Mike Stocker, Sun Sentinel
Midway through the first half, Alejandro Rivillas jogs up the sideline and waits to enter the soccer game. When the ball rolls out of bounds the sophomore shouts, "Jacob."

He yells his Taravella teammate's name a few more times before he stops and says: "Oh, he can't hear."

Each time the Trojans take the soccer field there are moments like this, because junior Jacob Salem is deaf. His teammates are so comfortable around him they occasionally forget he can't hear, and it takes a moment to get the captain's attention. He is just one of the guys, which is all he has ever wanted.

"It comes so natural, because we read off him and he reads off us and we forget sometimes," Taravella coach Bill Hawley says. "There are times in the game when I forget and I'm yelling to him, knowing he's not looking at me."

During this particular game, a 3-0 victory over Coconut Creek, Salem is frustrated. He misses several chances to score, including a cross from Carlos Pfieffer that Salem directs right at the goalkeeper. He puts his hands to his head in frustration.

In the first half, he is given a yellow card when he collides with Coconut Creek's keeper. Hawley brings him to the sideline and gives him words of encouragement. Salem reads lips and expressions, so he understands what Hawley says. Over the past three years he has also taught his teammates enough sign language that it is easy to communicate.

"He knows what we say to him and we know how to communicate with him now," sophomore Austin Loccoco says. "It was hard in the beginning to understand what he was saying; now it's pretty easy."

Learning to fit inSalem describes his passion for soccer as unconditional love. The relationship started early. There was always a ball in his crib.

When he was just two weeks old he was diagnosed with ear infections and what he describes as "other audological problems." He went through surgery and, when he was 22 months old, doctors diagnosed him as profoundly deaf in both ears.

It was difficult for his mother, Betty, to accept at first, but once she did, she never let him believe he was different than other children. Over time, the teacher became the student. Salem never looked back.

"He's deaf, but I'm the happiest person on Earth," Betty says. "He teaches me to be a better person."

He wears hearing aids, which allow him to pick up "general environmental sounds" and sometimes he can even hear his name. When someone asks him if he ever wonders what it would be like to hear the world around him, he replies with a sharp, audible: "No."

"I am proud of who I am," Salem says through his interpreter, Trisha-Ann Oppong. "It's a gift from God."

When Salem was about 6 years old his family spent a few years in Israel. He watched as the children in his neighborhood played soccer in the street, but he didn't trust his skills enough to join them right away. He practiced by himself and then, one day, the children invited him to join their game.

"From then on, I was part of the soccer group," says Salem, who lives life with a solid mix of confidence and humility.

Future plansDuring his time at Taravella, Salem has tried to make things easier on other deaf students. He wants to one day work in a field that allows him to be an advocate for the hearing impaired and thinks he might end up a doctor, lawyer or a specialist in deaf education.

"I want other people to treat us as equals," the 17-year-old says. "I want everyone to realize that deaf people don't deserve to be treated differently. They need to be treated the same."

But right now he wants to enjoy the soccer season, spending his afternoons attacking the net as a forward for the Trojans (3-4-4).

"Soccer is a way to learn life lessons," Salem says. "It teaches me how to be tough and forces me to use athletic skills along with communication skills. It is a way to show that deaf people are not from another planet."

All he wants is to be accepted, just like anyone else.

(by sun-sentinel.com)

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