** INTRO, INTERVIEW BEGINS AT 3:00 **

00:00:13 [Speaker 1]
Okay.
00:00:14 [Speaker 1]
I told myself these intros were never gonna be at least for these, I didn't wanna look back on any, like, you know, timely information.
00:00:20 [Speaker 1]
But, hopefully, I look back on this one just right off the top and say to myself, wow.
00:00:24 [Speaker 1]
I'm glad that that's kinda over with.
00:00:27 [Speaker 1]
I I just kinda wanted to put out there, first and foremost, before we get to Sam's episode, I'm still up for hire.

00:00:34 [Speaker 1]
If you or someone you know is looking for anybody with a remote opportunity or in the Metro Detroit area, for communications.
00:00:40 [Speaker 1]
I've done some digital marketing, media relations.
00:00:43 [Speaker 1]
You know, you you're all SIDs.
00:00:45 [Speaker 1]
You you know what we're, you know, good at and going through and dealing with.
00:00:48 [Speaker 1]
So, if anybody's looking for something like that, I am you can, be sure to send them my way.

00:00:55 [Speaker 1]
So episode one seventy four.
00:00:58 [Speaker 1]
So I did I think this was the first, I believe, the first interview I did since deciding to start doing the show again.
00:01:08 [Speaker 1]
So Sam, was happy to do that for me.
00:01:13 [Speaker 1]
Came on.
00:01:14 [Speaker 1]
I I think you all are gonna remember this, but, they had a commercial for AT and T about, deaf student athletes, how AT and T was building out, kind of a HUD display for, that it's a first that's just gonna be quarterbacks, to be able to know the play call.

00:01:34 [Speaker 1]
Because once you kinda start thinking about the ins and outs of college athletics and just think about statting your games in general, which kinda Sam kinda have as a qualifier for, but regardless, for the sake of the argument, how hard it is for deaf and hard of hearing student athletes and and let alone a deaf and hard of hearing, university to be able to just a game day function.
00:01:56 [Speaker 1]
So, AT and T was that commercial.
00:01:59 [Speaker 1]
I believe it was a year or two ago.
00:02:01 [Speaker 1]
San kinda goes in and retells, you know, what that looked like, the logistics of it, how AT and T is helping them, further down the line, with some of the away games.
00:02:12 [Speaker 1]
You know, what that looks like when you have a a division three conference there.

00:02:15 [Speaker 1]
You'd have to go and play football games, in the middle of nowhere where you basically need cell service to, make this HUD display operate for your quarterback.
00:02:25 [Speaker 1]
So regard is a, very interesting, very interesting, you know, space and story, and I'm very, very happy that Sam was able to jump on with us there.
00:02:37 [Speaker 1]
So, without further ado, let's hop into episode one seventy four of SIDcast with Sam Atkinson of the Gallaudet Bison.
00:02:46 [Speaker 1]
And, what really went into the inner workings of that famous AT and T commercial right here on SIDcast

** INTERVIEW BEGINS **

00:03:00 [Speaker 2]
It helped us try to level the playing field for our student athletes.
00:03:04 [Speaker 2]
Every time our our teams take the field, we're already out.
00:03:09 [Speaker 2]
You know, the officials can't communicate with us clearly.
00:03:13 [Speaker 2]
The visiting team and other student athletes can't communicate with us.
00:03:17 [Speaker 2]
So we're already starting a game at a disadvantage.

00:03:20 [Speaker 2]
And I don't think a lot of people think about that, when you think about just a regular game against Gallaudet University.
00:03:27 [Speaker 2]
You know, Gallaudet being the National Deaf and Hard of Hearing University in Washington, DC, we're the only university in the world that is for the deaf, you know, and we communicate both in American sign language and English, a bilingual university.
00:03:44 [Speaker 2]
But our biggest focus is American sign language and making things accessible for our student athletes.
00:03:50 [Speaker 2]
So I think with the invention of the AT and T five g helmet, it was trying to help level the playing field for our student athletes and our coaches to at least communicate to each other.
00:04:01 [Speaker 2]
Right now, a hearing team could just yell on the field to their quarterback.

00:04:05 [Speaker 2]
The quarterback can look over and, you know, get the new sign or the new, play.
00:04:10 [Speaker 2]
But for us, we're at a where we can't just yell, at our quarterback and for them to turn over and look at our coaches.
00:04:18 [Speaker 2]
But the invention of this five g helmet enabled our coaches by use of, like a iPad or some type of screen device in their hands.
00:04:27 [Speaker 2]
They could pick a play, and it shows up on the islands in the the corner of the helmet for the quarterback to be able to sign the play to the rest of the the huddle.
00:04:38 [Speaker 2]
And if there was something wrong, there's a red emergency button with kind of a exclamate links that our coach can click on, and that means for the quarterback to automatically look at our coaches, to do a audible or anything like that.

00:04:53 [Speaker 2]
So, you know, that just really helped and and made things a little little bit smoother from a play call standpoint.
00:05:01 [Speaker 2]
That didn't eliminate the disadvantages of being able to communicate with with officials or the visiting team, but at least enabled our coaches to be able to get the attention of our student athletes when needed.
00:05:13 [Speaker 2]
And I just think this technology is just the beginning, And it's a type of technology, and I think Gallaudet, we pride ourselves off of.
00:05:21 [Speaker 2]
We're making inventions and technology advances that only not only benefit deaf and hard of hearing individuals, but also impact and benefit hearing individuals.
00:05:31 [Speaker 2]
You know, you can see an NFL game where it's a loud stadium, and the quarterbacks are holding their their ears trying to hear the radio play, but now they're able to see the play in the eye lens at a racist than, you know, any type of loud noises, see how that could change for the better in the NFL and, you know, bigger collegiate football.

00:05:52 [Speaker 2]
But our goal is hopefully one day to be able to have our whole team in those helmets.
00:05:57 [Speaker 2]
Right now, they're not cost effective as far as they're really expensive.
00:06:01 [Speaker 2]
We only have three for our quarterbacks, but our goal is for everyone to be outfitted in them because the other flip side of it is this is a safety concern.
00:06:12 [Speaker 2]
We're hitting sometimes, unfortunately, a player late after the whistle's been blown, but our player can't hear, that the play was put was was, rolled down or over.
00:06:24 [Speaker 2]
So, yeah, so, like, our, you know, our players, you know, they play until the we always teach them to play until the ball has hit the ground or the or the ball carrier has hit the ground.

00:06:35 [Speaker 2]
But if there's a false start or something and the the penalties throw it in late and the referees don't go in quick enough and they don't signal with their arms up, then sometimes our players will still think that the play is happening and then hit back or hit the the ball carrier late, and then there's a penalty.
00:06:53 [Speaker 2]
And I think if our defenders were able to have those type of helmets and we're able to hit the red button, they would stop and be able to understand that, like, hey.
00:07:03 [Speaker 2]
False start.
00:07:03 [Speaker 2]
Let's not, you know, draw a penalty.

