SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind is hosting the Western States Basketball Classic, featuring student athletes from other states, all of whom are all deaf or hard-of-hearing.
"We have five other state deaf schools," says Jonathan Helgesen, athletic director for the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. "we came together... so they can feel that unity and realize that there's other people just like them."
At Thursday's game, you could sense unity not just from the players, but also the cheering fans consisting of students, faculty, and other local high school students who learned sign language and cheer the team on with their raised hands and stomping feet.
Even though the teams can't hear, they can still communicate the plays with each other with the use of sign language, know the fouls called out by referees who are deaf, and get instruction from their coach to make the right adjustments.
"[It] was amazing, that feeling of being here, and having my boys see that," says Wade Hester, basketball coach for the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind team. "That made them nervous because there was a lot of people, but it was a good experience for them."
As Coach Hester wants his team to win it all this tournament, there is a greater purpose to this event.
"The deaf community just coming and supporting that heart, that's what gets us," says Hester. "The crowd filling the bleachers was the biggest crowd we've ever had."
