Home » Sports» High School
Loading…

Published: 2/20/2012 - Updated: 3 months ago

Hearing-impaired B.G. freshman gets assist from big brother

BY JOHN WAGNER
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

Facebook Twitter Reddit Digg E-mail Print Rss

BOWLING GREEN — The sounds are familiar to anyone who has ever been involved with basketball.

There is the squeak of the shoes on the hardwood. The teammates calling for the ball. The whistle of the referee. The coach calling out plays. The horn blaring to signal the game’s end.

For Jefrey Groves, the sounds most people take for granted are something he needs a cochlear implant to hear.

A member of the Bowling Green High School freshman basketball team, Groves lost much of his hearing when he contracted pheumococcal meningitis when he was 16 months old.

“He almost lost his life,” said Jefrey’s mother, Alisa Groves. “Doctors can’t tell us if it was the meningitis [that caused his hearing loss] or the meds that saved his life.”

Jefrey Groves suffered bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss. That means both ears were affected, and that hearing loss means he can’t hear anything softer than 45 decibels without a hearing aid of some sort. That hasn’t kept him from getting involved in sports.

Even though his schooling from kindergarten through eighth grade took place in a Signing Exact English program in Findlay, he has been involved in sports at Bowling Green since junior high. He has played football and run track at BG, and his involvement in the Bobcats’ football program caused his parents to discuss enrolling him in school there.

“He’s a teenager, and his friends in Findlay were so far away,” Alisa Groves said. “Then Jefrey told some of the adults in Findlay, ‘I want to be a Bobcat,’ and we realized we had to take a look into this.”

Jefrey’s parents have liked the changes the move to BGHS have made in their son.

“He started socializing with the football players, and the football players accepted him extremely well,” said Jefrey’s father, Anthony Groves. “He made a lot of friends.

“We were driving 45 minutes each way to school in Findlay, and Jefrey expressed an interest in going to Bowling Green to school. We talked about it for a long time, and we finally decided that we would try it this year. And it has been nothing but good.”

The family, which also includes older brother Zackarie, a junior at Bowling Green State University; daughter Britney, a freshman at Owens Community College; and Lilli, a second-grader at Cosgrove Elementary, lives in Bowling Green.

This winter, 15-year-old Jefrey expressed a new desire: He wanted to play basketball. Unlike football, where no player is cut from the team, the BG basketball program has tryouts to pick a squad.

Despite never having played organized basketball, Jefrey Groves made the team.

“His skill set was above a number of other students who tried out,” freshman coach Geoffrey Cross said. “And I felt his disability wasn’t something that should keep him from playing basketball.”

On the court, Cross said Groves is improving, making himself an asset to the team.

“Originally Jefrey was very raw,” Cross said. “His physical tools are very impressive, and he has grown by leaps and bounds from the beginning of the year.

“His skills are better, and his understanding of the game is greater. He adds some toughness and physicality to the team.”

His contributions go beyond points or rebounds.

“I think other players benefit from having Jefrey on the team — I know I have,” Cross said. “I take my time to explain things, and I try to repeat things to make sure he understands. I feel I’m a better communicator because of that.

“I realize that I’m extremely fortunate to coach 11 young men who love each other, love playing together and love being around each other. The team has embraced him, he has embraced them. He teaches them sign language, and we have all learned from him.

“I learned patience from [Jefrey], I’ve learned resiliency, and I’ve learned determination.”

There is an especially interesting interaction between Jefrey Groves and one of his coaches. His older brother, Zackarie, serves as an assistant coach who uses sign language to communicate with Jefrey. During games and practices Jefrey wears a large hearing device around his left ear that aids his hearing, but his brother still uses sign language to signal plays and interpret discussions during timeout huddles.

“If I don’t know what to do, he tries to explain the plays to me,” Jefrey Groves said of Zackarie. “He helps me a lot.”

Things don’t always go smoothly because, well, coach and player are brothers first.

“Sometimes he’ll look at me with a look that says, ‘Shut up.’ And I’ll back up so he can cool off,” Zackarie Groves said. “Then I’ll try to jump in with a positive thing, so he knows I’m trying to help him succeed.”

That hasn’t been easy for Zackarie, who played football and ran track at Bowling Green High School.

“I’ve never watched or played basketball — I don’t know anything about basketball,” he admitted. “But [Jefrey] watches, and he played in the driveway all the time.

“And with his help, and with the help of coach Cross, I’ve learned a lot about the sport this year.”

The boys’ parents feel this basketball season has helped the brothers become closer.

“Zackarie has put part of his life on hold [to help coach Jefrey], and we are thankful for that,” Alisa Groves said. “But that bond that Jefrey and Zackarie share? It’s just amazing.”

Their father agreed, adding, “Jefrey could get by with another interpreter, and he could get used to it. But when Zack comes home, he’ll say, ‘You should have seen [Jefrey] in practice, he was the hardest worker.’

“Some day we’ll have to let Zack go. But when that time comes, Jefrey will be older. Already Jefrey is starting to understand what he needs to do on his own.”

Zackarie said he has gained from the experience of watching his brother play basketball.

“I love [watching Jefrey] more than I loved playing in sports,” Zackarie said. “I can’t stand missing the games, and I love watching him play.”

While Cross has taught Jefrey Groves about basketball, the coach said his player has taught him things too.

“There have been practices where his earpiece has been broken, so Jefrey hasn’t heard me at all,” Cross said. “All we have is him reading my lips.

“He’s taught me how to battle through. I watch him fight through adversity, and I realize I have nothing to complain about.”

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.

Guidelines: Please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. If a comment violates these standards or our privacy statement or visitor's agreement, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report abuse. To post comments, you must be a Facebook member. To find out more, please visit the FAQ.