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Winning Sounds Like This: A Season with the Women's Basketball Team at Gallaudet, the World's Only Deaf University
The Gallaudet women’s basketball team has just defeated the number one ranked team in the country, the College of New Jersey. A reporter, not wanting to be insensitive, delicately broaches the obvious “How can you play so well despite your hearing impairment?” Nanette Virnig, a forward for Gallaudet, puts him at ease. “We’re not hearing impaired,” she says. “We’re deaf.”
Winning Sounds Like This is the remarkable story of the nation’s most unique and inspiring women’s basketball team and its 1999–2000 season. It is a touching chronicle of players who don’t hear buzzers or cheers, a coach who has never used a whistle, and a university that is a mecca for deaf culture throughout the world.
Author Wayne Coffey offers an intimate and unsparing look at the players’ lives on and off the court, their struggles to overcome the mistreatment and misconceptions of the hearing world, and their deeply rooted connection to one another. Interwoven with an overview of the shameful history of education for the deaf, Coffey explores the players’ hopes and dreams and introduces us to such unforgettable people as Ronda Jo Miller, a Minnesota farm girl who is the most decorated athlete in school history; Touria Ouahid, a point guard from Morocco who had to overcome the fierce objections of her Muslim culture to pursue basketball and her education; and their relentlessly dedicated coach, Kitty Baldridge, who has led the Gallaudet women’s team for nearly twenty-five years.
On the bench for every game, on the bus for every trip, even living in the dorms and attending classes, Coffey presents sensitively crafted portraits of ten remarkable women who adamantly reject the notion that they are disabled in any way.
Their goal in life is not to be able to hear, but simply to be accepted and respected. Nearly fifteen years ago, I. King Jordan, Gallaudet’s president and a towering figure in contemporary deaf history, issued a famous “Deaf people can do everything but hear.” Much more than just a basketball story, Winning Sounds Like This is a celebration of community, of perseverance, and of young women who live out King Jordan’s words every day of their lives.
Winning Sounds Like This is the remarkable story of the nation’s most unique and inspiring women’s basketball team and its 1999–2000 season. It is a touching chronicle of players who don’t hear buzzers or cheers, a coach who has never used a whistle, and a university that is a mecca for deaf culture throughout the world.
Author Wayne Coffey offers an intimate and unsparing look at the players’ lives on and off the court, their struggles to overcome the mistreatment and misconceptions of the hearing world, and their deeply rooted connection to one another. Interwoven with an overview of the shameful history of education for the deaf, Coffey explores the players’ hopes and dreams and introduces us to such unforgettable people as Ronda Jo Miller, a Minnesota farm girl who is the most decorated athlete in school history; Touria Ouahid, a point guard from Morocco who had to overcome the fierce objections of her Muslim culture to pursue basketball and her education; and their relentlessly dedicated coach, Kitty Baldridge, who has led the Gallaudet women’s team for nearly twenty-five years.
On the bench for every game, on the bus for every trip, even living in the dorms and attending classes, Coffey presents sensitively crafted portraits of ten remarkable women who adamantly reject the notion that they are disabled in any way.
Their goal in life is not to be able to hear, but simply to be accepted and respected. Nearly fifteen years ago, I. King Jordan, Gallaudet’s president and a towering figure in contemporary deaf history, issued a famous “Deaf people can do everything but hear.” Much more than just a basketball story, Winning Sounds Like This is a celebration of community, of perseverance, and of young women who live out King Jordan’s words every day of their lives.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Wayne Coffey
31 books18 followersWayne Coffey is an award-winning sportswriter for the New York Daily News and the author of Winning Sounds Like This, among other books. He lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 18, 2009
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.
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.
December 17, 2017
First and foremost, this is a book about basketball, and there is plenty of play-by-play for each game. You will also learn Gallaudet history, Deaf history, the culture and etiquette of ASL, and the importance of athletics to the athletes (past and present).
Though there are close-ups on many of the players, it was still hard to tell them apart at times, not only because there are two called Ronda. There are a lot of players to keep in mind, and this may be my failing as a reader. The most compelling character is Coach Kitty, whose struggles with and for her team are emotionally wrenching. I enjoyed her story most.