00:07:06 [Speaker 1]
Or just or just something that cut like, a little wrist thing that just vibrate that says when they're yeah.
00:07:11 [Speaker 1]
But I guess that that would be a little difficult too during the action of the plane

00:07:15 [Speaker 2]
as well.
00:07:16 [Speaker 2]
I think the other notion too is, like, quality of, like, you know, light travels faster than so for our swimming team, for example, we use these light sticks that are bolted to the starting blocks, and it's timed up with the timer.
00:07:31 [Speaker 2]
So when they say ready, set, go, it changes different colors.
00:07:35 [Speaker 2]
And, again, now our swimmers who used to look to the right looking at the official to drop their arm can now just focus on their on the light stick and be like any other swimmer.
00:07:47 [Speaker 2]
They hear us a tone, the start.

00:07:49 [Speaker 2]
Now they see the green on the lights, and then they they can go.
00:07:54 [Speaker 2]
But now this benefits, again, everyone because every lane has these sticks.
00:07:58 [Speaker 2]
The light travels faster than sound.
00:08:00 [Speaker 2]
You're seeing the starts being smooth and fast, for everyone that competes against us, since we we use those, light sticks.
00:08:08 [Speaker 2]
Now our hope and goal is also have those for track and field one day.

00:08:13 [Speaker 2]
Because right now, our our our track coach has to sit in on another lane next to our runner and put his hand out.
00:08:21 [Speaker 2]
And as soon as he hears the gun go off, he moves to the same tower.
00:08:25 [Speaker 2]
Our, you know, track our runners go.
00:08:29 [Speaker 2]
And we have a three time national champion, Eric Gregory, in the, 400 meter dash outdoors.
00:08:38 [Speaker 2]
And he he was putting up some great times and, you know, even best division three times for the season, but think if he was able to start cleanly and maybe save another a couple tenths of a second.

00:08:51 [Speaker 2]
You know?
00:08:51 [Speaker 2]
His records probably would have been even better.

00:08:53 [Speaker 1]
That's pretty neat.
00:08:54 [Speaker 1]
The, just going back to the the islands real quick, the the exclamation mark, is that just exclusively for, like, a play call change, or is that could could that also be kind of I'm worried about, like, what is there technology issue with the helmet or perhaps any signal?
00:09:09 [Speaker 1]
You know, what what does that look like?

00:09:11 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:09:11 [Speaker 2]
So, just to step back a little bit on this, the project itself took two years with AT and T.
00:09:18 [Speaker 2]
We went through a lot of different prototypes with our team.
00:09:21 [Speaker 2]
The nice thing about this was we've been approached by other people before that want to come and pitch different technology ideas to help the deaf and hard of hearing.
00:09:31 [Speaker 2]
But sometimes these companies come in with the wrong intentions.

00:09:34 [Speaker 2]
They're trying to sell something.
00:09:35 [Speaker 2]
They're trying to, quote, unquote, fix the deaf and hard of hearing people, and we don't view ourselves as, you know, disabled or having a disability.

00:09:46 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:09:46 [Speaker 1]
You don't need to be safe.

00:09:47 [Speaker 2]
No.
00:09:47 [Speaker 2]
Not at all.
00:09:48 [Speaker 2]
And I think that to explain to people, you know, that our deaf and hard of hearing student athletes and coaches are just like anybody else.
00:09:55 [Speaker 2]
They just can't hear.
00:09:57 [Speaker 2]
So treat us like anybody else.

00:09:59 [Speaker 2]
So tech you know, for AT and T to come in and really listen to us and be able to take the feedback from our student athletes who were able to, you know, more a game and about the issues that they face.
00:10:13 [Speaker 2]
They really listened to us, and they were able to make this invention, with the influence from our student athletes, which was awesome.
00:10:21 [Speaker 2]
So it was more of a collaboration.
00:10:24 [Speaker 2]
So with, this whole process, of course, you know, AT and T is behind it.
00:10:28 [Speaker 2]
They wanna make sure this thing goes well.

00:10:31 [Speaker 2]
Of course, amazing PR from it with, you know, commercial.
00:10:36 [Speaker 2]
They actually shot that commercial on our campus, during our bye week.
00:10:40 [Speaker 2]
And cool thing was, you know, they were talking about, you know, maybe we can record this at another, stadium in DC, and we just said no.
00:10:51 [Speaker 2]
Like, if you're gonna do this, it has to be on our campus.
00:10:53 [Speaker 2]
It has to be the authentic feel, the Gallaudet, you know, bison football game.

00:10:59 [Speaker 2]
And they agreed to that, and the other cool thing is the visiting team and the commercial is all alums of Gallaudet football.
00:11:07 [Speaker 2]
So that was cool that they were able to cast them and use them in in that light.
00:11:12 [Speaker 2]
Our student athletes are able to benefit from NIL from the commercial shoot itself, so that was great.
00:11:19 [Speaker 2]
But with the technology itself, they you know, AT and T wanted to make sure that the first time we used this, which is during the 2023 season, we used it for one game only.
00:11:29 [Speaker 2]
We had an NCAA waiver to use it.

00:11:33 [Speaker 2]
And, basically, you know, almost all AT AT and T support people were there.
00:11:39 [Speaker 2]
You know, they made sure they brought in their own five g network that they set up right out our field to make sure that technology issues.
00:11:45 [Speaker 2]
Everything went, smooth, of course, but we said to them, hey.
00:11:50 [Speaker 2]
Look.
00:11:50 [Speaker 2]
We play at some towns that don't have probably great cell service, and we don't have certain network capabilities.

00:11:57 [Speaker 2]
So they were able to test a lot of the areas where we went to play in 2024 to help us out and, you know, advise us as far as what we would need to use or do when we were on the road at these, different cities.
00:12:12 [Speaker 2]
But that is an issue.
00:12:14 [Speaker 2]
You know, I think even as, you know, we're such a technology driven society that if a server goes offline or a cell tower is down, a lot of it comes to a standstill on a lot of things.
00:12:26 [Speaker 2]
So I still think there's room to improve with that type of technology and and try to make things a little more seamless.
00:12:33 [Speaker 2]
If that means, like, schools would need to travel with their own network team.

00:12:38 [Speaker 2]
I could see that happening.
00:12:40 [Speaker 2]
And I think nowadays, you see it with NFL, a lot of the teams on the side with their, their surface computers and able to play back and stuff.
00:12:48 [Speaker 2]
So I think there is a bigger influx of, like, technology being used by athletic teams, but just not at our level, and that's something that we're still trying to deal with.
00:12:58 [Speaker 2]
And, again, like, we only have three of these helmets, and it's only for our quarterbacks.
00:13:03 [Speaker 2]
And they are specifically made for our quarterbacks by the they pick a cast of their heads, so to make sure that the eye lens is at the right level for their eye.

