The walls echo with the screams of the crowd and Adidas shoes screeching on the floor. The riot-gun sound of a volleyball being pounded to the floor adds to the noise, followed by teammates howling over the spike. And you can’t hear a single decibel.

This is a scene in the life of senior Todd Weimer. He reads lips, sees the screaming fans and picks up hints of the noise in his hearing aid, but he never will know how loud it is around him.

Todd is deaf. And the stunning thing is that he doesn’t care. He’s on a mission, and he won’t let anything stop him.

His mission started in February, he said, when he earned the right to play on United States’ Deaflympics team that will travel to Australia in summer 2005, and the mission won’t be done until he brings home the gold.

“I want to be the best,” said Todd, who is a teaching assistant in the NIU physical education department. “And if I don’t get the gold, there is always another chance in four years.”

Todd also has a mission of not allowing the fact that he is deaf to be a disability – a mission he started as soon as he was born. Todd was born deaf. His parents were told he never would be able to speak after he was diagnosed with one of the highest levels of deafness: severe to profound.

His grade-school years were spent in small classrooms, either learning with other deaf kids or running off to speech classes almost every day of the week. About the last thing he had or worried about was a social life, he said.

“I really didn’t know anything about being social,” said Todd, a Morrison native. “I was pretty self-contained until about high school.”

Todd’s self-containment was not all because he was deaf. Todd’s father has muscular dystrophy, and for the early part of his life, and even now, Todd has been his “right-hand man.” Because of his father’s condition, Todd often had to be at home to help his father, take care of the house or make dinner, as his mom worked long hours to keep the bills from piling up from both Todd and his dad.

“It was pretty rough going there for a while,” Todd’s mom Genny said.

Also hanging over the family was the death of Todd’s older brother, Justin, in 1983. Justin was only 5 years old when a car he was riding in was struck by a drunk driver.

Despite all the negative things that happened to Todd, a few positives shone through in grade school. In sixth grade, Todd learned how to speak and how to play volleyball. But it wasn’t until he came to NIU that his passion for the game really took hold, Todd said.

Once he got to NIU, he was introduced to new levels of playing when he joined the deaf club volleyball team at NIU. And thanks to friends and coaches, Todd said, he has taken his game to a level he never thought possible.

But until summer 2005, Todd has to keep busy coaching volleyball at the Illinois Math and Science Academy and teaching year-round. The physical education major is gearing up for the Deaflympics but also for his future mission of being a teacher, coach and family man.

“I am always impressed by his work ethic,” said Connie Fox, Todd’s teacher for two years. “He’s a tremendous role model, and he will represent us well.”

Todd said he has a philosophy that he attributes to his achievements and feels more people should follow.

“Believe in yourself and go farther than what you can reach,” Todd said. “And if you fail, then find another way to go after what you want, and if you really want it, you’ll get it.”

Todd’s mission has been his entire life, and he says his mission will never be satisfied. And just as the letter he received from the USA Deaf Sports Federation states, “You are, indeed, one of a kind.”

Donations

For his Olympic trip, Weimer needs to raise $4,500. If interested in helping, please contact him at [email protected] or the USA Deaf Sports Federation directly at www.usadsf.org.