‘Pretty awesome’: Kids learn the joy of baseball at the Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf

The Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf offers children in the deaf community the chance to socialize, meet other deaf or hard-of-hearing kids, and play ball.

For Dylan Heuer, the director and founder of Iowa Baseball Camp for the Deaf (IBCD), it’s important for deaf or hard-of-hearing kids to have the experience because, sometimes, being deaf or hard-of-hearing is isolating.

“A lot of times, they’ll just be like the only deaf person in their family, or even the only deaf person in their whole school building,” Heuer, who is deaf, said through an interpreter.

He modeled the camp after his own camp experience growing up, teaming up with the Iowa Cubs and a local Sertoma club, a foundation that offers funding for deaf or hard-of-hearing organizations.

“I love baseball and I love that experience I had as a camper and I just really wanted to share it with the community and feel like I could give back to deaf and hard-of-hearing students in that way,” Heuer said. “Deaf and hard-of-hearing students a lot of times are pretty isolated.”

Heuer established IBCD in 2015. Since then, it has grown from around 20 kids and volunteers to nearly 40 kids and volunteers this year. The weeklong camp takes place at the Johnston Little League facility.

“It almost becomes a one-to-one ratio, which is really cool and a lot more people looking forward to camp every year,” Heuer said. “It’s become really popular for the deaf community.”

Katy Faircloth, a volunteer from Ankeny, has been a volunteer at IBCD almost every year since 2015.

“Seeing all these deaf adults supporting deaf children is my favorite,” Faircloth said. “The coaches learn to communicate with the kids, treat them like their hearing peers, and use support from interpreters and deaf adults to make them feel part of a team. … They really are playing baseball.”

The kids in the camp are ages 7 to 14 and are separated into two age groups. One is for younger kids who are first-time IBCD campers, and the other is for older IBCD returners.

Emilee Cervetti, a 9-year-old from Johnston, said her favorite part of the camp is being around others who also use sign language.

“My favorite part is that the people sign, and that’s really cool because I can understand what they’re saying,” she said.

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She first learned about the camp from her mom and is interested in continuing her baseball journey because of the camp.

Last year’s camp brought together 10-year-old Bowen Tubaugh from Centerville and 9-year-old Maverick Lukowicz from Davenport and they are still best friends.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Tubaugh said.

The camp, which ends Friday, doesn’t just focus on drills and practice games. Campers will go to the Iowa Cubs vs. St. Paul Saints game Thursday and play a game of their own at Principal Park on Friday.

At Thursday’s game, which also is the Iowa Cub’s Deaf Culture Night, two of the campers will throw the first pitch for the game. They also will sign the national anthem during the seventh-inning stretch.

Iowa Cubs players, for the first time in team history, will wear special jerseys that spell out “Iowa” in sign language.

“I’m really proud that this is actually happening because I see the kids enjoying themselves, I see these big smiles on their faces,” Heuer said. “I’m proud to see all of these volunteers and staff come and want to be involved in these kids’ lives.”

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.