00:13:15 [Speaker 2]
So hopefully, one day, AT and T is out in the helmets, so they're trying to get this out to a helmet manufacturer that wants to run with run with this idea and hopefully mass produce it, and then that would be more available, not just for Gallaudet, but for other teams.
00:13:30 [Speaker 2]
And I think we've we've received a lot of phone calls too from high schools where a high school coach might have a deaf or hard of hearing player on their team, and they're really trying to work with them, and they really wanna communicate with them, and they're like, we need one of those helmets.
00:13:44 [Speaker 2]
And hopefully, one day we're able to tell them, you know, here's where you need to go to get one of those helmets at a reasonable

00:13:50 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:13:50 [Speaker 1]
Because I remember there's a school in Indiana called Indiana School for the Deaf, and I I'm just picturing them the whole the whole time, where we get able to to do that.
00:13:58 [Speaker 1]
That, you know, they still, you know, win without you guys win, obviously, with with and without that technology as well, which is, really cool.
00:14:07 [Speaker 1]
You talk to me about the PR thing.
00:14:09 [Speaker 1]
You you mentioned that you saw a huge PR, you know, shift from that.

00:14:13 [Speaker 1]
What did you see personally, kind of through your office that came out of the AT and T initiative and and subsequent commercial and and everything that came along with it?
00:14:23 [Speaker 1]
Sure.

00:14:25 [Speaker 2]
Well, you know, unfortunately, you know, I've I'm starting my sixteenth year at Gallaudet this this fall, and I'm a stranger to national media attention in the past, and we've been able to tell some great stories prior to the AT and T commercial.
00:14:39 [Speaker 2]
But the AT and T experience for us really took it to the next level.
00:14:45 [Speaker 2]
I've never had to work with an like, a third party PR firm,

00:14:49 [Speaker 1]
you know, as far

00:14:50 [Speaker 2]
as handling handling requests.
00:14:53 [Speaker 2]
You know, we were not just working with AT and T corporate PR, but we were working with their PR agencies, and they had, various ones for different, media.
00:15:04 [Speaker 2]
So that was wild to to work with them.
00:15:06 [Speaker 2]
They were great people.
00:15:08 [Speaker 2]
I made a lot more contacts, using them and and working with them.

00:15:13 [Speaker 2]
But just the way that they were operating as far as trying to pitch this story and the different materials that they have at the ready, It was really beneficial for us to learn that process, and, you know, hopefully, we can you know, we've already benefited from it, for our volleyball team and, you know, had a great season last year.
00:15:32 [Speaker 2]
A lot of the same contacts we made from the AT and T PR blitz, we were able to use for our volleyball team going to the NCAA tournament and having a great season.
00:15:41 [Speaker 2]
So that was awesome and beneficial.
00:15:44 [Speaker 2]
But it really just also gives the opportunity to tell our story and educate these PR folks about Gallaudet and what we stand for in the deaf and hard of hearing community and also our athletics program.
00:15:58 [Speaker 2]
So that was a win win.

00:16:00 [Speaker 2]
I think we've gotten, of course, amazing exposure out of it, but I think also we were able to, you know, edge a lot of media agencies that worked with us, and also just, the audience as a whole that really recognize, you know, Gallaudet Athletics for who we are.

00:16:18 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:16:19 [Speaker 1]
That's awesome.
00:16:20 [Speaker 1]
What did you what did you know about Gallaudet before you got to campus sixteen years ago?

00:16:27 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:16:28 [Speaker 2]
So Gallaudet University used to be in the Capital Athletic Conference, And at the time, Gallaudet was one of the one of the founding members of this conference that started back in 1990, and Salisbury University where I was working was in the same conference.
00:16:45 [Speaker 2]
So I was aware of Gallaudet.
00:16:47 [Speaker 2]
I graduated from Salisbury in February.
00:16:50 [Speaker 2]
I was a student at Salisbury, and I remember watching Gallaudet teams coming into the Mag Center down on the Eastern Shore and seeing sign language, And and one of my best friends from college, he is a CODA, which is a child of a deaf adult.

00:17:06 [Speaker 2]
So both of his parents are deaf, so he knew sign language.
00:17:09 [Speaker 2]
I would go to the games with him, and he could tell me what they might be signing.
00:17:15 [Speaker 2]
But it was, you know, it's just fascinating.
00:17:17 [Speaker 2]
Like, if you're not you've never seen a deaf or hard of hearing person or a team before, it kind of may sometimes stop you in in your tracks the first time you see it, and then you start to understand what they're facing and what they're doing and how they're communicating.
00:17:33 [Speaker 2]
And for us, when I was working at Salisbury so I I graduated from Salisbury in February, and I ended up going back in 2006 as their direct formation from 2006 to o nine.

00:17:44 [Speaker 2]
So I know in 02/2009, Gallaudet was in the searching for a, you know, director of communications, for their athletics program.
00:17:55 [Speaker 2]
The one thing I learned when I was at Salisbury was there was constant turnover at Gallaudet with, athletic communications office, and, they went through several people within, you know, short amount of time.
00:18:07 [Speaker 2]
They were taking people from the PR office at the university.
00:18:10 [Speaker 2]
That didn't understand that you had to work at nights, and they would bring in other hearing individuals that may not know sign language, and didn't learn it.
00:18:19 [Speaker 2]
So I was approached from one of their administrators asking if I had any interest in applying for their opening.

00:18:28 [Speaker 2]
Basically, they were told from the conference office that they needed to bring somebody in that knew how to do the That's fine.
00:18:34 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:18:34 [Speaker 2]
Sports information director position and somebody that would be willing to learn and communicate.
00:18:40 [Speaker 2]
But the first thing was for them to come in and be able to clean up, and the office was able to provide some stats to the conference office, to NAAA, the typical, write the press releases, and handle other, you know, media relations.
00:18:53 [Speaker 2]
And at the time, my wife was Anna and I were we were expecting our first child.

00:18:57 [Speaker 2]
We're both from the Baltimore or DC area.
00:19:00 [Speaker 2]
So I was intrigued by it.
00:19:02 [Speaker 2]
And I went there, and it was a little intimidating, of course, being a hearing individual, and you're going to a campus where everybody's, you know, signing, and you I didn't know sign language.
00:19:14 [Speaker 2]
Even though my my college knew sign language, I didn't know a lot.
00:19:20 [Speaker 2]
But I viewed it as a challenge, and I wanted to go there.

00:19:23 [Speaker 2]
And I knew that there was great stories to be told, and I was just hoping I could be the person that could bridge the gap, from our from the Gallaudet teams to the the the DC Media and national media.
00:19:35 [Speaker 2]
And, you know, working at Salisbury was was terrific, and we they won national championships, and they won conference championships, but a lot of that was assumed or given, and the teams expect to win those championships and expected different media coverage.
00:19:51 [Speaker 2]
But going to Gallaudet, you know, we're we're not winning national titles all the time.
00:19:55 [Speaker 2]
We're not winning conference championships all the time.
00:19:58 [Speaker 2]
But the biggest thing that we can can do is tell a story.

