The American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association (AHIHA) was established in 1973 by

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

player

Stan Mikita Stanley Mikita (born Stanislav Guoth; May 20, 1940 – August 7, 2018) was a Slovaks, Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best Centre (ic ...

, and a local businessman by the name of Irv Tiahnybik, after Irv discovered the difficulties his

hard-of-hearing Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spok ...

son was having with his hearing teammates. The

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

camp grew quickly, and drew deaf and hard-of-hearing ice hockey players from all over the country. The organization hosts the annual, week-long Stan Mikita Hockey Camp in

Woodridge, Illinois Woodridge is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, with small portions in Will and Cook counties, and a southwestern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 34,158. The village is just north of the I-55 junction with IL-53 ...

, at the Seven Bridges Ice Arena. The camp itself is free, though players do have to supply their own equipment and pay for their hotel room. In addition to sponsoring the camp, AHIHA also helps advocate for its players, provides scholarships, and helps children obtain

hearing aid A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers ...

s. The

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 athle ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team is typically comprised almost solely of AHIHA players, and represented the USA once again in 2007 at Salt Lake City.

References

External links

* Parasports organizations in the United States Deaf sports organizations Ice hockey organizations 1973 establishments in Illinois Sports organizations established in 1973 Deafness organizations in the United States {{Parasport-org-stub