Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — A 19-year-old Utah athlete will represent the United States when she competes in the World Deaf Basketball Championships in Argentina this summer.
Mariyah Saldana began playing basketball on a local park district team in Illinois when she was just 5 years old.
"My mom's side of the family watched basketball games a lot, and it made me fall in love with basketball," the young woman told KSL.com.
Saldana graduated from the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind in 2023. She now attends Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., where she plays on the university's basketball team and maintains a 4.0 GPA. She said she'd rather focus on school and basketball than party with peers.
"I'm very excited about traveling to Argentina and playing basketball with 16 teams from other countries," Saldana said about the opportunity to play in the competitive games hosted by the Deaf International Basketball Federation. "I hope there's a good experience, and I hope we go to the championship to get the gold, then bring it home."
It can't be easy playing basketball as an athlete with deafness.
Saldana said there have been communication barriers with her teammates, even when they use American Sign Language. She can see the referees use hand gestures if somebody is traveling, or fouls or is fouled; but she has to look behind her to see if opponents are there, as she can't hear their footsteps, among other inequities.
"I learned from Michael Jordan's famous quote: 'Failure makes me work even harder,'" she said. "It will help much and make you very motivated and improve your skills; but not give up, too."
Michelle Tanner, an associate superintendent at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, got to know Saldana very well when they traveled to India together last year on a school trip.
"I would say there's a lot of attributes that make Mariyah successful," Tanner said. "She is very affable. She is so pleasant, she is such a happy soul. She is just easygoing, pleasant to be with. She's also thoughtful — so she's a thinker and she contemplates things. She's very driven. When she commits to something, she commits to it fully, and she works really hard to achieve it."
She also said Saldana has an extremely supportive family, and everyone would do well to have a family like that.
"It's aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters: They are a tight unit and they are the biggest cheerleaders, and so I think that is a tremendous asset to Mariyah that she has such a close connection to her family members," Tanner said.
She's meeting new people and engaging in life in a new way and expanding her horizons, so this is a tremendous benefit to her in a lot of ways besides just physically.
–Michelle Tanner, Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind
During high school, Saldana played basketball against teams with athletes who were deaf and teams with athletes who could hear. To help communication with the teams of differing hearing abilities, there were interpreters on the court.
Additionally, the basketball court at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind is uniquely visually oriented to assist the athletes. For example, if a referee blows a whistle, somebody pushes a button and the backboards of both basketball hoops light up so the players know a whistle has been blown.
"What a tremendous learning opportunity this is for her," Tanner said, in reference to Saldana's trip to Argentina. "Obviously, she's going to grow her skills. Obviously, she's going to be trained by people who really know (their stuff) and it's going to hone her skills as an athlete, which I know she thoroughly enjoys.
"But, then, she's traveling. That's a learning opportunity right there. She's meeting new people and engaging in life in a new way and expanding her horizons so this is a tremendous benefit to her in a lot of ways besides just physically. … Mentally, it's a great thing. Academically, it's a great thing and just to being exposed to the world in a very positive way is also a great thing."
In order to raise money for her trip — to cover the costs of her uniform, lodging, food, airplane tickets and training camp — Saldana has set up a GoFundMe* goal of raising $3,000. So far, she has about $1,300.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