Though there are close-ups on many of the players, it was still hard to tell them apart at times, not only because there are two called Ronda. There are a lot of players to keep in mind, and this may be my failing as a reader. The most compelling character is Coach Kitty, whose struggles with and for her team are emotionally wrenching. I enjoyed her story most.
November 20, 2014
Perfect for anyone who enjoys Deaf culture, women basketball and/or Gallaudet. Some names mentioned are familiar, 2 of the players are my sorority sisters. :)
It's a big no no in Deaf community to have hearing authors write about Deaf culture however Wayne was the exception. he spent hours with the team, coaches, players and interviewed numerous people. Wayne spent time on the team bus, watched the girls play and even slept on campus sometimes. their words, their thoughts, their signs, Wayne published that. :)
It's a big no no in Deaf community to have hearing authors write about Deaf culture however Wayne was the exception. he spent hours with the team, coaches, players and interviewed numerous people. Wayne spent time on the team bus, watched the girls play and even slept on campus sometimes. their words, their thoughts, their signs, Wayne published that. :)
May 4, 2024
This book captures the intersection of two very different topics that may be interesting to very different people, and it shows in the ratings and reviews of it.
First, it's a basketball book. And unless you're really into basketball, the details of practices and games and the ups and downs of the Gallaudet University basketball team in the 1999-2000 season may be more basketball than you wanted. I know it was more than I wanted.
Second, it's a book about deaf people and Deaf culture in the United States, featuring some of their history. The literal centuries of mainstream culture assuming all deaf people were idiots because they had such trouble learning the oral languages of hearing people. The invention of sign language and the first use of it to teach deaf children in France, the first creation of schools for deaf children in the United States, the creation of Gallaudet University, the push in the mid-20th century to forcibly “mainstream” deaf children and take sign language away from them, the Gallaudet student body's 1988 Deaf President Now revolt which led to the first deaf president in the school's 131-year history, the more recent push to fit deaf children with cochlear implants, and two long-standing controversies in the Deaf community:
1. To use your voice or not use your voice.
2. To mainstream or not mainstream.
And it was these aspects of the book that were really interesting to me. This book was published in 2002, and it made me not just want to vread more about the Deaf community, but also to vread books published more recently, if there are any.
First, it's a basketball book. And unless you're really into basketball, the details of practices and games and the ups and downs of the Gallaudet University basketball team in the 1999-2000 season may be more basketball than you wanted. I know it was more than I wanted.
Second, it's a book about deaf people and Deaf culture in the United States, featuring some of their history. The literal centuries of mainstream culture assuming all deaf people were idiots because they had such trouble learning the oral languages of hearing people. The invention of sign language and the first use of it to teach deaf children in France, the first creation of schools for deaf children in the United States, the creation of Gallaudet University, the push in the mid-20th century to forcibly “mainstream” deaf children and take sign language away from them, the Gallaudet student body's 1988 Deaf President Now revolt which led to the first deaf president in the school's 131-year history, the more recent push to fit deaf children with cochlear implants, and two long-standing controversies in the Deaf community:
1. To use your voice or not use your voice.
2. To mainstream or not mainstream.
And it was these aspects of the book that were really interesting to me. This book was published in 2002, and it made me not just want to vread more about the Deaf community, but also to vread books published more recently, if there are any.
October 10, 2007
OK, so in the spirit of full disclosure, Wayne's my cousin, and I'm a bit biased. But seriously, he's done a great job with this one, combining a sports story with meaningful discussion of deaf culture. I loved it.
November 20, 2011
Sports are historically an important part of Deaf culture so I was happy to find a book focused on the subject in general. But this bio follows the women's basketball team from Galludet, the first deaf liberal arts university, as they compete.
December 9, 2012
I had no prior knowledge about this University and can honestly say I've never thought about the difficulty in playing sports without being able to hear. This book isn't only about basketball but includes some fascinating history related to being deaf.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews