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Texas School for the Deaf prepares for homecoming game | kvue.com | KVUE News home | KVUE.com | Austin news
High school football teams are all hoping for a win this week. It is an especially important game week for the Texas School for the Deaf.
Hands are clapping, mouths screaming, feet pounding as the Ranger cheerleaders and mascot make a lap around the gym floor. It's the homecoming pep rally.
It seems like any other high school until the cheerleaders start to chant. Instead of yelling, they sign the words to a pounding drum. It's the heartbeat of the Texas School for the Deaf.
"Almost all deaf have 50 to 100 decibel hearing loss and so the drum actually allows everyone to feel it and be on the same hearing level even with your hearing loss,” TSD high school teacher Larry Smith said.
"You can feel it through your bones,” football player Dalton Etkie said of the drum.
The noise is enough to rival any mainstream school.
"A normal school is kind of boring for a pep rally. Here, we're like, 'Come on, let's have some spirit,'” freshman Emma Crawford said.
The school has one pep rally a year, so it's a big deal for the students.
“We dress in blue and white, in our school colors, and, you know, we spray our hair blue and white, put on as much makeup as we can,” Crawford said.
Saturday the football team takes on the Orioles of the Indiana School for the Deaf. Smith, who happens to be a former Ranger football player, says the school has never in its 154 year history lost to Indiana.
"Texas has to win. We have to keep that tradition going, and everyone knows that Texas is a football state,” Smith said.
You have a personal invitation from the quarterback to watch from the stands.
"It will be a really exciting game. We can show everybody that deaf people can play sports like hearing people,” Etkie said.
Kickoff at Gamblin Field is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
High school football teams are all hoping for a win this week. It is an especially important game week for the Texas School for the Deaf.
Hands are clapping, mouths screaming, feet pounding as the Ranger cheerleaders and mascot make a lap around the gym floor. It's the homecoming pep rally.
It seems like any other high school until the cheerleaders start to chant. Instead of yelling, they sign the words to a pounding drum. It's the heartbeat of the Texas School for the Deaf.
"Almost all deaf have 50 to 100 decibel hearing loss and so the drum actually allows everyone to feel it and be on the same hearing level even with your hearing loss,” TSD high school teacher Larry Smith said.
"You can feel it through your bones,” football player Dalton Etkie said of the drum.
The noise is enough to rival any mainstream school.
"A normal school is kind of boring for a pep rally. Here, we're like, 'Come on, let's have some spirit,'” freshman Emma Crawford said.
The school has one pep rally a year, so it's a big deal for the students.
“We dress in blue and white, in our school colors, and, you know, we spray our hair blue and white, put on as much makeup as we can,” Crawford said.
Saturday the football team takes on the Orioles of the Indiana School for the Deaf. Smith, who happens to be a former Ranger football player, says the school has never in its 154 year history lost to Indiana.
"Texas has to win. We have to keep that tradition going, and everyone knows that Texas is a football state,” Smith said.
You have a personal invitation from the quarterback to watch from the stands.
"It will be a really exciting game. We can show everybody that deaf people can play sports like hearing people,” Etkie said.
Kickoff at Gamblin Field is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday.