In today’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the story of Pitt women’s basketball Liatu King, and her visit to the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf before they traveled to a national basketball tournament.
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Pitt junior basketball player Liatu King understood from a young age, she had an important role to play in her family. A role that has since expanded into her community.
“It’s important because it brings awareness,” she says.
Her parents are deaf, so King's first language was American Sign Language.
She would often serve as an interpreter for her mother in places like restaurants or the doctor's office.
“I will never be able to experience what a deaf person experiences,” says King. “I can just only tell it from my side. I can never experience the life of my mom, but what I can do is to continue to raise awareness.”
As she got older, and her basketball career took off, King realized the value in her story. And that she could relate to the deaf community in a special way.
“I can continue to share my story and enlighten and empower other student who are also CODA’s (Children of Deaf Adults) and students who don’t feel heard,” she adds.
Since Liatu joined the Panthers, the team has hosted two ASL Deaf Awareness games. Always an emotional evening for her and her family.
“It happened to get on Overtime and stuff like that,” King says. “A lot of people reached out to me and said how much they were inspired and empowered.”
That's how Kallie Mendenhall first found out about King. Mendenhall is the girls head basketball coach at the Western Pennsylvania School For The Deaf.
King was recently invited to campus to tell her story. Mendenall says her visit clearly hit home.
“As a mom myself I have three children also,” she says. “It’s a beautiful connection that we have. That day was so inspirational because she clearly understands deaf people and ASL and deaf culture, and she really embraces that.”
But the visit also covered topics like the demands of being a student athlete, staying motivated and finding yourself outside of sports.
“Basketball doesn’t define you,” King says. “Who you are outside of basketball is who you are. You shouldn’t be the root of your happiness or why you’re down. Overall it was a really good time.”
King also brought two of her teammates with her. The visit came just ahead of the school's tournament in Massachusetts. Mendenhall's team came in second. An effort she believes was partially fueled by King's message.
“That collaboration with the three of them coming together, it really inspired my girls on the basketball team to work together,” Mendenhall says.
And one that her athletes will carry with them far past high school basketball.
“It gave them the motivation to see that, I’m deaf, I’m hard of hearing,’” Mendenhall explains. “But I can participate and do that myself.”