DSHS senior competes in Deaf Olympics

Faith Wylie, a graduating senior and soccer player at Dripping Springs High School, is competing in the XXIV Summer Deaflympic Games this week.

Faith has been involved with the U.S. Deaf Women’s National Soccer Team for five years, attending training camps with the organization every year. Because there are no junior-level teams, the team ranges from ages 14 to 41 and includes about 80 individuals. Twenty-two of those were selected to travel to the Deaflympics, an international multisport event, from May 1–15 in Caxias Do Sul, Brazil.

The team is led by volunteer coaches Amy Griffin and Joy Fawcett, both former U.S. national team players on the 1991 Women’s World Cup championship team.

“My wife found the team playing in Italy in the deaf World Cup, and Faith was already playing soccer,” said Mark Wylie, Faith’s father. “After Faith attended her first camp at the age of 13 in Washington state, she attended every camp since, getting together with them twice a year for 5 to 7 days at a time.”

The USDWNT played Brazil on Tuesday, May 3 and won 4-0. The team played Japan on Saturday, May 7 and won 1-0, with Faith scoring the gamewinning goal.

“Faith’s first camp was right before the last Deaflympics in Turkey, and the U.S. decided not to attend for safety reasons,” Mark said. “So, this is Faith’s first international match.”

Faith is the secondyoungest player on the USDWNT and was the youngest until this past year.

The USDWNT will play Kenya on Monday, May 9, and Poland on Wednesday, May 11. The U.S. team is expected to play in the gold match on Sunday, Mark said.

“They’ve never lost an international competition,” he explained.

“They’re undefeated and have two World Cup and two Olympic titles.”

In addition to DSHS soccer and the USDWNT, Faith is a member of the Lonestar Soccer Club, a youth soccer organization, and is the outgoing president of the DSHS American Sign Language club. She is committed to play soccer at Murray State College in the fall.