Deaf basketball is

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

played by

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

people.

Sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign ...

is used to communicate whistle blows and communication between players.

National associations

The game played by deaf people is organized with national and international associations including Deaf Basketball Australia, Deaf Basketball UK and United States of America Deaf Basketball.Gannon, Jack. 1981. ''Deaf Heritage–A Narrative History of Deaf America'', Silver Spring, MD: National Association of the Deaf, pp. 282-286

Players

Deaf basketball has gained great visibility because of athlete like Lance Allred who played basketball with the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

's (NBA)

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central ...

. Allred is Hard of Hearing, with a 75-80% hearing loss wearing a hearing aid. He later on continued to play basketball professionally in the European basketball leagues. Another high-profile deaf basketball player is the

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

n professional basketball player

Miha Zupan Miha Zupan (born September 13, 1982) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. He played among hearing players at the highest level in Europe, despite being hearing impairment, deaf since birth. He is a 2.05 m (6 ft in) power fo ...

, born with impairment similar to that of Allred, yet plays

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

at highest professional level in Europe.

Deaf International Basketball Federation

The Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF) is a world governing body for international deaf basketball with support of

International Basketball Federation The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

(FIBA) and in cooperation with

Deaflympics The Deaflympics also known as Deaflympiad (previously called World Games for the Deaf, and International Games for the Deaf) are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athl ...

and its confederations. In February 2003, it was recognized at the Congress of Comité International des Sports de Surds (i.e. the International Committee of the Deaf Sports during the Winter Deaflympics in

Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. History The ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

as an independent association composed of the National Organisations governing deaf basketball. DIBF encourages the growth and development of deaf basketball in all nationals of the world through an organized program of education and instruction. The Federation schedules and conducts all international contests and championships in deaf basketball in cooperation with the

(The Deaf Olympics) and its confederations. DIBF also maintains a documented history of the basketball by recording and reporting on all major international contests from the inception of international competitions to the present.

References

External links

Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF Official site)Deaf Basketball Australia

Deaf Basketball UKUnited States of America Deaf Basketball (USADB)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deaf Basketball Forms of basketball Team sports

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...