Football, Sign Language and a Bond

That Can’t be Broken

It’s no surprise that teachers and
other adults can change a stu-
dent’s life, inspire a student to
perform beyond his wildest
dreams, or help a student choose
a lifelong career path. Many of us
can look back fondly on a teacher
or adult who made such a pro-
found stamp on our lives that we
will never be same.
B ut it’s also true, as you will soon
see, that some students leave just as
profound an imprint on the adults
charged with guiding them. Instead, they
guide us.
Consider the possibility that you’re a
deaf student managing a world without
sound, navigating the winding hallways
of a busy suburban high school, learning
calculus or physics or European history.
Imagine that you spend a majority of
your time surrounded by teachers and
students who can hear.
Side by Side, Fingers Flying
At Blind Brook, the 20 high school/mid-
dle school students served by the well-
regarded BOCES program (another seven
students are served in the elementary
schools) have become so familiar to the
school’s non-disabled students and staff
that, in general, the sight of interpreters
and mainstreamed deaf students sitting
side-by-side during classes, their hands
and fingers flying through the visual cues
of sign language, is commonplace.
“This school is great,” said Ms. Fico, “and
I think the program is one of the best in
the nation. Here, our students are on a
level playing field with any student.
They’re accepted, achieving, and most
become involved in all kinds of extracur-
ricular activities and sports.”
Which brings us back to football.
Nathan, who lives in Katonah, is physi-
cally active and a sports fanatic, proudly
wearing a Syracuse University baseball
cap and a Blind Brook athletic sweatshirt
during a recent interview. As a junior, he
ran spring track and competed in the
long jump, and made the varsity football
team as he entered senior year. That turn
of events required his presence at prac-
tices twice a day beginning in August,
and daily practices (including weekends)
throughout the fall.
It also meant that Nathan would require
the presence of an interpreter, both at
practices and during games, so Ms. Fico
or her colleague, interpreter Debbie
Dvorak, came along to every practice
and game.
The interpreters shadowed Coach Joe
Rinello, translating his calls and instruc-

Oh yes -- and imagine that you play high

school football.
Such is the case for Nathan Engel, a sen-
ior at Blind Brook High School and a
member of the school’s Trojans football
team. Nathan, who attends the Southern
Westchester BOCES Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Program at Blind Brook, uses
American Sign Language to communi-
cate. He, like other students in the pro-
gram, is assisted by a staff of interpreters,
but primarily has come to know and
depend on Christine Fico, an interpreter
with the BOCES program since 1994.
It’s clear when you meet with these two -
- the 17-year-old student and his 50ish
interpreter -- that theirs is a bond
cemented by millions of moments that
have hinged entirely on communication.
Ms. Fico is Nathan’s ears on the world,
and his voice when that voice needs to
Nathan Engel, right, a senior at Blind Brook High School, and his interpreter, Christine Fico, who has
be heard.
been with the SWBOCES Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program for the past 14 years.

4
tions for Nathan. Ms. Fico and Ms.
Dvorak braved all kinds of weather to be
present, sweating along with the players
during the sweltering summer months
and standing in the rain and mud with
the team during the fall.
Yet the interpreters take no credit for the
experience.
“Nathan was the incredible one,” said
Ms. Fico. “He memorized more than 80
football plays for several different posi-
tions on the team. He never missed one
practice or one game.”
Besides his acumen for sports, she says,
Nathan, who has applied to Gallaudet
University and the Rochester Institute
of Technology, is “an incredibly gifted
kid with a bright future. He will go far
in life.”
A Special Team
Mr. Rinello, who has coached football at
Blind Brook for 16 years, is no stranger
to having an occasional student from the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program on
his team. But Nathan, said the coach,
was different.
“I can barely talk about Nathan without
getting emotional,” said Mr. Rinello. “He
is a beautiful young man who takes pride
in himself and everything he does.”
With a record of one win and seven loss-
es, the Trojans didn’t exactly have a stel-
lar year, if you look at the statistics. But
Mr. Rinello said it was one of the best
seasons of football he can remember. “I
watched their relationships grow and I
watched the other players bond with
Nate in a way I’ve never seen before. This
team was special.”
Nathan was so likeable, said Mr. Rinello,
that other players began to learn rudi-
mentary sign language to communicate
certain plays to him. That included the
sign for the so-called “apache” play,
where the team decided to wave their
fingers behind their heads, like American
Indian feathers, to signal their friend and
teammate.
Teammate and junior Ben Kaplowitz said
that when Nathan joined the team, more
seasoned players told him that if he
could learn as many plays as possible, he
would get more time on the field. “He
really wanted to play,” said Ben, “so he
hustled. Not only did he learn all those
plays, he gave 110 percent of himself to
the team.”
Whenever other players might be out
because of injuries, Mr. Rinello said he
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would find notes in his mailbox from they managed to get their jobs done and
Nathan, volunteering to play those posi- stay out of each other’s way.
tions if he was needed.
Nathan notes that his interpreter knows
During this year’s Homecoming Pep the game. “She knows football,” he said,
Rally, in a traditional ceremony called “and that definitely helped out in the
“the burning of the cleats,” the football conversations that took place with the
players all spoke about what the season coaches, especially during games.”
meant to them, including Nathan.
But that doesn’t mean Ms. Fico’s job was
Through his trusted interpreter, he told
a cushy one. On one unseasonably hot
his teammates what their acceptance and
day during a practice in October, she was
friendships meant to him.
interpreting from the sidelines as usual,
”Even though we didn't win many when the team’s quarterback took a few
games,” said Nathan, “I wouldn't change steps backward to throw a pass, and
a thing because of the memories that we stepped directly onto Ms. Fico’s foot with
have.” Then the entire team embraced, his cleats. The quarterback gave her a
with Nathan in the middle. hand up, and she continued working.
“Having Nathan around brought out the But after a visit to the doctor, Ms. Fico
best in all of us,” said Mr. Rinello. learned she had broken her toe.
“I was proud,” she said. “It was my first
football injury.”
Not a Cushy Job
Nathan said the incident just cracked up
As an interpreter in the middle of a foot- everybody on the team. “To be honest, I
ball game, said Ms. Fico, she never felt laughed. Everybody did. Even the inter-
intrusive in the bruising, loud, male preter laughed.”
environment. “The coaches made me feel
accepted, and understood that I was a
professional, just doing my job.”
“The entire coaching staff has so much
admiration for what all the interpreters
do,” said Mr. Rinello. In the heat of the
action, say both coach and interpreter,