However, some of Louisiana's best athletes in Class C will not hear the roars from the crowd or the starter's pistol.
Louisiana School for the Deaf's Pamela Amarante didn't hear the starter's pistol two blasts of the gun at the last year's LHSAA State Outdoor Meet which indicated a false start. Other athletes in the race heard the second blast and knew to stop and return to the start.
Amarante, running out in front of everybody in lane eight, continued running for 100 meters before someone was able to get her attention and have her stop.
When the race was run again, Amarante finished last. She could not hear the applause of the crowd cheering her on.
In track and field, "overcoming adversity" is loosely thrown around to talk about the obstacles that athletes and coaches overcome to achieve their goals. At the Louisiana School for the Deaf, the athletes-and the coaches-overcome adversity every single day.
Donalda Abadie, who was a hurdler at LSU during the Lady Tigers national championship run from 1888 until1991 and represented Canada in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, is in her second year as the head coach at LSD. And while she has worked with special needs students in the past--and knew a little sign language when she began--she still finds it difficult to communicate with her team at times.
Her athletes are certainly familiar with the frustration.
"They will correct me if I mess something up," Abadie said.
Abadie also has LSD's athletic director-Denton Mallaf-who is there to help Abadie if she gets stuck in the communication process.
Abadie has also had problems communicating with meet officials to get access to her athletes during state championship events.
"They wouldn't let me on the track because they said I was a coach," Abadie said. "I had to explain to them that I'm an interpreter. They cannot hear what the officials and starter are saying. I have to be out there."
Abadie will need all the help she can get during this year's LHSAA Class C State Championship. She hopes to have someone at each exchange zone to help her girls who qualified in the 400m relay with a time of 1:01.15.
Amarante has transferred to East Ascension this year, where she finished third in the District 8-5A pole vault--earning a bronze medal.
This year, Da'kireah Perkins is LSD's best shot to make the podium on Thursday at Bernie Moore. Perkins is ranked No. 1 in Class C with a time of 1:06. Not only did Perkins qualify in the 400m, she qualified in the long jump and 200m as well.
"She's an athlete," Abadie said. "She plays volleyball and basketball, but she needed to be taught how to train. We've had a short season because she came to track after Mardi Gras because of basketball."
Through Coach Abadie, Perkins communicated with Coach Abadie that she is not nervous about the state meet. She is most looking forward to competing in the long jump, where she has had some trouble getting her steps right. She also wants to improve all her performances from what she did at the Region 3-C Meet.
The toughest part for Perkins? Learning how to run the 400m.
Perkins is one of six girls on Abadie's LSD team who will be competing on Thursday. There will be four boys competing as well including the Region 3-C champion in the discus--LSD junior John Roberts, who won the regional meet with a throw of 98-0.5.
If you are not able to be in Bernie Moore Stadium on Thursday, you will be able to catch all of the LIVE ON MILESPLIT LA beginning at 2:25pm!
