Their pre-game is the same.
They stretch. Do jumping jacks in unison. They even storm onto the field like their opponent.
The first "sign" of what sets this team apart from others doesn't come until the national anthem (anthem playing). When the star spangled spanner is signed to them (anthem playing).
Every player on the team is deaf, but their love for football rings loud and clear.
Senior Linebacker Joe Conard: "I'm not disabled. I'm just deaf. I can basically do the same thing a hearing person can do and i'm okay with that"
Located just south of downtown Austin, the Texas School for the Deaf is the oldest publicly funded school in Texas.
TSD opened its doors in 1867, and it's football tradition goes back almost that far.
Nats
TSD has won 13 national deaf prep championships. Head coach Matt Thompson has been with the rangers since 1996.
He is also deaf. Four out of the five football coaches on staff are.
Head coach Matt Thompson: "We're not easy players. we're not easy to play against. We're deaf. But we can pretty much do anything we want to do once we're on the field. We play the game. We'll show you what kind of team we are, that speaks for itself. That's my goal."
Athletic Director Chris Hamilton: "We see kinds who are on a team, their confidence goes up, they carry it over to a school. We see the motivation they do well here they do well in school. The moral goes up."
As for the players, they're all not originally from Texas, but they live here now - about half of them in dorms on campus.
Senior Jarlene Giaconna was born in California. His brother is not deaf so Jarlean played on hearing teams until he moved to Texas.
Senior Jarlene Giaconna: "Oh yeah, here it's amazing. The coaches can explain to you. They can clearly tell you what the technique is, where it is, what you're doing, how to defend. They can give you everything you need so you can understand it. With my hearing coaches, they simplified everything."
Head coach Matt Thompson: "The best thing about this team is they love football. I mean what can i say they like to play. They'll do anything for football."
Senior Linebacker Joe Conard: "The only difference we have is we can't hear. We have runners. Hearing people can run. We can read. Hearing people can read. The only difference is we can't talk. We cant get behind a player and start doing stuff. We have to get a visual so we can get a sign, but basically football is football."
And after all this IS Texas, and they don't make movies about our high school football "sounds". We're known for the friday night "'lights"
And it's on that stage, that the Rangers will continue to paint a picture, that even to them...is worth a thousand words.
Adam Winkler, News 10 sports.>
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