Rods feature pair of deaf players

A couple of years ago, when Jon Anderson was living up in Fairford near the northeastern end of Lake Manitoba, his hockey coach paid him the ultimate compliment.

“This young man can’t even hear, but he listens the most,” recalled Anderson’s mother, Bertha Anderson, who translated her son’s sign language during a telephone interview.

Jon Anderson and Evan Husack, both of whom play for the Winnipeg Rods, are the only two deaf players in the Manitoba Midget Football League.

“They’re both excellent players. Evan is doing exceptionally well for a first-year player, and Jon just keeps getting better and better. At first, I didn’t know how I’d respond to them, because I don’t know sign language,” Rods’ defensive co-ordinator Wade Johnston admitted, adding that this was his first time coaching deaf players.

“So I bought myself a white board (and felt pen) and we communicate that way on the field. During a game, I’ve developed hand signals for my players to communicate to the deaf guys, because I can’t be in the huddle with them on the field. For the most part, it works well.”

As they’re deaf, the only position they can play is on the defensive line, because all they have to do is watch the ball in front of them, Johnston said.

“Being deaf can be a bit of a hold-back to playing at a higher level, but they both have the athletic potential,” he emphasized. Bertha Anderson said her son was diagnosed as deaf at 18 months old.

Jon said he’s been playing football for the past two years after a friend encouraged him to take up the sport. “I thought I’d try it and I really like it,” said the 5-foot-11, 220-pound interior lineman.

The 16-year-old is in Grade 12 at St. James Collegiate, where he was trying out for the school’s hockey team at the time of this interview.

Previously, he attended the Manitoba School for the Deaf, where he participated in volleyball, basketball and badminton.

Last year, he was on the Manitoba team that competed in B.C. at the Youth Canadian Tournament for the Deaf, a biannual gathering for deaf athletes.

“I competed in badminton and volleyball,” he said. When the family lived on the Fairford reserve, Bertha Anderson said she and her husband alternated going to school every day with Jon to interpret for him.

“But he’d spend one day a month at the School for the Deaf (in Winnipeg),” she added.

Jon maintained that he doesn’t have any problems on the football field.

“I just have to watch really well and learn from the other players,” he said, adding that besides the white board coach Johnston uses during practices, he also receives some help from the Rods’ trainer, who knows some sign language.

Football and hockey are Anderson’s favourite sports.

“I really enjoy them and have lots of fun. I like the body contact,” he said.