[Coach] First base.

Second base.

Short stop.

Third base.

Left field.

Raise your hand.

[Dylan Heuer] We're here today at the Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf.

We're here all week.

We have the camp every morning for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, age 7 to 14 from all over the Midwest.

It's an opportunity for them to not only play baseball but socialize.

It's a fully inclusive environment for deaf and hard of hearing kids.

♪♪ [Coach] Nice job.

Nice speed.

♪♪ [Coach] Looking good.

Looking good.

We're looking good guys!

[Coach] The first thing we're going to work on is our catching and our throwing.

Okay?

So, my first rule is going to be there is absolutely no throwing the ball unless the person you're throwing to is making eye contact with you.

[Dylan Heuer] When I was little, I was involved with a baseball camp for the deaf.

The camp was smaller, but it was so much fun.

I have such fond memories of the time.

There were other deaf kids there.

I could identify with all of them, other individuals that signed.

It was so exciting to be with people like me.

And it was a part of who I am today.

I don't have to experience any of those barriers.

It's just nice to be outside, be my true self.

[Coach John Linden] After he graduated high school and went on to college, the camp kind of died out and when he came back, he revitalized it.

[Nancy Heuer] He came to me and he just said mom, I think I would really like to try and do the baseball camp again.

And he goes, I am deaf, I know with deaf culture that this is really needed.

(clapping) [Nancy Heuer] Dylan organized with the interpreters through the Des Moines Public Schools and interpreters in the community.

We got the coaches back.

We got the volunteers out there.

So yeah, we rebooted it in 2015.

♪♪ [Coach John Linden] The new camp is a lot larger, a lot more volunteers.

It has been great having so many interpreters now and so much help.

[Coach] There we go.

There we go.

Bend those knees now.

Bend those knees, get down.

There you go.

[Ursula Heuer] I have interpreted for a number of these kids or known them just being in the same district as them.

I volunteered for one day to come down.

And then a friend of mine who is also an interpreter and I went to the Iowa Cubs game with the camp and she saw me explaining baseball stuff to the deaf kids and she saw Dylan running around doing all of his baseball stuff with the kids, and sort of thought to herself, hmm.

And ever since then I have been interpreting at camp every single day.

It really is a family affair.

We're all here all week.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

(golf cart engine) [Coach] Catching a couple of fly balls.

[Ursula Heuer] We have a range of hard of hearing to deaf kids.

So not even all the kids sign.

But we have volunteers and interpreters and coaches that know how to work with that whole range.

[Coach] Well done.

Well done.

Here we go!

[Coach John Linden] Some of them have never thrown a baseball or never swung a bat before.

[Coach] Here's a player!

[Coach John Linden] Their eye-hand coordination is amazing because they're paying attention.

They learn very fast.

These kids have phenomenal attention spans.

[Daniel Cronk] My favorite part about baseball camp is that I get to meet other people with my same symptoms and I get to meet a lot of new friends.

I'm not the only one that has hearing aids.

It does really make me feel more included.

[David Cronk] I really like the community here because it kind of just shows you that you're not alone and that even though you do have this impairment that it doesn't have to stop you.

It doesn't have to be a big thing unless you make it a big thing.

[Olivia Gill] We get to play baseball and we get to sign and we get to meet a lot of new friends.

[Sophie Barney] I go to public so I don't go to deaf school.

So, I just hang out with my regular friends.

But here it feels like deaf school and it's fun.

[Dylan Heuer] Growing up they're often isolated in mainstream schools or even within their own family because they aren't able to communicate and so they don't have a sense of who they are.

When they come to camp and they see, wow, there are a lot of other deaf peers here and it helps them find out who they are to identify with these other kids.

Some of them use their voice.

Some don't sign too much but they're meeting other kids that do.

And they're just sort of immersed in the deaf community here and they become proud of who they are, proud of being deaf, proud of deaf culture.

[Nancy Heuer] You can see the kids, they kind of start buddying up after the first and second day and they're making new friends.

They're kind of timid and shy at first maybe.

But then it's like oh wow, everybody is like us.

And it's just heartwarming to see the friendship that are made.

[Coach John Linden] It has been such a rewarding experience seeing the kids grow, seeing their faces when they have success and their high fives and their smiles and just the joy that they have in being able to come out and play and run around the field and hit a ball and throw a ball.

[Coach and players] Good game.

Good game.

Good game.

Good game.

[Ursula Heuer] It's fairly uncommon outside of school sports that a kid is going to have a sign language interpreter.

If it's a school-sponsored sporting event, it will be in that child's IEP that they will have an interpreter present, so they will have an interpreter for those sports.

But playing little league or community leagues or other organizations that put together sporting events, generally don't provide interpreters.

And sometimes that's just a financial thing that they don't have the funds to provide interpreting.

In rural parts of the state there's not interpreters available, even if they had the money to get someone.

[Interpreter] So, one arm, two arms and then look on top of it.

[Sembetu Dalay] There are so many deaf children that are struggling because when they try to use sign, their families want them to speak or use a cochlear implant.

But showing them that we're here, we're signing, it's important, it's so much easier to communicate and have access that way.

And it's find if you want to speak and use your voice if that is one way that you can communicate.

But communicating in sign is such an important part of deaf culture.

It's our language.

♪♪ [Announcer] Also, representing the Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf, please welcome Skylar -- [Dylan Heuer] It's a huge deal for the deaf community because the deaf community is going to be celebrated at the game.

The Iowa Cubs team, we're going to be wearing special jerseys honoring this celebration of the deaf community.

♪♪ [Ursula Heuer] They have always gone to an I-Cubs game during the week of camp.

But this is the first year that that I-Cubs have really expanded that to be deaf culture night.

[Dylan Heuer] People from all over the state of Iowa who attend will have some exposure to the deaf community and to support the Cubs as well.

[Dylan Heuer] The camp is everything to me and more and hopefully it is for these young people as well.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Take me out to the ballgame ♪ ♪ Take me out with the crowd ♪ ♪ Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks ♪ ♪ I don't care if I never get back ♪ ♪ Let me root, root, root for the home team ♪ ♪ If they don't win it's a shame ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's one, two, three strikes you're out ♪ ♪ At the old ball game ♪ ♪♪ [Announcer] Nicely done!

Give yourself a hand!