Metro Deaf School's athletic director is growing the game for her student-athletes
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Students at Metro Deaf School in St. Paul are playing in a garage-like gym space right now, where some students complain that the exposed cement is not ideal.
"Dust everywhere in your face," said Suriaya Abas, a 13-year-old volleyball player.
To avoid injury and to have more space, the upperclassmen student-athletes will travel across town to a church to practice at another gym. Part of the reason these girls are growing as players is because they're being taught by coaches who communicate exactly like they do, and know the challenges they face.
"You play and you have fun, and you just have mind focus that follows the ball. I like to read the ball," said Abas, who voices for herself in English while simultaneously using American Sign Language (ASL).
One of her coaches and the school's athletic director is Audrey Kludtke. She's a Metro Deaf School graduate who used to play basketball and volleyball when she was a student. That's why she wants to give back to the school that gave her so much.
"When they see volleyball players getting in the van and going elsewhere to play, our younger students don't have an idea of what that's like, they don't see them playing, so we would like for them to be able to see the upperclassmen playing so that they have role models," Kludtke said in ASL via an English interpreter.
To change the travel situation, Kludtke plans to have a new gym built at the school that is safe and accessible. She also wants to add more sports, including a football team, and hopes to have the program up and running by fall 2026.
"It's mostly about our kids to be able to have that feeling of access, and be able to play just like every other kid," Kludtke said.
She hopes by eliminating barriers to sports, these kids can go on to break barriers as adults.
"I hope one day that we do grow a professional player, maybe somebody in the NFL or NBA that graduated here from Metro Deaf School," Kludtke said.
"My dream is that I really want to play college volleyball," Abas said.
The school relies on donations to make these dreams possible. Kludtke says it's going to take more than $30,000 to form a football program. You can contribute to the future football program and new gymnasium through a GoFundMe page set up by the school.
