Playing to the beat: Deafness has not defined Lakewood senior Shannon Cotto

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Shannon Cotto looks left and right. His eyes are wide, searching for any hint at what to expect.

Mostly his teammates, coaches, friends and family in the stands at Lakewood High School know what he has overcome to be on the basketball court. The player on the other side just knows him as that pesky kid on his hip.

"He's our go-to defender on the team," friend and senior teammate Zion Kolodynski-Darby said. "We have him face-guarding the best player on other teams for a reason. He's definitely the heart and soul and energy of our team. He doesn't even have to score and he makes a huge impact."

Cotto, 17, is deaf and cannot speak. It has been his reality since birth. Additionally, he must receive the OK each year from his doctor to play sports because of Kawasaki disease, a condition his mother said followed surgeries when he was diagnosed as a 2-year-old to treat the connexin 26 gene.

Connexin 26 is the most common cause of sudden hearing loss in children, according to the California Ear Institute. Mutations with that gene are responsible for at least 20 percent of all genetic hearing loss. Kawasaki disease affects the heart and causes blood vessels to become inflamed. It affects 1 in 10,000 children 5 years or younger, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

"Shannon's been through a lot," said his mother, Nithsa Cotto. "A lot of surgeries. At one point he almost died on me."

She said her son is not in the clear from Kawasaki until he turns 19. That reminder comes each time he heads to the doctor for that physical.

"Every time we go, he's afraid," Nithsa Cotto said. "They warn him. We did change a lot. I gave up my dreams in life, but I don't regret it. This guy has blown me away."

He is her second of three children; Shaundale, 21, and Anastacia, 16, who happens to have Shannon's basketball coach as a social studies teacher.

Alex Cammock took over as the boys basketball coach at Lakewood as Shannon Cotto entered high school as a freshman. Cammock remembered his older brother playing on the freshman team a few years earlier. He also saw Shannon in middle school, after the Cotto family moved from Cleveland.

"He's always the same as he is now: unreal amounts of energy," Cammock said, "and it's unbelievable that he's able to do what he does."

Shannon Cotto remembers moving to Lakewood in second grade. He did not play any sports until seventh grade, when he asked his mother to let him play football. At first, she didn't know what to do: how could her son play a full-contact sport without the ability to hear the referee's whistle or a quarterback's cadence?

That led the family to meeting Mary Ann Foster, who has been his interpreter for athletics the last five years. Foster helped Cotto compete in football, track and basketball. He has had three interpreters since second grade in Lakewood, including Debbie Norris (now at Garfield Heights) and Laura Shewalter, who serves as an in-school interpreter.

"I've got a village helping me," Nithsa Cotto said. "Mary's been great in his life. I'm a single parent, but I'm thankful he's gotten to where he is now."

Before the family moved to Lakewood, Shannon Cotto attended Alexander Graham Bell School for the Deaf. Nithsa Cotto said she sent him there from "when he was in diapers until they tore it down." She found an alternative about a year ago, the Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus.

He spent only two months there before moving back before his senior year.

"He kept telling me it wasn't challenging enough," she said. "He didn't want treatment, he wanted a challenge."

Such as the time Shannon competed in a sixth-grade talent show after a friend's encouragement. He loves Michael Jackson. Always has, and had danced for about a year until that point. With Norris as his interpreter, he prepared to dance to "Thriller" and "Beat It" by using timing as his cues.

He rehearsed in the library, read a book on Jackson and watched his moves with closed captioning turned on the television.

"I could feel the beat," Cotto told Foster.

He knew when to stop when Norris signaled for it.

"Our mouths dropped," said Nithsa Cotto, who watched with her mother Marie Solis.

Now, they watch Shannon play basketball and are sometimes approached by parents who ask if he really is deaf. Foster and his teammates provide some of the cues now, as Kolodynski-Darby and fellow guard Derek Walker picked up some sign language.

But that does not explain how Cotto has become Lakewood's most valued perimeter defender.

"He's super aware, which is crazy," Cammock said. "I think he just compensates for it and learned how to do it. Our guys, as the whole group, are good with film. It helps to have length and the athleticism, but he's pretty familiar with what other teams run."

To Cotto, watching other teams on film is like preparing for the talent show. An opponent's offensive set, which will require him to fight through a screen, is like memorizing Michael Jackson's movements.

His physical attributes, packed into a 5-foot-9, 155-pound frame, also help.

"He's low and quick and strong," Cammock said. "That's how you teach guys to get through a screen: get low and get through it. And he's unbelievable at it."

Cotto exhibited that earlier this season in a 44-40 win against Southwestern Conference rival Olmsted Falls. That night, Cotto came off the bench to defend Olmsted Falls senior guard Eric Hanna, who later this season tied his school's single-game scoring record with 49 points.

He also had a 3-inch height advantage on Cotto, who held him to 13 points. The previous two seasons, Cotto played junior varsity basketball.

"The competition is definitely harder this year," he wrote in a message, "but that only pushes me to do more. The communication part isn’t really hard for me. Since I have been playing for a while, I am used to looking at my interpreter for the plays."

On his defense, Cotto added, "Sometimes it is hard for me to watch for someone setting a screen. Since I can’t hear, I don’t know when the coach tells a player to set a screen on me. Most of the time, I prepare myself to know a screen is coming."

Ever persistent, Cotto learned in middle school what his preparation can do for a talent show. Now the basketball team is benefiting from it.

"Throughout my life, I have come to learn that I have to put more work in than other people," Cotto wrote. "I have learned to overcome my trials. Preparation is definitely key."

Some communication still helps. Foster noticed Cotto and Kolodynski-Darby having conversations on the court. They connected in sixth grade, and Kolodynski-Darby began to learn in an American Sign Language club at Garfield Middle School in Lakewood. He started with the alphabet, and the two have stuck with it; Kolodynski-Darby a patient learner and Cotto a patient teacher.

"Zion wanted to communicate with me," Cotto said through Foster's interpretation. "We're almost like brothers. We were always hanging out together and he just wanted to communicate with me."

Cotto and Kolodynski-Darby don't use text messaging on their phones much to communicate. Both agreed it slows them down.

"If he sees a sign and I'm saying it, he'll connect it," Foster said. "Zion is very good with spelling."

Cotto prefers numbers. He is leaning toward attending Gallaudet, a university in Washington D.C. for deaf students, and has aspirations of becoming a math teacher. He is willing to give such a school another shot after trying one last year.

Nithsa Cotto admitted she worries about sending him so far away, but her son has a knack for surprising even her.

"We didn't treat him as being disabled," she said. "I think that helped him 100 percent. Without me babying him, he's gotten this far."

Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on Twitter (@mgoul) or email (mgoul@cleveland.com). Or log in and leave a message below in the comments section.

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