00:20:02 [Speaker 2]
And, you know, and at the heart of it, I was a storyteller, and I wanted to be able to tell those stories.
00:20:09 [Speaker 2]
So, again, the first year there, not knowing sign language, your boss is deaf, your, you know, majority of your coaches are deaf, and your student athletes are deaf and hard of hearing.
00:20:20 [Speaker 2]
So what are you gonna do?
00:20:22 [Speaker 2]
So the whole notion of being comfortable being uncomfortable was my theme for many, many years, and still is.
00:20:28 [Speaker 2]
Like, I still don't, completely, accept it or or are part of the of the community even though I've been there so long.

00:20:36 [Speaker 2]
It's just this maybe the stigma of being a hearing individual in their community.
00:20:41 [Speaker 2]
You're always gonna be viewed differently no matter what.
00:20:45 [Speaker 2]
So that's one thing I've had to wrestle with and deal with.
00:20:50 [Speaker 2]
But at the end of the day, it's you know, my my responsibility and job is to tell stories.

00:20:56 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:20:57 [Speaker 1]
Absolutely.
00:20:58 [Speaker 1]
Do you what was the this like of learning sign language for you?

00:21:05 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:21:06 [Speaker 2]
So even the interview process, when I went there, I I had an interpreter with me.
00:21:12 [Speaker 2]
So they were think about trying to you know, a job interview itself is stressful.
00:21:17 [Speaker 2]
But now you're you're doing a job interview with Yeah.

00:21:19 [Speaker 1]
It's like a

00:21:20 [Speaker 2]
you're putting all your

00:21:21 [Speaker 1]
diplomat of a foreign country.
00:21:22 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:21:23 [Speaker 1]
So, you know, just trying to figure it out.

00:21:25 [Speaker 2]
So you're putting all your trust and all your faith into this interpreter to sign and and basically they're trying to convey during an interview.
00:21:35 [Speaker 2]
So hopefully, I guess, they were signing the right things when I was going through the interview process.
00:21:41 [Speaker 2]
But it was definitely just an eye opening experience my first couple years there.
00:21:49 [Speaker 2]
I knew every day that I came on campus, I kinda had to switch off my voice and switch on a different switch in my head to be able to know that I have to communicate with my hands.
00:22:03 [Speaker 2]
My day, I I work in silence.

00:22:07 [Speaker 2]
And I think a lot of people don't understand that when I try to tell them that, but it's literally silent.
00:22:13 [Speaker 2]
You know?
00:22:14 [Speaker 2]
Like, I love music, so I still listen to music in the background, so I always work to a soundtrack.
00:22:19 [Speaker 2]
But the majority of my day is, yeah, a silent one.
00:22:23 [Speaker 2]
It's kinda lonely, in a way, but we still communicate with our hands.

00:22:29 [Speaker 2]
So a five minute conversation that you and I might have here could take anywhere to from fifteen minutes in sign language depending on how complicated the story was.
00:22:40 [Speaker 2]
And my first couple years there, I kept things pretty basic.
00:22:44 [Speaker 2]
I was still trying to learn sign language.
00:22:47 [Speaker 2]
I requested my, my athletic director to enroll me in several American sign language classes on campus.
00:22:55 [Speaker 2]
And that was even an eye opening experience for myself because I was like, alright.

00:22:59 [Speaker 2]
I started in July 2009.
00:23:02 [Speaker 2]
I'm going to a ASL class in that summer, and I thought, alright.
00:23:06 [Speaker 2]
Great.
00:23:06 [Speaker 2]
I'm gonna send this to a a teacher, and they're gonna they're gonna tell me everything, and I'll I'll I'll be ready to go.
00:23:13 [Speaker 2]
And you go in there, and the best way to learn a foreign language is actually to be immersed into the language right away.

00:23:20 [Speaker 2]
So the teacher was deaf.
00:23:24 [Speaker 2]
I was barely could sign my ABCs, And the first thing was they had everybody had to introduce themselves and where you're from.
00:23:34 [Speaker 2]
And I could do I could easily do Sam, s a m.
00:23:39 [Speaker 2]
I live here in Ellicott City, Maryland.
00:23:41 [Speaker 2]
I had no I wasn't, like, fluent enough to be able to spell that.

00:23:46 [Speaker 2]
So for the whole ASL one class, I was just, you know, Sam from DC because I could not find something more complicated at the time.
00:23:59 [Speaker 2]
But being in a daily class for two weeks kinda got got me a foundation.
00:24:05 [Speaker 2]
I continued those courses throughout the year.
00:24:08 [Speaker 2]
I did ASL two, and then I even told my my athletic director I wanted to keep going and learn more.
00:24:16 [Speaker 2]
But he said, you're good enough.

00:24:18 [Speaker 2]
Go to work.
00:24:19 [Speaker 2]
Get it.

00:24:20 [Speaker 1]
But at the time yeah.

00:24:21 [Speaker 2]
Go to work.
00:24:22 [Speaker 2]
But at the same time, for a lot of people, when you first learn this language, it's very complicated.
00:24:28 [Speaker 2]
And and they say to become fully versed in American sign language, a ASL, it takes up to seven years.
00:24:36 [Speaker 2]
And I had just gotten there, and I was still kinda using my voice and signing at the same time.
00:24:41 [Speaker 2]
It's called SymCom, which is simultaneous communication.

00:24:46 [Speaker 2]
And I didn't notice until, you know, being there, but it's very frowned upon, in the deaf and hard of hearing community.
00:24:55 [Speaker 2]
They prefer you not to use your voice and just to use your your hands.
00:25:01 [Speaker 2]
And the other part of it from a sign language standpoint is a lot they always say don't stare directly at the person's hands, but also watch their facial expressions, and that kind of tells half the story.
00:25:13 [Speaker 2]
So that was a you know, because initially, when I was learning, I was, like, trying to focus so much on my hands and making sure I was signing things the right way.
00:25:21 [Speaker 2]
I showed, like, no expression on my face.

00:25:23 [Speaker 2]
I was just kinda like a stone robot.
00:25:27 [Speaker 2]
But I as I got more comfortable with it, I was able to express myself using, like, you know, eye raises in your in your eyes or facial your your mouth, expressions.
00:25:39 [Speaker 2]
So that actually, you know, helps you with your storytelling and and the communication.
00:25:44 [Speaker 2]
But it all it did take me about seven years to feel comfortable, you know, to be able to after three years, I was able to stop using my voice.
00:25:53 [Speaker 2]
And I really wanted to stop doing that since when you're voicing and signing at the same time, you're not focused on either.

00:25:59 [Speaker 2]
So you're not talking as probably as clearly as you should be, and you're not signing as well as you should be.
00:26:07 [Speaker 2]
So when you're able to turn your voice off and just sign with your hands, it kinda started to click.
00:26:13 [Speaker 2]
And I would say it did probably take until seventh you know, my seventh or eighth year to kinda really feel more fluent, but it it's still a learning experience every day.
00:26:24 [Speaker 2]
You know?
00:26:24 [Speaker 2]
Like, you go away for vacation for a couple of weeks and you come back, it takes a minute or two to kinda pick it back up, but, it's definitely been eye opening.

00:26:32 [Speaker 2]
I was able to use sign language for my kids when they were babies and communication before they could talk.

00:26:38 [Speaker 1]
You sing now.

