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Coach Bobby Braswell - Well you know, interesting thing just today, to bring up that point...
We were just running a couple of drills and then we had come back from a water break.
And usually after a water break is done everybody kind of lines up on the baseline,
and I just noticed a lot of guys talking and our coaches were talking
and Mike was standing there alone a little bit and I said to my coaches that must be
one of the hard things about it. That not necessarily when they're playing a game
or when he's playing, because he's active and participating
but just when there's just that normal communication going on
when it's not necessarily any coaching or any part of practice but just communicating and talking and laughing
with each other, and I wonder how he feels in situations like that. So there's a
sensitivity there and we always try to engage him when we can when we notice that.
It's not because anybody is doing anything intentional. It's just kind of the way it is.
Usually when the interpreter's here, Erin engages him when she's there but there are days
when she leaves a little bit early, and we're just kind of on our own.
Will - Well when we're on the road and Erin or another interpreter isn't there,
they look to me to talk to Mike and whenever we have our film sessions or coach ever wants to
talk to him during a practice or one of our warm-ups, he comes to me first and tells me to interpret to Mike,
and I don't mind at all, but that's the communication we have to use. The coaches try their best
to deal with their lack of sign language. But they like to act it out and they do a pretty good job of it.
But sometimes they need me to step in and help out.
Erin - There's a lot of key words I've picked up on. We're a team. I always show up to practice and look at the schedule
because I know they're mostly going to follow it. There will be some changes but,
I've come over the last 3 years to learn how everything is kind of run.
I know when it's going to be a full court situation or a half court situation
so normally with a full court I'll be by the sidelines with the rest of the subs.
To where if he's on the baseline he can look over and see me.
Or if it's half court I'll stand up on the top of the key with the coaches, so I'm
right next to whoever is speaking during the instruction or whatever.
We've developed ways to have quicker communication. All the players have their own name signs
so if they're yelling at someone it's just one quick sign.
Most of the plays have signs. Well, all the plays have signs.
It's just when they're transitioning quickly, it's my fear as an interpreter that if I'm too slow,
then it causes him to be slow, then the coaches see that he's slow and they might think
it's him, but maybe it's me. So I don't want that to ever happen. So he just...
I know his eye contact, he doesn't always want me to say everything either. He's a visual person.
He needs to watch it more than he needs to hear it from me.
So we have that understanding as well.
As soon as they're running a play for example they'll do secondary break game
and the coach will say, thumbs up on this end and push on this end.
So he just looks up at me and with one hand it will be thumbs up and the other will be push.
So he knows it's there and there and that's all I have to sign.
I don't have to go into any detail about it. So we just transition like that.
The game we've tried to position it to where, it depends on the gym,
but if I'm sitting behind the coaches I can hear them better when they're yelling on the court.
I can hear them when they yell for him to go out and play cause usually there is a long string of players on the bench.
So it's kind of an advantage because if he's in a free throw situation facing the bench the coach doesn't have to
yell at him he can just talk to me and I can sign and that's kind of easier communication.
But other then that within the huddles the whole teammates they're verbal and visual
with the plays with screens, so he's able to function without me playing on the court.
But when he comes off, then that's when they give him all the feedback mostly
and you know they have to work their communication out that way.
They can't just yell to him on the floor most the time cause he can't look at me and keep playing.
(Translator) - So this was last year. The first game we played was against UC Santa Barbara
which we beat them and moved on to the final gams and this was CSUN against Pacific University.
And we've had a history. They're always a really good team and they've been known to beat us.
And we've beaten them. Before I came into CSUN, I came as a Senior in high school and I watched them beat us.
No, we beat them, and as a freshman, we took turns beating eachother and then
into the championship game, we thought we needed some serious payback with them.
At first they led the game and then fourth quarter we caught up and went into overtime
and I had faith in my team and at the end we ended up winning
and I jumped out of my seat and ran out into the court and it was just the best experience of my life
just to get the results and you can see that by the picture obviously.
Erin- I mean I'm close with a lot of students and it's just a different dynamic in a team setting
because there has to be a trust and you have to have a presence to where you make it comfortable
for friendships to form and to be somebody who they don't mind having around.
Our personalities are kind of goofy at heart. He's from a small town and is more of a farm boy
and I'm from a small town so we have that commonality where we don't really feel a sense of belonging in Los Angeles
so there's always been a bond over that. Just to actually watch somebody and be there, for me and him
it's him knowing I see the moments where he shines and where he struggles and I'm the one person
in the room that can communicate with him more effectively.
I know that Willie communicates with him really well but he's also focusing on his game
so he doesn't get all that deep communication. So it's the one person in his life
that really sees and then he can talk to about it off the court, off the record
off the interpreting position. Then we have a friendship
and when I see him have his moments and I see how much struggle he goes through
especially with not having consistant communication and still being able to play hard
and that being a barrier, when I watch him succeed, I just feel like a proud mother hen in a way.
I just want the best for him and I wanted from the beginning for him to have all the opportunity to really
develop a lot of strength as a player and I don't want the communication to be the reason he doesn't.
So that's always been my drive this whole time.
*music plays*