West Virginia wrestler's lack of 'sense' doesn't hinder performance
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Jason Bryant (USA Wrestling)
07/24/2001
Jeff Courtney is no stranger to wrestling success. His family is a legacy at Fairmont Senior High School in Fairmont, WV. Courtney's father Don was a state champion as were his two older brothers. Courtney completed his family's cycle by winning the AAA state championship at 171 pounds and compiling a 42-6 record. At the Asics Tiger Junior Greco Roman Nationals Championships in Fargo, ND this weekend, Courtney found himself on the podium again, not as a champion, but an All-American nonetheless. Courtney finished seventh at 178 pounds, beating Nick Terry of Ohio in his medal round match. Battling back and forth with Terry, Courtney avoided confusion on the mat and scored a takedown with :45 seconds remaining to give him a two-point cushion as he went on to win 7-5. But Courtney isn't your typical All-American. An accomplished athlete, having played football and baseball as well, Jeff Courtney was born completely deaf. Fighting out of his pool to finish fourth and earn All-American status, Courtney won five matches in Pool B. His brother Ryan Courtney manned his corner for the tournament, using sign language and basic body movements to get his point across to his brother. "It's sometimes hard, because he can't hear you if you were to yell instructions. You have to wait for a break in the action to get your comments in," said Ryan. With his brother interpreting, Jeff said, "Its no real problem for me." On his team at Fairmont Senior, Jeff's teammates have picked up on sign language and body movements to communicate with one of their team's best wrestlers, whether he's deaf or not. Jeff uses his family as motivation. As noted, his father and two brothers were state champions and this past season, he used that as what he called, "positive pressure." "I use a lot of body language to communicate with my teammates, they pick up on it pretty well," said Jeff. Jeff's performance at the West Virginia AAA State Tournament powered Fairmont Senior to a fifth place finish. He beat Matt Miller of rival East Fairmont 2-1 to win his title and ending Miller's string of 39 straight victories that season, and avenged his loss to Miller in the Region II finals. Ryan Courtney said he and Fairmont Senior coach Mark Delligatti both sign during matches to instruct Jeff. Despite only wrestling the international styles for four years, he wrestled in the deaf nationals two years ago and this past year, wrestled in the deaf Pan-Am games, taking gold in both freestyle and Greco. As a first year USA Wrestling junior and rising senior at Fairmont Senior, he placed in Fargo for the first time. While in Fargo, Jeff also qualified for freestyle, but he's not trying to earn sympathy from anyone. Why would he? He beat them anyway. "Deaf people can do anything 'normal' people can do…including be an All-American," said Jeff. We'd think so, he matched brother Ryan this year. Ryan Courtney took seventh place and was an All-American at West Liberty State in Division II. "Now I'm going to eat, relax, and get ready for freestyle," said Jeff Courtney.