00:26:39 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:26:39 [Speaker 2]
So, yeah, so it's it's a new life skill.
00:26:44 [Speaker 2]
But, again, it's just it's crazy to think, you know, just as stressful as it is doing sports information, athletic communication work as it is, but now I'm trying to do this job with a deaf and hard of hearing spotter, deaf and hard of hearing videographer.
00:27:02 [Speaker 2]
So it's been tough, you know, just doing the regular game stuff.
00:27:06 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.

00:27:07 [Speaker 2]
And I'm the only person that probably faces this in the country.
00:27:12 [Speaker 2]
So my patience level is way up here.

00:27:16 [Speaker 1]
Differently most.
00:27:16 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:27:17 [Speaker 1]
At a high level.

00:27:18 [Speaker 2]
I'm I'm very patient, but it does we we definitely move a little bit slower than maybe other offices just because of the communication

00:27:27 [Speaker 1]
Right.
00:27:28 [Speaker 1]
Hurdle.
00:27:28 [Speaker 1]
I I think the trend going on with parenthood, because I'm I'm gonna have my first one in November.
00:27:34 [Speaker 1]
K?

00:27:34 [Speaker 2]
Nice.

00:27:35 [Speaker 1]
And we do plan on thanks.
00:27:36 [Speaker 1]
And we do we do plan on telling him, you know, more or, you know, all or what is what is all done.
00:27:43 [Speaker 1]
Or

00:27:44 [Speaker 2]
This is plenty

00:27:44 [Speaker 1]
like or this is all gone, you know, or done

00:27:47 [Speaker 2]
or whatever.
00:27:48 [Speaker 2]
Finish.
00:27:48 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.

00:27:49 [Speaker 1]
Finish.
00:27:49 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:27:50 [Speaker 1]
And and I remember I think there's there's a little girl in our neighborhood.
00:27:52 [Speaker 1]
I she comes by every Halloween, and, you know, she's, you know, deaf or hard of hearing.
00:27:58 [Speaker 1]
I'm not quite sure what kind of full level she is.

00:28:02 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:28:02 [Speaker 1]
I think it's awesome because I think it's it's starting to become I don't know how to put this.
00:28:08 [Speaker 1]
But I like how the the shift is being made, especially in parenthood and just communication in general with people of you can do these little things and be able to communicate with someone effectively at a much younger age even Right.
00:28:25 [Speaker 1]
When when some kids can't even speak.
00:28:27 [Speaker 1]
Because we went like I said, oh, you know, a little bit off air.

00:28:29 [Speaker 1]
We had some friends up a few weeks ago, and they brought their one

00:28:33 [Speaker 2]
Mhmm.

00:28:33 [Speaker 1]
Best one and a half year old I've ever met.
00:28:35 [Speaker 1]
And he he can just do he's like, I'm done.
00:28:38 [Speaker 1]
Like, and you wouldn't even imagine a one and a half that he knew this, and he knew he wanted more for their more little, you know, hot dog slices

00:28:46 [Speaker 2]
or whatever.
00:28:46 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:28:47 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:28:48 [Speaker 2]
Well and just to add to that real quick, I think it's been excellent and awesome to start seeing more and more television shows, movies, embracing deaf and hard of hearing actors and actresses, to incorporating American sign language on an episode.
00:29:05 [Speaker 2]
Or you're seeing it more in commercials, not just the AT and T commercial, but just like I think Chick fil A had a commercial with a deaf, customer.

00:29:15 [Speaker 2]
I think it's becoming more mainstream, which is wonderful.
00:29:18 [Speaker 2]
And I think the more that people are exposed to sign language and start using it themselves, especially as you mentioned David, it being a, you know, a dad, it's awesome and it's another skill.
00:29:31 [Speaker 2]
And and, again, it can benefit you as a hearing individual communicating with her, before they can use her voice.
00:29:38 [Speaker 2]
And it's just another way, you know, if you do come across a deaf individual that you could communicate some, you know, some basic stuff with them, and and then that helps break down that wall where, you know, deaf and hard of hearing individuals face daily, just even going to the post office or going to a restaurant and trying to order.
00:29:59 [Speaker 2]
So even around our campus, we've seen a lot of restaurants incorporate sign language more.

00:30:06 [Speaker 2]
They're hiring our students that graduate or, you know, interns.
00:30:11 [Speaker 2]
There's a Starbucks on H Street just two blocks south of our campus, and so it's called the signing Starbucks.
00:30:19 [Speaker 2]
And, basically, you go in there, everybody who works there is deaf or hard of hearing, and you have to sign your order.
00:30:28 [Speaker 2]
Or for hearing individuals that don't know sign language, they have to have the reverse feeling of having to write down their order and showing it to the deaf and hard of hearing barista, where every day a deaf and hard of hearing individual goes into a restaurant, and most of the time they have to show their phone with their order or point to it on the menu because they can't communicate with the waiter.
00:30:55 [Speaker 2]
So I think it's a great experience for hearing individuals to kind of be put in an uncomfortable position where now they can't communicate, and so it forces the regulars to go in there a lot to know that coffee is the simple sign or what size that they want.

00:31:13 [Speaker 2]
So I think it's wonderful.
00:31:15 [Speaker 2]
I think we're seeing more and more, places embrace it.
00:31:20 [Speaker 2]
Our camp years ago became an Apple campus.
00:31:23 [Speaker 2]
We had Tim Cook come to our graduation to give a commencement speech, and they made their Apple store here in DC, hire a certain amount of deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
00:31:34 [Speaker 2]
And I think Apple itself has been working on different, you know, technology advances with our campus, for future, accessibility, you know, solutions.

00:31:45 [Speaker 2]
So

00:31:47 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:31:47 [Speaker 1]
By the way, everybody, Sam and I are I'm roughly doing it.
00:31:50 [Speaker 1]
Sam's doing it perfectly, signing to each other, but you obviously cannot see it in the audio form, so, for forgive that.
00:31:57 [Speaker 1]
But it's awesome regardless.
00:31:59 [Speaker 1]
So, yeah, I think, let's talk about some some selection committee stuff a little bit.

00:32:05 [Speaker 1]
Okay.
00:32:05 [Speaker 1]
I'm gonna change gears here because this is something that I've always kinda wanted to do.
00:32:08 [Speaker 1]
I think I had an opportunity to do bowling, I think, several years ago, but how does how does how does one get to do that in a way that I could just, you know, cut straight to it?
00:32:22 [Speaker 1]
Sure.

00:32:22 [Speaker 2]
So it was a several years ago.
00:32:25 [Speaker 2]
I almost I guess, ten years at this point.
00:32:28 [Speaker 2]
But the NCAA finally loosened their restrictions on people who served on NCAA committees.
00:32:35 [Speaker 2]
Initially, it was more of a athletic director or SWA, a FAR, school president that could serve.

00:32:45 [Speaker 1]
Just an elite club.
00:32:46 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.

