{"id":15,"date":"2004-12-27T05:53:24","date_gmt":"2004-12-27T11:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/?p=15"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T05:00:00","slug":"georgia-hs-grappler-overcomes-disability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/w15\/georgia-hs-grappler-overcomes-disability\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia HS Grappler Overcomes Disability"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Catoosa County News<\/a><\/p>\n

RHS grappler overcoming disability<\/p>\n

Corey Bates says he is no different than anyone else despite being hearing impaired <\/p>\n

12\/26\/04
Misty Martin <\/p>\n

When Ringgold wrestling coach Phil Daniel encouraged Corey Bates to come out for middle school wrestling, he said he overlooked the youngster’s disability.<\/p>\n

Three years later, the state championship coach says the junior’s hearing impairment “makes him no different from anyone else”\u009d on his team.<\/p>\n

“Corey has the heart of a champion,”\u009d Daniel said. “If anything, it makes him that much more special.”\u009d Bates said he established a quick rapport with his coach and mentor, who learned sign language to speak to him on the mat.<\/p>\n

“Coach always knows what’s best for me,”\u009d he said. “He’s a really good man, and I’m glad he got me into wrestling.”\u009d<\/p>\n

Daniel said from the first time Corey stepped on the mat, he knew he needed a coach and an interpreter to be successful. Jonathan Bordean has never wrestled in his life, but the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School teacher of deaf students learned the sport so he could help out his star pupil.<\/p>\n

“When it comes to Corey, I put on my blue and white,”\u009d Bordean said. “He’s just a great guy, and it makes what I do really special. He’s able to communicate through me and compete just like anyone else.”\u009d<\/p>\n

Bordean said the 215-pounder’s only drawback as a competitor is that he occasionally forgets his interpreter and coach are there on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

“Corey is a great listener (despite his impairment),”\u009d he said. “The only thing we need to work on is getting him to pay more attention to us on the mat. But he gets excited out there, and it’s hard for him to remember.”\u009d<\/p>\n

Physically, the only thing that is holding Bates back is that he hasn’t wrestled most of his life.<\/p>\n

But Daniel and Bates both agree that the wrestler’s move from the Tennessee School of Deaf in Knoxville, Tenn., when he was in the seventh grade has been a positive experience for everyone.<\/p>\n

“There are just no limits with him,”\u009d Daniel said. “He works just as hard or harder than anyone we have.”\u009d<\/p>\n

Bates said he intends to work on improving his wrestling abilities, and eventually wrestle at the college level. But if he never earns a scholarship or wins another match, it’s all been worth it, he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s very exciting to be a part of this program,”\u009d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Catoosa County News RHS grappler overcoming disability Corey Bates says he is no different than anyone else despite being hearing impaired 12\/26\/04Misty Martin When Ringgold wrestling coach Phil Daniel encouraged Corey Bates to come out for middle school wrestling, he said he overlooked the youngster’s disability. Three years later, the state championship coach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}