Junior college transfer climbs extra obstacles

by KIRK PAGE
reporter

Ida Dotson may have a physical handicap, but you wouldn't know it if you watched her play basketball.

Dotson is deaf and mainly communicates through an interpreter, but her basketball skills speak for themselves.

She was a two-time Kodak Junior College All-American at Central Arizona Community College, where she averaged 15.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and three steals a game. Dotson was also chosen to play in the Deaf Olympics in Rome this past summer. She helped the U.S.A. team to a gold medal with a 60-58 win over Sweden.

Dotson chose Marshall over Buffalo, Wisconsin and Gallaudette in Washington D.C.

"I came on a recruiting visit and met with the coaches and the players," she said. "The campus was really nice and coach Chadwick's dad, Kelly, was my assistant at Central."

One of the main reasons that Dotson chose to play for the Thundering Herd was that the school offered to hire an interpreter to help her communicate. Erin Kelsey helps Dotson with her communication during practices and also attends classes with her.

"They [Marshall] provide someone to help me with note-taking," Dotson said. "All the deaf needs are met here."

First-year coach Royce Chadwick said that Dotson brings a winning attitude that he is looking for and her college playing experience is valuable.

"We're talking about a girl who has played in 70 college basketball games and two national tournaments," Chadwick said. "She comes from a great program. She's a scorer and has been in some tough situations where she has learned to play under pressure."

Dotson only lost seven games during her two-year stint at Central Arizona Community College and agrees that her experience will only help to better the team.

"I focus on winning and I practice hard every day," she said. "I'm starting to help the team listen to the coach and understand the game better."

Dotson is a long way from home and admits that her transition to Huntington took a little getting used to at first.

"I'm a long way from home and there were a little problems," she said. "But with the basketball team, I feel very comfortable."

She hasn't seen her parents since August, but will meet them in California next week for Thanksgiving break.

"At least I can still wear shorts," she said jokingly.

Chadwick looks for Dotson to make an impact right way and said that she will be a regular in the starting lineup.

"She has a starter mentality, and she didn't come here to sit on the bench," Chadwick said. "That's certainly not why we recruited her. The problem might be that I may play her too much."

Dotson said learning Chadwick's new system hasn't been that difficult because everyone is learning together.

"He's a great man," she said. "And he uses signs that I can understand."

Playing in the Deaf Olympics has been one of the highlights of Dotson's basketball career. She said that it just shows that the her disability has nothing to do with how she plays basketball.

"I enjoyed seeing a lot of deaf people from different countries and different languages," she said. "It shows that there are more deaf people that can play basketball."

Dotson said the expectations are higher for this year's team.

"Our goal is to win the MAC championship," she said. "So we will have to have a winning season."

The men's and women's basketball teams are doing conducting a televised promotion this morning at 10 a.m. for "Jam the Cam," which is an effort to get more fans to Marshall home games. Men's coach Greg White, President Dan Angel and Football coach Bobby Pruett will all be on hand.