00:32:47 [Speaker 2]
Right.
00:32:48 [Speaker 2]
And I think what then to what I was facing was you started to have, you know, being as coaches too on certain sport committees.
00:32:54 [Speaker 2]
But what they was, they didn't have enough volunteers or other people putting in to be a part of those committees.
00:33:00 [Speaker 2]
And there was others that you know, assistant athletic directors that may not have a SWA or FAR, title.
00:33:09 [Speaker 2]
You had people in even, you know, facilities and equipment to athletic trainers to, you know, athletic communicators that wanted to serve.

00:33:19 [Speaker 2]
And I think by them allowing those individuals to put in for committee, service was terrific, and a lot of more athletic communications individuals serve on regional racks, regional advisory councils and committees over the years, and now you're seeing a lot more on the national level, which has been terrific.
00:33:41 [Speaker 2]
And for myself, you know, I really wanted to, you know, push myself to, you know, to be out in the national, you know, level and mix to learn about selections and being part of the championship experience.
00:33:55 [Speaker 2]
Now for me personally, you know, I had that experience in Alsbury.
00:33:59 [Speaker 2]
We hosted a lot of NCAA tournament games.
00:34:01 [Speaker 2]
We went to a lot of championships, so it was always a cool experience.

00:34:04 [Speaker 2]
But, unfortunately, at Gallaudet, we don't always go to NCAA tournament.
00:34:09 [Speaker 2]
There's a few sports that we're really good at, women's volleyball.
00:34:13 [Speaker 2]
Recently, women's basketball, football's been there a couple times, and our track individuals have gone.
00:34:19 [Speaker 2]
So that's always been great when that happens, but for me, I really wanted to learn more about the selection process and, you know, helping to be a part of a committee that made the, field and also then run that final four.
00:34:34 [Speaker 2]
So I started off with men's basketball in 2016, and I was thrilled to get selected for that.

00:34:41 [Speaker 2]
Didn't know what to expect.
00:34:44 [Speaker 2]
I was lucky in that I didn't you know, I was able to go directly to a national sport committee right off the bat.
00:34:50 [Speaker 2]
Usually, you had to serve on a rack beforehand, but For

00:34:54 [Speaker 1]
a couple years.
00:34:55 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.

00:34:56 [Speaker 2]
They needed somebody in my region.
00:34:58 [Speaker 2]
They needed somebody from our conference, and, you know, you know, my application was there.
00:35:04 [Speaker 2]
So individuals can apply.
00:35:07 [Speaker 2]
You can self nominate.
00:35:08 [Speaker 2]
You can have somebody else in your conference nominate you or somebody, nominate you if you feel like.

00:35:14 [Speaker 2]
But the NCAA division three level, you have that flexibility to pursue those opportunities.
00:35:21 [Speaker 2]
Now the division one level, and I believe maybe even division two, you have to get put up from your conference, to be nominated.
00:35:30 [Speaker 2]
So it's a little bit more of a structure and process to that.
00:35:32 [Speaker 2]
But three, volunteers that wanna be a part of this that you can put your name in, and then it's up to the nominating committee to select you to those committees themselves.
00:35:44 [Speaker 2]
So I was on men's basketball from 2016 to 2020, and I'm on there.

00:35:49 [Speaker 2]
I was the only athletic communications individual there, and there was other athletic directors and, head coaches.
00:35:57 [Speaker 2]
The one thing I noticed even my first year there, our our championship in twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen was held in Salem, Virginia.
00:36:05 [Speaker 2]
Athletic communicators do a lot every day hosting games.
00:36:09 [Speaker 2]
We know a lot of the details.
00:36:10 [Speaker 2]
We know how game ops works, and athletic directors and head coaches aren't always a part of that.

00:36:17 [Speaker 2]
You know, head coaches, of course, are focused on their teams and game prep and that they have their own responsibilities before a game.
00:36:24 [Speaker 2]
And then athletic directors sometimes are not always readily available for every home game or they're dealing with boosters or other you know, maybe another game on campus.
00:36:35 [Speaker 2]
But athletic communications, individuals, we see it all.
00:36:38 [Speaker 2]
We're usually the first people there.
00:36:40 [Speaker 2]
We're the last people to go home.

00:36:42 [Speaker 2]
So we see a lot of details.
00:36:44 [Speaker 2]
And, you know, the one thing that stood out to my committee of folks was I was picking up on a lot of details that they didn't see, or overlooked.
00:36:54 [Speaker 2]
And the whole idea of that I was trying to do is you know, I think as any committee, your whole goal and mission is to provide a great student athlete experience.
00:37:04 [Speaker 2]
So if there's certain little things to streamline things that make it easier for a team to enter arena, for example, to a team dealing with press conferences or even just swag, gear that they get, or just, like, the the signage, you know, going out.
00:37:22 [Speaker 2]
Like, for example, like, you know, I think one of our championships, they put the four banners up, and the schools weren't in alphabetical order.

00:37:29 [Speaker 2]
And it was just kinda like they just threw them up there.
00:37:31 [Speaker 2]
And I said, well, you know, why don't we just have an athletic order so then it shows that we're not, you know, showing any any preference to one team or another?
00:37:39 [Speaker 2]
Because I think the host site just thought, well, this is the top team, so they should go first.
00:37:45 [Speaker 2]
So little details like that just to kinda make things run a little smoother or look a little more first class.
00:37:49 [Speaker 2]
So So I was doing these little things the first two years on the on the committee, and then my third year going into it, they, every committee meets after every season's over to debrief, and they meet in Indianapolis and they have meetings, And that's where they select their chairs for the next year.

00:38:07 [Speaker 2]
And, you know, to have a room full of athletic directors and coaches basically kind of point to you and be like, Sam should be the chair because he knows all the he pays he pays attention to these old details and runs things the way that we want things to be run.
00:38:21 [Speaker 2]
You know, very humbling.
00:38:22 [Speaker 2]
It was awesome.
00:38:23 [Speaker 2]
But it also shows you that athletic communications individuals have a lot to offer.
00:38:27 [Speaker 2]
And I think a lot of the things I have done in my career, from being on these different sport committees and sharing them to being president of College Sports Communicators was, you know, again, just showing and and and I'll get into it later, the Pathway program with NC double a now.

00:38:46 [Speaker 2]
I want to show that athletic communication individuals can can do this.
00:38:50 [Speaker 2]
You know, I think a lot of times, like, we are stressed out and we're gonna we have too much on our plate, and we do.
00:38:57 [Speaker 2]
But even so, there's, you know, athletic directors and coaches that have a lot on their plate as well, and they're still able to do these professional development, you know, opportunities.
00:39:09 [Speaker 2]
But I thought it was valuable to the profession itself to show individuals in these capacities and in these leadership roles that hopefully other people got inspired to serve or wanting to be a part of of a support committee or being part of an executive board when it comes to CSC, and knowing that, you know, hey.
00:39:30 [Speaker 2]
Sam from a division three school was able to do this.

00:39:34 [Speaker 2]
You know, even when I was in the executive board rotation for CSC being, at the time, a one person shop, was pretty rare to have a president come through that ranks.
00:39:43 [Speaker 2]
And, again, I wanted to show other individuals that were in the same boat as I that you can become a leader of an organization even though you're from a small shop or a small school.
00:39:55 [Speaker 2]
You just have to really put the time in and put yourself out there and and make a name for yourself.

