“Hockey is different for kids who can't hear, because they can't take directions unless they're able to read lips or sign language".
-Irv Tiahnybik (Novit, 1)
AHIHA hockey camp teaches kids with hearing loss how to play by using new ways to communicate on the ice.
Kids in the hockey school wear helmets with letters on them.
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“The weeklong clinic, unlike any other in the U.S., is the only hockey school at which the players pick up hearing aid batteries along with their hockey bags and at the initials on the players' helmets reflect their mode of communication: "L" for lip reader, "S" for sign language and "H" for hearing aid. “ (Herzog, 2)
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"Michael B., 13, of Elk Grove Village, wears both letters. 'My biggest challenge is not hearing the referee's whistle. I watch for signals in the reflection of the glass around the rink'."
(Novit, 1)
Other methods of on-ice communcation:
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Interpreters on the ice to help coaches and players communicate
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Coaches use white boards to draw out and explain plays
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Flashing lights around the rink alert players to stoppages in play for goals, penalties, offsides or icing
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Visual tricks, like using reflections in the glass as a rearview mirror
"Their eyes have to be their ears." Stan Mikita. (Herzog, 4)
