USADSF eNewsletter - May 16, 2006

USA Deaf Sports Federation is a non-profit sport organization serving the deaf and hard of hearing. For information about USADSF, visit http://www.usdeafsports.org or send an e-mail to .

William J. Bowman, known as "Billy" to many of his friends, was recently appointed as Director of the Games Preparation Committee (GPC), after a brief hiatus from USADSF. He was a Special Assistant to the Team Director of the US Team that went to the Summer Deaflympics in Rome, Italy in 2001.

In his role as the GPC Director, Bowman will oversee the operations of the US Team at every level of international competitions, including Deaflympics, Deaf World Championships, Deaf Pan Am Games, and Deaf Youth Pan Am Games. He is currently taking on the team director duties for the US Team to the 2006 Pan Am Games for Deaf Youth in Washington, DC (July 30 - August 6) and also for the US Team to the 2007 Winter Deaflympics in Salt Lake City, UT (February 1 - 10). He is also in the process of creating a core GPC committee (for more information about GPC, see Part Two in the Guidelines. He reports to Jack Lamberton, USADSF Vice President of International Affairs.

Currently serving as a Public Affairs Specialist with the Office of Communications at the Social Security Administration’s Headquarters in Baltimore, Bowman has served in various capacities within the Agency for the past 25 years. He is an expert on Social Security eligibility and entitlement. He is a nationally- known lecturer on subjects related to Social Security and gives numerous speeches all over the country in addition to conducting workshops. Among his responsibilities, he represented the SSA to the Combined Federal Campaign as a loaned executive, which oversaw and supervised 26 federal agencies’ campaigns in the past 4 years.

Bowman is close to completing his first year of a two-year term as an Executive Director of Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government (DHHIG), a national non-profit organization serving deaf and hard of hearing federal government employees on a wide array of federal issues.

Bowman is a graduate of the Maryland School for the Deaf and Gallaudet University. He is married with two grown sons.

Steve Blehm and Connie Johnston were inducted into the 2005 USADSF Hall of Fame as athletes. Accompanied by family members, both of them attended the USA Deaf Basketball national tournament in St. Louis on April 15, 2006 to receive awards from John Knetzger, Vice President of Member Services. Blehm had an outstanding basketball career, and Johnston was recognized for her track and field achievements. Their complete profiles can be viewed on this Hall of Fame page.

Editor's Note: The Hall of Fame website project is underway. All inductees' headshots have been scanned. The next phase will consist of embedding the words "USADSF Archives" in each photo and editing of each inductee's profile.

The 2006 Pan American Games for Deaf Youth will be held at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC from July 30 to August 6. The Games include two sports: basketball and track/field (athletics), and four countries will be participating with a total of 350 athletes. The countries are: Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and USA.

Booths are available for interested merchants at $100 for two days - Friday, August 4 and Saturday, August 5 - and will be set up in the lobby at the Field House. The championship matches will be hosted on August 5, followed by the closing ceremonies. Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to sell your products! If interested, please contact Brent Nowak at KAWON@aol.com, and he will send you a form.

There is one remaining track tryout for deaf and hard of hearing kids between the ages of 10-15. It will be held at Learning Center for Deaf Children on May 21. Their contact person is John Monahan; he can be reached at John_Monahan@tlcdeaf.org.

For application forms, contact the respective coordinator for each sport: Wayne Langbein (usadtf@msn.com) for track/field, and Shirley Platt (plattshirl@aol.com) for basketball. There will be no basketball tryouts. Coaches will send in recommendations for players to Platt.

Those who want to try out for the Youth Pan American Games are encouraged to participate in the remaining scheduled FTFG event or in the non-FTFG competition or USATF youth program between now and June 4, 2006. Selection forms/results are to be sent to:

The Games are officially sponsored by Gallaudet University, Birnbaum Interpreting Services, Sorenson, IP-Relay, Deaf Nation and Eastern Athletic Association of the Deaf. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Bridget Bonheyo, Assistant Chair, at bbonheyo@b-bpro.com.

For volunteer opportunities, please contact Sean Moore at srm@tmail.com. College students can earn community service credit!

For more information, please visit www.usdeafsports.org/2006youth, which has information available in both English and Spanish. You can also send an email to the contact person, Rachel Burton at rachel.burton@gallaudet.edu.

