The Utah Summer Games have been hosting this event in Cedar City, Utah the last 25 years; it is an Olympic style sports festival for athletes of all ages and abilities. It is repeatedly filled up with approximately 9,600 participants along with 50 thousand fans. This is an exciting opportunity for our Deaf Sports Academy Men’s Basketball team to be able to play against other hearing Basketball teams to further demonstrate our ability, capability and competitive spirit. We are recognized as the Top deaf team in the nation. We are entered in the top-flight level competition and will play 4 games Thursday and Friday, medal round games are Saturday for the top ranked pool teams. This division features Professional, Semi-Professional and college players.

There has never been a team entered in the USG comprised of deaf players.

Roster:

Lance Allred 6’11 - He played at University of Utah and Webber State University. Is current with the Idaho Stampede in the NBADL, also plays in Europe and he has also played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James. Lance won a Gold medal in the World Championships 2004 in Greece, Athens.

Steve Valencia-Biskupiak 6’9 - He graduated from the Model Secondary School for the Deaf along with his brother-in-law Jonathan Valencia. He attends Gallaudet and play on the basketball team for 2 and half years. He was on the USA men’s basketball team for the Deaflympics. He earned multi- All-star honor in all national basketball tournament. He is currently working for Southern California School for the deaf.

Michael Lizarraga 6’8 - He graduated from the California School for the Deaf, Fremont. He scored 26 points during the United States Deaf Basketball (USADB) High School All- American game. He won MVP honors In AAU competition. He is currently a student at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). He is the first deaf player to play for the Division 1 CSUN Men’s Basketball team.

Orion Palmer 6’7 - He graduated from the California School for the Deaf, Riverside. He won a medal at the World Championship in China. He was also a member of the USA Men’s basketball team for the Deaflympics. He won USADB All-Star honors. He is currently a student/starter at Riverside Community College (RCC).

Michael “Doc” Torres 6’5 - He graduated from Lexington School for the Deaf in New York. He attended Gallaudet University. He won 1st team honors for the Capital Athletic Conference. He played professional basketball in Puerto Rico for 13 years. He earned multi All-stars honors for many different tournaments. He was on the USA Gold medals men’s basketball team for the Deaflympics in 1981 and 1985.

Robert Haney 6’4 - He is a true deaf Hoosier and Indiana native. He attended Gallaudet University. He earned the honor of winning Capital Athletic Conference player of the year. He also received his gold medal at the Deaflympics in Australia in 2005 and Taipei in 2009. He played for the American Basketball Association for one season in Washington DC. Also he won 3 USADB championships with 3 MVP honors. He currently works as a Physical Education teacher for a deaf school in New Mexico.

Jimmy “Dribble” Newsome 6’1 – He grew up with the DeMatha Catholic High School in Washington DC but became deaf at 13 years old. He attended Gallaudet University for 1 year and transferred to Utah and later decided to finish his degree at CSUN. He is well known for being the deaf version of “Michael Jordan.” He won USADB national championships 8 times with 5 MVP honors. He was on the USA Gold medal a Men’s Deaflympics basketball team in 1981, 1985, 1993, and 1997.

Also, he was named Coach of the Year 3 times. He is currently working as a Physical Education teacher in southern California and hopes to relocate his family to Utah. Jimmy is the head coach for the DSA men’s basketball team.

Jaimie Valencia 6’0 - He graduated from Arizona School for the Deaf. Captain of the Gallaudet University Men’s Basketball team for 2 years along with his younger brother, Jeremias. He was on the men’s basketball team at the Deaflympics and earned medals in Australia (2005) and China (2007). He won MVP for USADB in 2005 and NDBO in both 2008 and 2009. He currently works as a Physical Education teacher at Texas School for the Deaf.

Jeremias Valencia 5’10 - He graduated from Arizona School for the Deaf. 1st team ALL CAC, Capital Athletic Conference’s`. He was team captain 4 years. He was also on several USA men’s basketball teams for the Deaflympics and won medals in 1999 in Cuba, 2001 in Rome, and 2005 in Australia. Jeremias played semi-pro basketball with (American Basketball Association, ABA), the Ontario Warriors, in California. He won MVP honors at the 2003 USADB national tournament. He is currently serving as the Executive Director for the Deaf Sports Academy- a non-profit organization providing sport opportunities for deaf and children of deaf adults (CODA).

Joshua Valencia 5’8 - He graduated from Arizona School for the Deaf. He Attended GU and played on the basketball team for two years. He earned multi All-star honors in all national basketball tournaments. He is currently working for Deaf Sports Academy along with his brothers.

Jonathan Valencia 5’11 - He graduated from the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) in Washington DC. He was on the Deaflympics men’s basketball team and won medal in Australia (2005). Played on the men’s basketball team for Pima Community College (PCC) in Tucson, AZ. Arguably the best player (along with Jeremias) in the USADB. He won MVP honors at the USADB national tournament in 2005. He is currently a Gallaudet University student.

Indy Hawks defeated the Chicago Central Zone team by thirteen, 80-67 in a game that was never close as the score indicated. The Hawks were never threatened in winning their seventh straight Central region championship. Behind 6'9 center, Edlin Dorn's 19 points and 7 rebounds, the Hawks were in cruise control all throught the championship game, which served as a warm-up for their #1 seed in the USADB tournament where they will go for their third straight national championship.

With a victory in each corner, Indy Stars and WSAD played again for the Championship. Going for the second win and the automatic bid to USADB Tournament in Louisville, KY., Indy Stars learned that from their previous win that the tricks they held will win the game. Sure enough, the tricks worked well for the Stars, earning them the championship. The game ended with a score of 55-47.

Detroit and Columbus battled for the 3rd place on Sunday. Columbus took its game to the next level and controlled the entire game with several good plays. Detroit could not keep up with Columbus and went home with the fourth place finish. Columbus claimed the 3rd place spot with a score of 71 to 51.