who transcribe lectures onto laptop screens, and a four-floor dorm building designed to meet the special requirements of deaf residents.
Tavo Lizarraga, an assistant coach this season at CSD, is convinced his son could play basketball at many Division I schools.
"Nobody's knocked on the door," he said. "But we've told Michael since Day 1 that college is not an option for him, it's a prerequisite. If he plays basketball while he goes to college, that's just a plus."
That's the voice of the responsible parent.
The 17-year-old is like most other basketball players his age. His priority is playing college ball. And if he doesn't make the squad next fall?
"I'm going to keep trying," he said.
Michael Lizarraga has the look of a college basketball prospect. The 17-year-old high school senior is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound left-hander who wears size 17 shoes.
He plays the part on the floor, too. Wearing uniform No.23 — a favorite of so many kids from the Michael Jordan generation — Lizarraga has a polished offensive game around the basket, handles the ball reasonably well, and seems to have decent court sense.
His defense could be better, but he is unselfish.
He has a 3.5 grade-point average, has played two years for a traveling summer-league program and has been selected to play for a U.S. team at an international tournament in China this year.
At home, he has a shoebox full of letters from college recruiters.
"He told us from the get-go he wants to go to a Division I school and play basketball," said his father, Tavo Lizarraga. "That's all he wants — just an opportunity."
There is one element that distinguishes Lizarraga from the thousands of other high schoolers who dream about playing college hoops.
He is deaf.
Born to two hearing parents, both with the recessive gene for deafness, Lizarraga has been profoundly deaf since birth.
He also has been something of a gym rat since he was a preschooler, chasing around his father, who coached high school ball in their hometown of Dixon, southwest of Sacramento.
Now a senior resident student at California School for the Deaf in Fremont, Lizarraga has become one of the better — if not elite — players in the Bay Area.
Rob Jones, who has coached him on the Bay Area Hoosiers summer-league team, said Lizarraga fits into the second tier of top local prospects.
"Being deaf, Mike obviously has to overcome that challenge, but you wouldn't know it by the way he plays and the way he competes," said Jones, whose program sent Decensae White to Texas Tech last fall. "Everybody wants to know how (his being deaf) plays into it. But people look at his talent and his ability and see he can play."
At the Clerc Classic in Washington, D.C., last weekend, playing against the best deaf schools in the country, Lizarraga averaged26.7 points and 12.3 rebounds, leading CSD team to third place.
A year ago, Lizarraga was voted MVP of the same event, and a more experienced Fremont team won the title.
Lizarraga is a prominent young member of the deaf basketball community, the youngest player selected to the U.S. team that will play at the Deaf World Basketball Championships, June 22-30 in Guanzhou, China.
He said he's excited about the trip, but his basketball horizons are wider still. It was at Gallaudet University in D.C., which hosted last week's Clerc Classic, that Lizarraga first got the sense he could aim high.
He attended a basketball camp at the nation's premier deaf university the summer before his freshman year in high school. He played so well, recalled his mother, Cari, that "the coach said he didn't need to come back."
So it was on to mainstream summer camps and AAU ball, as Lizarraga honed his dream to play college basketball.
Bay Area Hoosiers coach Jones said communicating with Lizarraga has not been an issue, although he certainly would need an interpreter to play on a college team.
Michael acknowledged that playing alongside better players the past two summer developed his confidence and improved his game.
What he's chasing isn't unprecedented, but it's not common. Richmond native Don Lyons, a double-digit scorer for Nevada-Las Vegas in the late 1960s, is regarded as perhaps the best deaf player to compete on the college level. But UNLV was known as Nevada Southern in those days, and still playing small-college ball.
Lizarraga believes he can make it as a college player.
"I have to have confidence in myself," he said through an interpreter.
Oskar Schugg, a 36-year-old graduate of CSD and now the team's coach, called Lizarraga "a natural basketball player with a kid's heart."
He said Lizarraga needs more work in the weight room and continued improvement in several skill areas, but likes his chances of playing somewhere in college.
"His strength is his desire to play, his love of the game," Schugg said. "I am absolutely positive that if he shows his passion and dedicates his time in basketball, he will play for a mainstream college."
The mailbox at the Lizarraga family home has received dozens of letters from Division I programs — some of whom actually know who Lizarraga is. The first correspondence most schools send to potential recruits is a form letter and questionnaire, asking for more information.
Names of prospects are culled from national recruiting lists — Lizarraga's name appears on the rivals.com database — and schools may not even have seen many players who receive letters from them.
Assistant coaches at two Bay Area schools said they have watched Lizarraga play and know he is deaf. That wasn't the reason neither school actively recruited him.
One suggested Lizarraga is good enough to play at a lower level Division I school, or more likely Division II. Another added, "He's an inside guy who plays hard. He's maybe not quite big enough, but he's a good player."
Other schools clearly weren't familiar with Lizarraga's circumstances. Coaches for two Eastern schools who sent him letters said they don't recall the name.
Tavo Lizarraga said one coach phoned and suggested Michael could play for his team immediately.
"When I asked what kind of support (does the school) have for a deaf person, he said he didn't know," the father said. "When it's all said and done, that's our responsibility, to make sure we put him into an environment where he's successful."
That destination appears to be Cal State Northridge, which has the largest deaf student population of any mainstream college in the country.
Lizarraga has been accepted academically to the school, and the coaching staff is aware he plans to try making the Division I team next fall as a non-scholarship walk-on.
"They know I'm coming," Lizarraga said. "They watched me during AAU games."
Northridge features the National Center on Deafness, which provides support and services for more than 200 deaf and hard-of-hearing students each year.
There are sign-language interpreters in every classroom, captionists who transcribe lectures onto laptop screens, and a four-floor dorm building designed to meet the special requirements of deaf residents.
Tavo Lizarraga, an assistant coach this season at CSD, is convinced his son could play basketball at many Division I schools.
"Nobody's knocked on the door," he said. "But we've told Michael since Day 1 that college is not an option for him, it's a prerequisite. If he plays basketball while he goes to college, that's just a plus."
That's the voice of the responsible parent.
The 17-year-old is like most other basketball players his age. His priority is playing college ball. And if he doesn't make the squad next fall?
"I'm going to keep trying," he said.