00:40:02 [Speaker 1]
What is it like to see your work come out on selection Sunday, selection Monday, whatever it is?

00:40:10 [Speaker 2]
It's awesome.
00:40:11 [Speaker 2]
You know, I would say, like, you the committee folks on these committees put so much time and energy into making these selections.
00:40:21 [Speaker 2]
And, of course, as soon as something comes out, the first thing you you hear is, oh, this team got ex or why did you put this this team on the seed line, or why is this team not hosting?
00:40:33 [Speaker 2]
And there's a lot of things that go into that, especially at the division three level.
00:40:37 [Speaker 2]
I think division one's a little more streamlined and and it's more simple where you can actually make it a fully seeded tournament.

00:40:43 [Speaker 2]
You know, it's one versus 64 and, you know, two versus 67 or whatnot.

00:40:48 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:40:48 [Speaker 1]
You can't really do that.

00:40:49 [Speaker 2]
68 now.
00:40:50 [Speaker 2]
Yeah.
00:40:51 [Speaker 2]
But, you can't really do that in division three.
00:40:54 [Speaker 2]
We're limited to 500 miles, for from a host site for a team to go.
00:40:59 [Speaker 2]
So the one big thing with division three tournaments in the past before I got on on to the at least the men's basketball committee was things were kind of more regional, so even though you had different hosts, it was still kind of like, well, that's a New England block, that's a Mid Atlantic block, that's a South block.

00:41:19 [Speaker 2]
The one thing we wanted to do when we're on that committee was to try to mix it up as much as possible, and try to get other regions outside of other regions within those five now there were sometimes we had a team that had to go almost 499 miles to a host, and that's probably not the best, student experience.
00:41:40 [Speaker 2]
But what we heard from teams later was it was really cool to be able to play a team that has never scheduled us before or is scared to schedule us or to be able to to check out a different region or different area for a recruiting base.
00:41:56 [Speaker 2]
So even though we heard some negatives, we heard a lot more positives about that experience.
00:42:00 [Speaker 2]
I think a lot of teams fund those trips as well.
00:42:04 [Speaker 2]
You're going to the you're going to the big dance, you're going to into the tournament, and you're going to a great host, and now you get to play a team you've never faced before.

00:42:13 [Speaker 2]
So we pride ourselves off of that.
00:42:16 [Speaker 2]
I think one of the other big advancements of when selections came out, especially for men's basketball when I was chair, was we staggered the start times.
00:42:25 [Speaker 2]
So for a long time at division three, it was always, like, 05:30 and 08:00 or 06:00, 08:30, depending on the time difference.
00:42:36 [Speaker 2]
And it was, you know, all these games were ending.
00:42:39 [Speaker 2]
I noticed my first year on the committee, all these games were ending at almost the exact same time.

00:42:43 [Speaker 2]
So you can buzzer beater on one screen and then click click over quick enough to get the the end of the other game.
00:42:49 [Speaker 2]
So even just staggering the times, either just ten minutes, fifteen minutes, you know, because we we don't have an ESPN that we have to answer to, at the division three level that says we have to tip at a certain time.
00:43:02 [Speaker 2]
The only time we have to do that is for the championship, because that is, you know, televised.
00:43:09 [Speaker 2]
But we could we could control the start times at the division three level for the first round, second round.
00:43:16 [Speaker 2]
So we thought, you know, let's make this more appealing to Division three basketball fans, and let's, you know, let's have our instead of our window being from 05:00 to maybe 11:00, now we could start games early, and we can go from sometimes even 01:00 all the way up to 11:00, and we could own the day.

00:43:37 [Speaker 2]
So I think the exposure that we were able to give Division three men's basketball was terrific, and we were able to do that.
00:43:44 [Speaker 2]
I think you're starting to see that in other sports as well, learning from that experience.
00:43:50 [Speaker 2]
But, again, I think the selections when they come out, you hear from coaches, you hear from eight athletic directors that might be upset or questioning why, a team didn't get in.
00:44:02 [Speaker 2]
But, you know, at the end of the day, you had, you know, 10 individuals in a room all deliberating over these teams, really having great discussions when we made those selections.
00:44:14 [Speaker 2]
Now things are a lot more different now, with MPI and are kinda more cut and dry, where if you don't make a certain number, you know, that's the number, and that's where you're at.

00:44:25 [Speaker 2]
So for example, this year on women's volleyball, we did not hear much from teams that did not make it because they knew where they stood.
00:44:35 [Speaker 2]
So the MPI was great in that regard.

00:44:37 [Speaker 1]
Oh, yeah.

00:44:39 [Speaker 2]
But I still think there's room to grow and improve, how MPIs use all the different support levels.
00:44:47 [Speaker 2]
This was really, you know, the first year of it.
00:44:51 [Speaker 2]
So I think you're you're only gonna see it improve moving forward once,

00:44:56 [Speaker 1]
you know, I

00:44:57 [Speaker 2]
think these committees have a better grasp of how this data is is compiled and maybe what's influencing that data, and how you set your dials as far as, you know, what influences, a team's, resume more than another.

00:45:17 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:45:17 [Speaker 1]
Awesome.
00:45:18 [Speaker 1]
There's always gonna be somebody out there.
00:45:21 [Speaker 1]
I mean, we've all been through selection shows and everything.
00:45:23 [Speaker 1]
There's always gonna be something there.

00:45:25 [Speaker 1]
And I think that's it's important

00:45:27 [Speaker 2]
to remember

00:45:28 [Speaker 1]
at the end of the day, like, you're and I I just feel like we're so reactionary as sports fans sometimes.
00:45:35 [Speaker 1]
And I think we you you and I talked a little bit off air about being you know, dealing with the emotion of it is that, you know, like you said, 10 people sat in a room and and they took your team and took your brand and took your program's name very seriously for a very long time and came to a decision on within restrictions, obviously, the 500 miles.
00:45:55 [Speaker 1]
Like, I think and obviously, there's special cases.
00:45:57 [Speaker 1]
There's one when I was at Oakland, and we my my very first year, we went to softball, division one softball tournament.
00:46:05 [Speaker 1]
We were supposed to go to Northwestern, and it there's it was really interesting logistically because at that point in June, every single high school in the area, supposedly, the tradition is to meet each other in Cedar Point in Ohio.

00:46:20 [Speaker 1]
There ain't no buses to take us to Northwestern, so we took a minute plane flight there and back just to go to Chicago.
00:46:27 [Speaker 1]
And so there obviously, there's interesting wrinkles every once in a while.
00:46:31 [Speaker 1]
Sure.
00:46:32 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:46:33 [Speaker 1]
Well, Sam, you know, we're kind of bumping up against time here.

