Aaron Gomez

Aaron Gomez’s passion for tennis will land him in Taipei, Taiwan, in a few days. He will be there to compete as a member of the USA Deaf Olympics Tennis Team.

Gomez, a TCC hospitality major, and his teammates will play Sept. 5-15. He earned a spot on the team by being one of five men who survived round-robin competitions during tryouts in Washington, D.C., and Tucson.

The first deaf player on his high school varsity tennis team, Gomez now plays at least 10 hours of tennis a week, in addition to running, weight lifting and entering two to three tournaments a month. He won TCC’s Northwest Intramural Tennis Tournament in 2008. His goal is to win the Olympic gold medal in singles, mixed doubles and men’s doubles and to rank in the top 20 in the Men’s Open Singles in Texas.

Although one of his coaches called him a natural, Gomez, who turned 22 this month, said it has been challenging. “When I’m playing tennis sometimes I have to take my hearing aids off because the sweat ruins them. (Then), I can hardly hear anything,” he said, adding that includes calls and the score.

As a youngster, his hearing problem almost went undetected. “I was so proficient at lip reading as a little kid that they didn’t realize I was deaf until I got an ear infection,” Gomez said.

– By Rita L.B. Parson