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April 2003

UNF student named to U.S. deaf soccer team

Chris Hamstra

You only have to talk with Chris Hamstra for a few minutes to learn the depth of his love for soccer. Hamstra recently was selected for the U.S. Deaf National Soccer Team, giving him an opportunity to represent this country in international competition.

The Cape Coral native sees winning a place on the first string to be one of his greatest accomplishments.

"This is an unbelievable honor and opportunity for me to play for my country," he says with pride.

The Deaf National Soccer Team is affiliated with the USA Deaf Sports Federation, which sends a variety of teams to competitions around the world, including the Deaflympics every four years.

For Hamstra, the team has given him an avenue to continue to play soccer
competitively.

"I played soccer for four years in high school and had hoped to play for UNF," he recalls. "But when I walked on, I discovered that they already had too many goalkeepers and didn't need another one."

Being a goalie is the only position on the field that interests Hamstra.

"I love to dive. I love to slide. I love to block the ball," he says. "It is a stress relief for me."

Chris was at a disadvantage in other field positions because he couldn't hear other players calling to him and didn't know when the whistle was blown to stop play.

He almost missed the deaf team tryouts in Baltimore in mid-February when his grandfather died.

"At first, I wasn't going to go so I could attend the funeral, but my mother and her sister urged me to go because they know my grandfather would have wanted that," he said. "So I'm dedicating this competition to his memory."

The Baltimore trip also gave Hamstra his first taste of snow in a big way - 23 inches on Valentine's Day weekend.

"I knew I was going to see snow for the first time, but I never expected to see a blizzard," he says.

The first challenge comes in April, when Hamstra travels to Baltimore to meet the rest of the team for the first time before taking off as a group for competition in Belgium.

"We have to practice and get in shape on our own and will have only a couple days to practice as a team before the first game,"
he notes.

The team does not pay all of the expenses for the athletes, meaning Hamstra must raise about $1,500 for the trip. He also hopes to raise enough money to attend the Deaf Olympics in 2005.

When he's not dreaming about soccer, Hamstra is planning his career. The 24-year-old education major plans to graduate in December and teach deaf students.

"My mom is a teacher, and I thought I would follow in her footsteps," he says.
But the UNF student also sees teaching as a challenge.

"I love working with deaf children and not only do I want to become a teacher for deaf children, but I would also like to be a role model for them."

Chris, who has been deaf since contracting meningitis when he was 10 months old, wants to help other hearing-impaired students in a public school setting. If that school also happens to have a soccer team, you can bet that Hamstra will be on the field helping young people to discover the game he loves.