Photo courtesy Susan Stack
The deaf men’s soccer team has arrived in Brazil, ready to compete in the Deaflympics.
One member of the team. Tyler Stack, who hails from Pittsburgh, is a graduate of Seton-LaSalle High School and currently a rookie freshman at Mount Union University, took a trip to Brazil as part of the US Deaf MNT program.
Former Seton LaSalle star Tyler Stack has secured a spot on the USA Deaf men’s national team
After forming the team, Stack, who is severely deaf but has a Cochlear implant, shared more about his experience communicating with other deaf soccer players and representing the United States in an international competition.
“The experience was definitely surreal. Being able to meet, learn and play with other people with similar hearing problems as mine.”
“During the camp it was a new experience where we are not allowed to wear any form of hearing aid and only use body language or sign language.”
Stack also appeared on 93.7 The Fan this week with Shelby Cassessee.
While the event’s opening ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 1, the soccer competition begins on Saturday when American Deaf faces MNT Iraq.
Here is the full schedule for American Deaf MNT:
• Saturday 4/30 9 am The United States vs Iraq
• Monday 5/2/1 pm USA vs Turkey
• Wednesday 4/5 at 1 pm USA v Mali
• Friday 6/5 9 AM USA vs Germany
Please bear with us if there are technical difficulties.
Link for the men’s match against Iraq tomorrow at 9am EST: https://t.co/A1OAurAOhS
– Deaf American Football MNT (@ussoccer_dmnt) April 30, 2022
The stack is expected to be placed at the center back or outside full-back with the team.
His initial involvement came when he was invited to take part in a deaf team camp last July.
While he has little prior experience using American Sign Language (ASL), Stack, who is severely deaf and wears a Cochlear implant, has integrated and has been a part of mainstream schools and sports since he was in his last elementary years (he attended Pittsburgh School). DePaul School of Hearing and Speech until he was 13).
A little background on Deaf Team USA, football, as with other team sports played with deaf participants, goes back to the foundation of each sport; In the case of football, in England, the first organized match between deaf teams was played in 1871. However, the participation of the United States in international football came quite recently.
The history of Deaf Sports International goes back to the formation of The Comite International des Sports des Sourds, founded in Paris, France in August 1924; In the United States, the American Deaf Sports Federation was formed in 1945, with the name changed to the USA Deaf Sports Federation in 1997.
In 1965, the US men’s team entered the deaf Olympics for the first time, hosted by the United States, and the US team was 10th out of the 10 teams. The United States has entered teams in most international deaf sporting events since then.
The women’s team was formed to participate in the first Deaflymp Games in Australia in 2005 and took the gold medal. The men’s team was ninth out of 16 teams.
Here is more from Deaflympics.
