BASKETBALL
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
TRARALGON’S Callan Brooks is ready to see his Australian Goannas take the next step.
Brooks ventures across to Tokyo, Japan next month for the 2025 Summer Deaflympics, where the men’s national basketball team hit the court against the very best competition.
The Deaflympics is a multi-sports event sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee for deaf athletes to compete at the international level.
This will be Brooks’ second time at the Deaflympics, travelling to Samsun, Turkey in 2017, and given Australia didn’t enter the 2022 Deaflympics, the 33-year-old is even more eager to step onto the court and see greater results.
“Ideally if you can medal, that’s the greatest achievement … I’d say anywhere (from) fifth to better would be massive progress for deaf Australian basketball,” Brooks told the Express.
Brooks said international competitions are held every two years, and since making the Goannas squad in 2015, he’s played in around five tournaments for the green and gold.
Over the last 10 years, Brooks has steadily been improving his game, which has been noticed and rewarded, seeing the shooting guard inserted into the starting line-up for the upcoming Deaflympics.
Brooks began playing the sport when he was in prep, and although being born profoundly deaf, hasn’t ever stopped on his basketball journey and skyrocketed even further once he discovered Deaf Basketball Australia.
“I was just this kid who found Deaf Basketball Australia and I’ve been in the team since,” he said.
“I could never catch on with representative basketball, I didn’t understand it, none of my family plays, so I had no knowledge.
“It was always domestic basketball and I didn’t know kind of what else I could do or what else was out there.
“When I was just over 20, I found online that there’s a deaf basketball team, and so I jumped in.”
Brooks requires a Cochlear device – a surgically implanted hearing aid – after he lost all of his hearing at the age of 18.
Utilising typical hearing aids before that, when Brooks would play in his younger days, he would have close to no sound when out on the court.
“With basketball, I just have to use my visual cues a lot more … there’s a couple of things I miss, like if a ref whistles and I don’t see or catch it, I just keep playing,” he said.
“When someone’s yelling I can’t hear it, but I’d make decisions based on what I see.”
Locally, Brooks became the first deaf player to suit up in a Country Basketball League (CBL) game when he played for the Traralgon T-Birds in 2022, while he’s also been a training player for Gippsland United in Big V.
Overall, Brooks is looking forward to the chance to once again display his skills on the world stage.
“I feel like I’m at a high, like I’m going on a high. This is my best opportunity because the growth I’ve had over the last few years,” he said.
“The intention (is) the best competition and tournament I’ve had.”
The 2025 Summer Deaflympics takes place from November 15 to 26, featuring 216 events for 18 different sports.
Given the tournament is smaller in scale and less well-known as opposed to other sporting events like the Olympics, Brooks requires self-funding to get across to Tokyo.
You can support his journey at:
https://www.mycause.com.au/page/370582/callans-deaf-basketball-deaflympic-participation
