Customer Reviews

Winning Sounds Like This: A Season with the Women's Basketball Team at Gallaudet, the World's Only Deaf University

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Women's basketball books occupy a special niche in sportswriting.
Writing about a male players, an author might ask, "How did they make it into the big time?"
Writing about women, authors are forced to ask, "How did they get here at all?" This question adds a new dimension to the stories of women athletes. Players as young as today's collegians have had to overcome stereotypes. Many played on boys' teams -- or tried to.

Gallaudet women have to overcome a double stereotype -- being not only female, but also deaf. There was a time when opposing teams would openly ridicule deaf basketball players. One player was devastated as a high school student when a coach from a Christian academy openly laughed at her speech. She made the team but never forgot the experience.

However, the players want to be taken seriously as athletes. They do not want or need pity or condescension. To Coffey's credit, the book focuses on basketball, not deafness. We learn how players and teams compensate for a silent world. They can hear someone dribbling behind them. Referees are briefed: players can't hear the whistle so they may not stop playing immediately. And players on "hearing" teams need ASL translators who understand basketball terms.

Yet ultimately the story is about the game: coming together as a team and working to win. Like any sports book, there are stories of triumphs as well as tears. We come to care about the players as they, like all college athletes, balance basketball and books.

Perhaps the most difficult story takes place after the book was written. Ronda Jo Miller, an All-American center, cannot reach her goal of playing on a WNBA team. In stories posted on the internet, we can learn that she earned admiration of players and coaches during the tryout camp. She eventually played professionally in Denmark, with a "hearing" team, and has played in Kansas City with an expansion league, the WNBL.

What happens to the other athletes? Playing on a winning team can change lives and I found myself hoping they will continue to feel like winners, long after the season has ended.

I have very little to no interest whatsoever in basketball, but I do have a strong interest in deaf women that go against the odds. Thus, this book was half boring and half intriguing for me. Let's start with the intriguing. I really enjoyed the tidbits of deaf history. I never realized Ponce de Leon played a large role in the mass realization that deaf does not mean dumb. I liked reading about the girls' personal lives, namely Touria. (A few interesting pages are dedicated to this brave woman who is not only a deaf female, but a deaf female in a mostly hearing muslim household.) I was thrilled with the information provided about the first deaf president of the school, King Jordan. I was touched deeply by Ronda's story about her speech being made fun of and her six years of silence due to the embarassment of it. I also enjoyed the few pages that went in depth about the controversial cochlear implants and what the girls have to say about it, "Quit trying to make us like you."

I was obviously moved numerous times. So why the low rating? I wanted more of the girls and their lives. The basketball is a HUGE part of the story, I won't deny that, but I don't need play by play details about every game. I will not remember who fouled, who free throwed, nor how many times somebody free throwed 2 pages later. My mind began drifting and I began skipping paragraphs to get back to the girls and their stories. I also felt there was a too much about Kitty, the coach. I simply did not take to her the way I did the team.

A decent read. I recommend it for anybody who wants to know more about deaf culture and Gallaudet University.

Beautifully written that, at turns, is funny, touching, fascinating and absorbing. I read it at a single sitting.
Such wonderful character studies of the players, their families and the world of Gallaudet. If you like basketball, if you like visiting other cultures or if you just like stories that bring people to life, you'll love this book. Highly recommended.

This book is so good I couldnt stop reading it! It's an inspirational story about human nature, what it takes to be the best and something I knew nothing about previously...deaf culture. It's a well written, must read for anyone who has ever worked hard for something...hearing or deaf.

Wayne Coffey not only knows sports but he knows how to write tight, action packed chapters. This story moves. Interpersed with backgrounds on the team members, the history of deaf culture, the story tracks the team through an incredible season. I am not an avid basketball fan nor did I have any particular interest in deaf culture, but this book captured my interest from the first page and held it throughout.

A rare find.