Balls and parachutes fly high at track and field day for deaf and hard of hearing kids

The competition was heated ahead of the sack race. Kids at the starting line jockeyed for advantage and tried to psych out the competition.  Of course once the race started, it was just pandemonium: kids hopping, falling over into each other, rolling on the ground giggling. It was all part of the annual deaf and hard of hearing track and field day. “It's a field trip day for schools,” said Sandy Gabbard, president of the Marions Downs Center, the Greenwood Village-based hearing loss nonprofit that’s been organizing the event for about 25 years.  Being deaf or hard of hearing can be isolating, especially for a school-age kid who might be the only one in the classroom with those challenges. But once a year, hundreds of kids with hearing loss from schools across Colorado converge on an Aurora football field for some sporty fun. “ We host the event for kids who are deaf or hard of hearing as a way to celebrate their uniqueness and have them feel the connection with the community,” Gabbard said.  The community is diverse. Some kids use sign language, others don’t even know it. Many kids have other physical disabilities along with hearing loss, so all the sports are adaptive.  In addition to the sack race, there was also a long jump, an obstacle course, an egg and spoon race, sprinting events and of course, everyone’s favorite, the parachute.  There were sign language interpreters everywhere. After the sack race, fifth-grader Angie Mast explained that she has total hearing loss and now wears cochlear implants. She’s one of just two kids with hearing loss in her grade at Fox Hollow Elementary School in Aurora.  “ I'm really excited to be here,” she said. “I like to meet other kids who have hearing loss and get to know them.” She said it’s also a chance to reconnect with students in the community who have already moved on to middle or high school.  “I do miss them,” she said.  Seventeen-year-old Josh Meyer remembers what it was like to be in her shoes. The senior at Regis Jesuit High School was diagnosed with moderate to severe hearing loss at just two weeks old and has fond memories of attending this track and field day when he was in grade school. These days he comes as a teen volunteer.  “When I was younger, I felt like it would be really cool to see a person who's older than me, especially a teenager with hearing loss,” Meyer said. “So I just try to show them that it's cool to have hearing loss.” Meanwhile, 10-year-old Kinsley Von Bulow-Hutto, a spunky fifth-grader at Maple Grove Elementary, was glowing by the end of the dash event. “I raced someone, and I beat them,” she said. “They said that I wouldn't beat them, but then I did. So, I showed them who was the boss.” Kinsley, who wears hearing aids and ranks the parachute, of course, as her No. 1 track and field event, said she was excited for the day, though Nicki Kennedy, her teacher, reminded her that at first, she was reluctant. “When we were coming, when I gave you your field trip form, you did not want to go because it was track and field, right?” Kennedy pressed her student. “I don't like running,” Kinsley shrugged. “I know. But then, when we arrived and you saw all of the other kids, you were excited, right?” Kennedy said. “'Yeah, because that looks fun and that looks fun,” Kinsley said, nodding at the various event stations set up around the field. “And I could make a million thousand friends that are like me.”