In Virginia, deaf woman coaches future gymnasts

From The Staunton News Leader:

STAUNTON, Va. — The gymnasium was filled with the sounds of chatter, feet and knees hitting the mats and basketballs bouncing on the other side of the dividing wall, while the gymnastics students jumped, tumbled and paced cautiously along a balance beam.

Until she put her hearing aid in, Staunton Augusta YMCA Gymnastics Coordinator Tina-Margaret Steele (pictured) heard none of it.

Steele is profoundly deaf, and since taking over the program this fall, she has been teaching gymnastics to three dozen students without needing to shout.

Steel, who teaches Art at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, uses sign language, gestures, and pictures to teach her students. Her assistants Sharon Ernest and Amy Christian — also teachers at VSDB — lead some lessons and verbalize Steele's instructions when necessary. The three teachers wrapped up their second six-week session of Pre-K, beginner and advanced-level gymnastics at the YMCA on Monday.

"This is, for a lot of our students, the first time that they've experienced using sign language or trying to understand someone that uses sign language," said Christian. "Tina does a great job ... doing a lot of role plays, making things so that children can understand it."

Steele, has been a gymnast since childhood. Because she had to watch her coaches closely in order to understand the lessons, she paid close attention and rose through the levels faster than her hearing classmates, who often got distracted.

"I've noticed that hearing people can't stay quiet. They depend so much on the auditory channel that they must hear something at all times, they're just accustomed to it," Steele said, while Ernest interpreted her sign language. While deaf students have their own distractions, "hearing people tend to look around because they don't have to pay attention an maintain eye contact with an instructor."

Her discipline lead to a career in gymnastics. She taught and coached competitive gymnastics in Newport News and in New York State. The latter was easier, she said, because many hearing kids learn American Sign Language in public schools there, so it was easier to talk with them. After several years teaching at VSDB, Steele applied for the open gymnastics coordinator position at the YMCA.

Sharon Ernest was pleased to learn that they gave Steele the job.

"Still in many businesses, deaf people experience discrimination because hearing people don't want to take that attempt to let the deaf person get in," said Ernest, who thinks that the communication barrier can be as intimidating as the patience it requires to adapt to communicating with them.

Steele said, "It's the right people at the right time. They're very patient with me."

Morris Peltz, YMCA director, said that Steele's talent and experience qualified her for the job from the outset.

"The only hurdle that we really needed to deal with was how was this all going to work with the communication issues," said Peltz, concerned that she'd have trouble communicating with students if she couldn't hear or speak as most gymnastics teachers do. Still, he said the YMCA strives to support diversity in its staff and thought Steele's contribution would be beneficial.

Peltz was relieved to see how effectively Steele guided students through stunts — from jumps for 3 year-olds to flips for 9 year-olds —and critiqued them on their form. Once the kids have gotten used to Steele's way of communicating, they've become more attentive. The kids tapped each other on the shoulder when they needed to pay attention and began to pick up sign language.

Gymnastics student Miriam Tareq, 10, of Staunton said Steele sometimes needs to explain certain stunts a few times before she understands it, but she thinks Steele is "really nice" and her deafness doesn't pose a problem.

"Hearing or not, you can always communicate," said Miriam, who uses body language and some sign language to talk to her teacher. "I know a teensy bit."

Maria Guertler of Staunton's daughter Sapphire, 5, is in the Pre-K class. Guertler said she's noticed a change in the class after two sessions, that they students are less "wild."

"They're learning to watch instead of just listen," she said. "When they have to deal with silence, it teaches them a lot. I think it's great."

The YMCA's gymnastics program is taking a break for the holidays, but prospective students can sign up for the next six-week session through the first week of January.