Born deaf Tyler Lee’s Lexi Hill signs to play college basketball
By: Mike Alzamora
Posted: February 14, 2019
TYLER, Texas (KETK) – She has never heard a single word in her life.
Yet, a Tyler Lee basketball player made one of her dreams a reality Wednesday. And will now have a chance to play at the college level.
Lexi Hill was born deaf, and communicates through an interpreter. But the Tyler Lee senior center signed with Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. to play college basketball.
“She doesn’t use that as an excuse. She takes everything head on, does not allow her to have any excuses in her way. And also balancing athletics and academics, and she still is number-seven in the class. And that just says a lot about her character,” said Lee girls basketball coach Ross Barber as Hill has earned a presidential scholarship.
She says her parents sent her to a national deaf girls basketball camp, which is where the Gallaudet coaching staff took notice.
But incidentally, she says basketball wasn’t her first love.
“I play soccer my whole life first of all and I thought that was gonna be my sport. But I didn’t really fall in love with basketball until middle school basketball, at Moore middle school with Coach Berry. And I just he recognized that I had I don’t know a good eye and hand coordination. And I think I really like the physical aspect of the sport. Just going up and down the court, the intensity of that, of all of that. I don’t know that’s just what I fell in love with,” Hill explained.
She says playing for the Lady Raiders the past four years has prepared her for this opportunity.
“Playing under Coach Barber has been a lot of life lessons that I’ve learned both on and off the court. Like if you had a bad day it doesn’t mean that you are a horrible player or anything like that. You have to come back for those bad days and that defines you as a player.”
Gallaudet University is a federally chartered private university that caters to the deaf and hard of hearing.
The Lady Bison women’s basketball program has had a great deal of success in NCAA Division 3 basketball.
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