They Let It Die

 

They let it die.

Quietly. Slowly. Without a fight.

 

Deaf softball in New England was once alive with rivalries, trash talk, and community faded away like it never mattered.

 

No final game.

No farewell.

Just silence.

 

But I couldn’t accept that as the ending.

 

I saw the empty fields.

I felt the weight of what was lost.

 

And I asked the question nobody wanted to answer:

 

“Why isn’t there a league for us anymore?”

 

When nobody answered, I stopped waiting.

 

I built one.

 

 

From Nothing to NEDSO

 

The New England Deaf Softball Organization (NEDSO) wasn’t handed to me.

 

There was no blueprint.

No funding.

No safety net.

 

Just vision and a refusal to let Deaf softball disappear.

 

I built the foundation from the ground up.

The structure.

The standards.

The rules that protect fairness and competition.

 

Not for nostalgia but for something sustainable.

Something real.

Something that could last.

 

NEDSO was created to give Deaf athletes a home again,

not just a place to play, but a place to belong.

 

 

Before I Built the League, I Played the Game

 

I know this game because I lived it.

 

I competed at the highest level of Deaf softball available to me.

I earned MVPs.

I earned a Golden Glove.

I won championships.

 

More importantly, I earned respect.

 

I learned what it means to grind.

To sacrifice.

To bleed for your team.

 

And I learned what it feels like when the game you love has nowhere left for you.

 

That absence, that silence, is what pushed me to act.

 

That’s why I built NEDSO, because nobody else would.

 

 

Why I Did This

 

Because Deaf athletes deserve more than pickup games.

Because our talent, culture, and legacy deserve structure.

Because I was tired of watching people wait for permission to rebuild what was lost.

 

I didn’t want just a league.

 

I wanted a movement.

 

One that says:

We’re still here. We still swing. And we’re not finished.

 

This isn’t about going backward.

 

It’s about bringing Deaf softball forward, stronger, louder, and built to last.

 

They let it die.

 

And I brought it back.