Deafness hasn’t stopped senior from leading Western Hills girls basketball turnaround

In a lot of ways, Carmen Rosales is just another normal high-school senior.

And in a lot of ways she’s an exceptional young woman.

Rosales is the star of Fort Worth Western Hills’ girls varsity basketball team, despite dealing with something that most of us take for granted.

Rosales is completely deaf.

“Oh yes, she’s my best player,” said David Kubicsek, in his first year as the full-time head coach. “She’s such a hard worker and is just a good, kind-hearted person. She’s worked hard from her freshman year until now to be one of the better players in this program’s history.”

Rosales, who has been deaf since birth, has played on the varsity all four years and has recorded well over 1,000 career points, from what Kubicsek could piece together from previous seasons.

The 5-foot-11 forward had over 200 points her freshman and sophomore seasons, 350 last year, and 594 points this season after recording a triple-double (31 points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals) in a 95-38 drubbing of Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis on Tuesday.

The win pushed the Cougars (15-19), who won three games last season, into a fourth-place tie with River Oaks Castleberry in District 9-4A. The teams will battle for the final playoff spot at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Fort Worth South Hills.

Hear Me Roar

Rosales comes from a family with a history of hearing ailments.

“My real dad’s first child was deaf and his side of the family has many deaf and hard of hearing boys, but I’m the only girl,” said Rosales through interpreter Kristi Lauritzen. “The only special girl.”

Rosales’ step dad played basketball and when she was in the seventh grade she was fascinated and loved watching him play. In eighth grade, she started playing at Leonard Middle School and fell in love with the sport.

“The hardest thing for me on the court is the communication, obviously,” said Rosales, who uses hand signals with her coach and team to call plays. “I’m so proud of my team because they’ve worked so hard to communicate with me my four years playing here.”

Rosales has started in all 34 games and rarely leaves the court.

Before the Diamond Hill-Jarvis game, she led the team in points (16.6 per game), steals (48), blocks (28), and rebounds (158). Rosales is shooting 70% from the floor and an impressive 52% from 3-point range.

“I don’t enjoy a lot of things,” said Rosales. “But I really, really enjoy playing basketball, especially after school.”

Go Team Go

Two additional players on the team are also hearing impaired. Sisters Nakaya Cooper, a senior, and junior Amaria Cooper can hear, but with the help of hearing aids.

“They’re great young ladies as well,” said Kubicsek. “They’ve been a great help to this program.”

Kubicsek stepped in as girls head coach during the 2015 season after a coach left the team for personal reasons. The team hadn’t won a game before Kubicsek’s arrival, but he won his first game on the bench and went on to win nine games and fourth place in district. It was the last time the girls were in the playoffs.

Kubicsek was the boys head coach the past three seasons, but felt compelled to help the girls program. He felt comfortable that his assistant, Justin Bryson, would continue the boys upward trend as head coach as they’re in third place in district and 20-12 overall.

Bright Future

Lauritzen is one of a handful of interpreters that work at the school.

The interpreters sign exactly what the teacher is saying to the students in the classroom, and vice versa, so it’s like a real conversation according to Rosales.

“She a great student,” said Lauritzen.

Rosales had been accepted to Texas Woman’s where she plans on majoring in Computer Science. Kubicsek has sent film to TWU and the school has contacted Rosales about playing basketball.

With an infectious smile and playful disposition, it’s easy to see that Rosales will have little problem taking on her future.

“She has a drive that’s amazing,” said Lauritzen. “She shows up every day. She takes care of her family a lot. She has a lot of obstacles in her way and she doesn’t let that stand in front of her.

“She does really well in school and also in basketball. She’s just internally driven and will have no problem in college. She’s ready to go out into the world and has been ready for a while.”