As host nation of the 2007 Winter Deaflympics, the USA Deaf Sports Federation had set up a separate entity for the sole purpose of hosting the event and overseeing the Games Organizing Committee. The legal name of the entity is the SALT LAKE CITY 2007 DEAFLYMPICS, LLC. The members of the Board of Directors are:

The management arm of the Board of Directors is the Games Organizing Committee (GOC) and is chaired by A. Dwight Benedict and a corps of dedicated volunteers.

The USA Deaf Sports Federation has issued a call for applications to become a National Sport Organization (NSO) in the sport of basketball. Read the press release >>

The Bowling Ad Hoc Committee has announced tryouts for the US Deaf National Bowling Team that will compete in the 2007 World Deaf Bowling Championships in Singapore, Malaysia in October 2007. Read the tryout flyer >>

This is a flyer announcing a tryout to be held on Saturday, June 10, 2006 at Burnsville Ice Center in Burnsville, Minnesota. For more information about the game of curling and application process, see this previous posting.

FREMONT, CA — March 26, 2006 — The upcoming World Deaf Cycling Championships will see record participation levels. To date, 11 nations and 38 riders will compete in the week-long international event, a record in the history of deaf cycling competition.

Russia is the latest nation to have confirmed its participation. The other teams are USA, Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, France, Italy, New Zealand, Slovakia and South Africa.

"We are pleased to have Russia participate. They are a legitimate contender and among the strongest competitors in the Deaflympics," said Nathaniel Horwitz, director of the 2006 World Deaf Cycling Championships.

USA is hosting the World Deaf Cycling Championships for the first time ever, and expects to make a strong showing. Team USA took several medals in the 2005 Deaflympics and two of its medal-winning cyclists are expected to lead the Americans to a high standing.

All races will be covered by DeafNation, the 2006 WDCC media partner. Daily streaming video and immediate race results will be available online. This will enable the international community to root for their champions and for coaches, family, friends and sponsors to keep abreast of WDCC race results.

The 2006 WDCC schedule can be found at this link. The velodrome events will feature the World Deaf Cycling championships 1000m sprints and points race and, in between, races for the Northern California track cyclists.

Admission to this unique sporting event is free; however, seating is limited. Fans can register online starting April 1 in this link.

The 2006 World Deaf Cycling Championships is sanctioned by the International Committee of Deaf Sports, a member of the International Olympic Committee, and is hosted by the USA Deaf Sports Federation, a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee. The week-long international event will take place in San Francisco, California from June 18 to 24, 2006 and will be covered live by DeafNation. Please visit www.usdeafsports.org/2006cycling.

Editor's Note: With the event coming up soon, please bookmark your browser to http://www.usdeafsports.org/2006cycling for past and future press releases and other racing information.

The application deadline for Head Coach positions on the USA National Men's and Women's Deaf Volleyball Teams has been extended to August 31, 2006. Read the revised coach position announcement >>

Ice Hockey: (June 11-18) More than 85 deaf and hard of hearing youngsters from across the country will be learning the finer points of hockey at the 32nd Annual Stan Mikita Hockey School for the Hearing Impaired, June 11-18 at the Seven Bridges Ice Arena, 6690 South Route 53, Woodridge, Illinois. For more information about the school and American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association (AHIHA), visit http://www.ahiha.org.

US Team: Julie B. Harryman, 52, a gold medalist at the 1973 World Games for the Deaf in Sweden, died Tuesday, March 28 in Fenton, Mich. after a year-long fight with multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer. "She was very sweet, very gentle and well-liked by everyone," said Stevie Naeyaert, coordinator of the interpreter training program at Mott Community College in Flint, where Ms. Harryman taught sign language for more than 20 years. She was a student at the Michigan School for the Deaf when she set a WGD world record in javelin that stood for many years, reported the Flint Journal. "She thought she had no chance," said her brother, Kent Olney, "but she had a very strong left arm, and she won the gold." Ms. Harryman is survived by her husband, daughter, son, parents, sister and two brothers. She died eight hours after the birth of her first grandchild, soon after seeing a picture of the baby. "We almost sensed that once she knew the baby was born, that freed her up to leave," said Olney.