Determined Blackfoot softball player Olivia Taufui: 'Deaf people can play sports and can do impossible things'

Olivia Taufui couldn’t hear how the ball sounded coming off her bat.

She couldn’t hear the compliments from her softball coaches at Blackfoot High School while rounding the bases.

And she couldn’t hear the cheers and screams from the dugout by her teammates who had all since gathered at home plate.

Smashing a three-run home run to deep center field against Preston in late April was one of, if not the biggest play of her high school career. But the junior didn't hear any of it.

Taufui is deaf.

But that hasn't stopped her from being an integral player on a Broncos' squad with Class 4A championship aspirations. The state tournament kicks off Friday morning in Post Falls.

"I can do anything, even when people think I can’t because I am deaf," said Taufui through a written response to SBLive Idaho's interview questions.

"Deaf people can play sports and can do impossible things. We use our eyes. We don’t have to hear."

Because both her sister and aunt were deaf, Misti Taufui kept close tabs on Olivia, her daughter, right from birth.

In the first few weeks, the signs that Olivia was losing her hearing became clear. And by the time she was 6 months old, doctors determined the newborn baby was profoundly deaf - or unable to hear a sound below 90 decibels.

That means sounds such as a lawn mower, a car horn or even normal conversation - Olivia couldn't hear any of it.

Misti took immediate action, teaching her sign language before enrolling her in a preschool for the deaf in Idaho Falls.

As she grew older, Olivia tried using hearing aids - but to no avail. And yet, she was still excelling in regular public school with the help of an interpreter.

It wasn’t long before she wanted to challenge herself again.

Olivia began playing softball on a city league team at age 7 before joining the a travel squad - the Cyclones - with her older sister, Malia, who served as her primary interpreter up until she graduated in 2021.

And Olivia just kept playing - all the way to making the varsity team at Blackfoot.

"It shows how hard she’s worked at wanting to be good at something that is a lot harder for her than every other kid," Blackfoot softball coach Tammy Sorensen said. "She’s been willing to go out and risk looking like she did something wrong and it wasn’t her fault."

It still isn’t easy for Olivia, who doesn’t read lips.

There isn’t always an interpreter at practices and games. And while many of Olivia’s teammates know some sign language, it’s not enough to carry on full conversation.

Much of the in-game instruction comes through text messages, or having words physically written out on a chalkboard on whiteboard in the dugout.

On defense, Olivia has mostly played in the outfield. But even that has communication challenges since she really cannot see what her interpreter or mother are telling her to do from that far away. She instead relies on teammates waving their arms or pointing to a base to throw to.

She also has to rely on physical cues while in the batter's box. Olivia will either look back at the umpire for the call or look at a coach for the count.

"I feel isolated most of the time," Olivia said.

And yet, through her own feel of the game, she has maintained a batting average near .300 the entire season while hitting in the middle of the lineup.

"I’m inspired by her," said Sorensen, a former record-setting pitcher at Idaho State University. "It’s made me learn a few things here and there. It’s got to be inspiring to some of the kids to think about her going out there and doing things out of her comfort zone."

Sorensen said she was motivated to learn a little sign language herself. But she admits that some of them are just signs that she created on her own.

"We laugh about it because they aren’t real sign-language signs," Sorensen said while laughing. "But she knows what I mean. She’s actually very funny. She will joke with you. She just has that special characteristic about her that everyone likes being around."

The team has fully embraced her - so much so that the team created a TikTok video where Olivia, who is non-verbal, actually said the names of each of her teammates.

"I just feel like one of the girls," Olivia said. "I look like a normal person, nothing different, I just can’t hear."

If all of that weren’t impressive enough, Olivia plays volleyball, too.

She started participating in it around the same time as softball. Misti coached her for the first few years before Olivia earned a spot on varsity as an outside and right side hitter this past season.

"She doesn’t use it as a disability," Blackfoot volleyball coach Kiarra Johnson said. "She moves past it and gets after other things. She still communicates just as well even if she can’t hear what they’re telling her."

But Olivia feels it, though.

"She’s incredible," Johnson said. "I can’t tell you how many people I’ve had come over to me and say, 'That girl is so good.’ And then I have to tell them she’s deaf. It really blows their minds. So one of my favorite things is just telling everyone just how amazing she is.

"She's affected a lot of people’s lives over here. She’s changed the way I’ve coached."

(Photo of Olivia Taufui, middle, courtesy of Tammy Sorensen)