{"id":66145,"date":"2022-10-18T19:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/?post_type=bu-article&p=66145"},"modified":"2023-08-11T11:27:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T15:27:39","slug":"66145","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-kayla.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/magazine\/articles\/2022\/66145\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping It Positive"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Eric\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Photos by Patrick Strattner<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCover Story<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKeeping It Positive\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Soccer and teaching go together for Eric Setzer, a goalie for the US Deaf Men\u2019s National Team<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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October 18, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tTwitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\tFacebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n

Born unable to hear, Eric Setzer says he\u2019s lucky because his parents and three of his four siblings were deaf, too. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was already exposed to my native language, American Sign Language (ASL), as soon as I was born,\u201d says Setzer (\u201920). More than 90 percent of Deaf children are born to hearing parents, and only a few of them are exposed to sign languages early on. \u201cI had full access to the language where I could communicate and express myself without hiccups or struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have our language, tradition, arts, and beliefs,\u201d he says in an interview over Zoom, with an ASL interpreter. \u201cAll of that stuff gives me something that\u2019s worth fighting and advocating for\u2014to preserve our essence of Deaf identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setzer works toward that every day, teaching at the K\u201312 California School for the Deaf, Riverside. He\u2019s also a goalkeeper for the US Deaf Men\u2019s National Team. He has played soccer around the world with the US team and hopes to be in goal at next year\u2019s World Deaf Football Championships in Mokposi, South Korea. At the same time, he uses what he learned earning a master\u2019s degree in Deaf education from Wheelock both in the classroom and on the field working with his students. He knows how tough their path can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI did experience discrimination, rejection, and negligence from hearing people while growing up, and it is something that I will have to live with for the rest of my life,\u201d he says. \u201cI cannot and will not let others define who I am based on my \u2018hearing\u2019 status at the first glance, but let my actions in the education field and on the soccer field define who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing Up Deaf<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Setzer\u2019s parents went to Riverside; they reconnected at a reunion years later and ended up marrying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both parents played on US teams in Deaf sports, his mother in  volleyball and his late father in speed skating. Eric started playing soccer when he was four or so. His first attempt at team play, at the Maryland School for the Deaf when he was very young, didn\u2019t go so well, mainly because his teammates didn\u2019t take the game seriously; American football was the game that mattered there. His father responded by signing him up for a hearing soccer league without telling him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eric Setzer (Wheelock\u201920), teacher at the K-12 California School for the Deaf in Riverside, CA and goalkeeper for the US Deaf Soccer Men\u2019s National Team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI assumed that I would be playing with Deaf kids like me,\u201d Setzer says. \u201cOn the first day of practice, I got confused when I didn\u2019t see anyone on the field signing. They were speaking instead. I got scared and refused to join the team. My dad just went out and interacted with the coach and kids by using gestures and notepads instead. The coach agreed to let Dad remain on the team as an assistant coach, so he could help me with interpreting and coach me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setzer had no problem being the only Deaf player on the Middletown Valley Athletic Association teams while growing up in Maryland. \u201cOn the field, my deafness doesn\u2019t define my skill or my ability to play soccer,\u201d he says. \u201cI was playing goalie, and I could vocalize. I don\u2019t speak well, but I could communicate in a way and gesture so that my hearing teammates knew what I was saying, so that worked out really well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy dad passed away in the springtime when I was in the eighth grade,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be playing soccer today if it weren\u2019t for my dad. He was the one who pushed me and believed in what was best for me. He always showed up at every practice and game to be there for me. He never missed a single game.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of his favorite memories of his father comes from when he was goalie on an under-12 team in a hearing league, and a big game went to a shoot-out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy coaches instructed my dad to tell me to yell outbursts whenever an opponent took a shot to distract them, due to the strange sound made by my Deaf voice,\u201d Setzer says. \u201cThe opponent was startled when I made that noise, and he missed!\u201d It was a trick he used for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He started high school at a hearing school and played junior varsity soccer as a freshman. Some of his hearing friends even started learning ASL. But he missed \u201cthe signing environment, where I could sit and watch peers chatting or the teacher helping a student solve problems in my language.\u201d He decided to return to Maryland School for the Deaf even though it meant giving up varsity soccer. He joined the football team as kicker and punter instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He returned to soccer when he entered Gallaudet College, America\u2019s best-known higher education institution for those who are Deaf and hard of hearing\u2014and his parents\u2019 alma mater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was the keeper, which is like the quarterback, controlling everything, and I found myself having a really hard time communicating because my teammates were so focused on the ball,\u201d he says. \u201cI would have to run clear across to the other side of the field to explain. It was really frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt took us a couple of games before we finally sort of figured out a system, so what they would do is if the ball is out of bounds, then they immediately look at me for instructions. By the end of the season, we were like a well-oiled machine, and then the next season would come around, and we would start back at square one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Setzer tried out for and made the US national team at age 18, with other players of strong skills and better focus. Over a decade with the team, he has sometimes started in goal as they played against other nations in tournaments in Brazil, Italy, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I CANNOT AND WILL NOT LET OTHERS DEFINE WHO I AM BASED ON MY ‘HEARING’ STATUS AT THE FIRST GLANCE, BUT LET MY ACTIONS IN THE EDUCATION FIELD DEFINE WHO I AM.<\/div>