00:46:37 [Speaker 1]
I do wanna go back to sit to the storytelling aspect of Gallaudet.
00:46:41 [Speaker 1]
I mean, you have, obviously you know, we talked ad nauseam a little bit about how to, you know, what that means communicating with student athletes, with your your, your student workers, with your coaches and everything.
00:46:54 [Speaker 1]
You know, sometimes great for people.
00:46:57 [Speaker 1]
It it might take a lot longer to communicate than than normal just because, you know, you're not speaking, you're having to to not only I'm sure it's stressful sometimes to read more body language and and to understand everything.
00:47:07 [Speaker 1]
And it took you a while to get that, but what kind of storytellers are your student athletes, I guess, is what I kinda wanted to ask you.

00:47:18 [Speaker 1]
You know, what do they know about their university, about how special it is, and how how do you kinda help amplify that for them?

00:47:27 [Speaker 2]
I I think for the one thing, I guess, the one thing I learned when we first got back a big news story, we worked at ESPN my second year, at Gallaudet.
00:47:39 [Speaker 2]
We had a great women's basketball season in twenty ten, twenty eleven.
00:47:43 [Speaker 2]
Our team started off, basically won the first 20 games of the season.
00:47:48 [Speaker 2]
They knocked knocked off a top 25 team.
00:47:51 [Speaker 2]
They were making some noise.

00:47:52 [Speaker 2]
We're starting to get some news coverage, and then ESPN came calling.
00:47:57 [Speaker 2]
And we they did a great story about our team, and this was going into March Madness.
00:48:03 [Speaker 2]
We were getting, like, emails from people that had no idea what Gallaudet was, and they didn't know Gallaudet existed.
00:48:11 [Speaker 2]
And that was kinda my first time, moment as far as, okay.
00:48:16 [Speaker 2]
We can't assume that everybody knows Gallaudet as a national deaf and hard of hearing school, and we can't assume that if, you're deaf or hard of hearing that you automatically know about Gallaudet.

00:48:28 [Speaker 2]
And one thing that we learned too in this process, and also being able to, you know, look at our student body, About ninety five or about ninety percent of deaf and hard of hearing babies are foreign families.
00:48:43 [Speaker 2]
So a majority of, you know, deaf and hard of hearing babies are with a hearing family that probably doesn't know sign language, and they don't know a lot about the deaf community.
00:48:55 [Speaker 2]
And some families do an amazing job of learning sign language and wanting to make sure things are accessible and inclusive for their child.
00:49:04 [Speaker 2]
And then you have others, unfortunately, that don't learn sign language and try to, you know, fix, quote, unquote, fix their child or tell that their child's fine, that their, you know, they can read lips and they're they'll be okay.
00:49:18 [Speaker 2]
But it really sets up the child to fail, and not have accessibility.

00:49:23 [Speaker 2]
So our story really starts when we're, you know, recruiting a deaf or hard of hearing individual.
00:49:30 [Speaker 2]
You know, we're we're working with a lot of what we call mainstream student athletes, mainstream being basically any high school that's not a deaf school.
00:49:39 [Speaker 2]
Most states have deaf schools, and unfortunately, some of those states have have lost schools because of funding or enrollment issues over the years.
00:49:48 [Speaker 2]
But there are still some strong areas throughout The United States that have great deaf communities.
00:49:54 [Speaker 2]
There's some great deaf schools.

00:49:55 [Speaker 2]
As you mentioned, David, Indiana School for the Deaf out there in Indianapolis is a great it's a great school.
00:50:02 [Speaker 2]
You know, we have Texas down in Austin, Texas School for the Deaf.
00:50:06 [Speaker 2]
There's two California School for the Deafs.
00:50:09 [Speaker 2]
There's different pockets throughout the whole country.
00:50:12 [Speaker 2]
So a lot of deaf and hard of hearing individuals will have their children goals.

00:50:17 [Speaker 2]
And this is to to tell the audience too, like Gallaudet's unique in itself in that we have an elementary school, a high school, and a college all on the same campus.

00:50:25 [Speaker 1]
Okay.

00:50:26 [Speaker 2]
So we have some individuals that will go from, you know, kindergarten, first grade, and graduate at Gallaudet.
00:50:33 [Speaker 2]
And they spend their whole life, you know, you know, as a child and a teenager into early adulthood on our campus in DC.
00:50:44 [Speaker 2]
So we have our own little community off here in Washington DC for deaf and hard of hearing individuals, but our coaches do a great job of trying to explain to recruits what what we can offer.
00:51:00 [Speaker 2]
And our biggest selling point, of course, of course is accessibility and making sure that your student athlete or your, you know, your daughter or son will be in an environment and be around other people like themselves, probably for the first time in in their life.
00:51:18 [Speaker 2]
Some, they'll come to our campus and never sign before.

00:51:22 [Speaker 2]
I always just you know, and this is just not knowing, when I first got to campus, I assumed everybody knew sign language.
00:51:29 [Speaker 2]
That wasn't the case.
00:51:30 [Speaker 2]
You know, I didn't know sign language as a hearing individual, but I assumed well, deaf and hard of hearing individuals, but learning more and educating myself about the community and knowing that so many of them, were born to hearing families and knowing that they didn't provide them with the tools to learn sign language early on.
00:51:50 [Speaker 2]
We have a jump start program in the in the summer, before their freshman year or first year on our campus, and it's basically an immersion program for new signers where they have two weeks, three weeks to learn sign language for the first time.
00:52:05 [Speaker 2]
And it's about, you know, 20 to 40 kids all in the same boat who can barely sign their name.

00:52:11 [Speaker 2]
And then you watch those student athletes over time get more and more comfortable, And by the time they graduate, they're signing and they're being fluent.
00:52:21 [Speaker 2]
They're feeling more you know, it's it's a great transformation that you see.
00:52:26 [Speaker 2]
So I think, again, for us to be able to tell our story and do it the right way is to educate any type of media that comes on our campus to help us tell those stories.
00:52:37 [Speaker 2]
But it really also starts with our coaches in telling those stories once we, you know, get connected with some of these individuals.

00:52:45 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.
00:52:45 [Speaker 1]
Awesome.
00:52:46 [Speaker 1]
Sam Atkinson, thank you so much for your time.
00:52:49 [Speaker 1]
As always, it's been too long, and, thanks for hanging out with during this half.
00:52:56 [Speaker 1]
Best of best of this hour.

00:52:57 [Speaker 1]
Yeah.

00:52:58 [Speaker 2]
No.
00:52:58 [Speaker 2]
I really appreciate it.
00:52:59 [Speaker 2]
It's been, great sharing the story.
00:53:01 [Speaker 2]
And, of course, if anybody, in your audience that maybe has their own deaf or hard of hearing student athlete on their on their teams, maybe, points or tips, please reach out.

00:53:12 [Speaker 1]
Sure.
00:53:12 [Speaker 1]
And how can they do that?

00:53:14 [Speaker 2]
Sure.
00:53:15 [Speaker 2]
Of course, galladettebison.com.
00:53:17 [Speaker 2]
You can find me on social media, Sam Atkinson, s I d, or you can drop me a line, sam.Atkinson@galladette.com.

00:53:26 [Speaker 1]
Thank you, sir, and welcome back to SIDcast.