There’s no point in bawling them out

When Alan Ovens yells at his sister Susie on the basketball court, she never listens.

Quite simply, she can’t. Susie Ovens is the captain of the New Zealand women’s deaf basketball team.

Alan Ovens, a former New Zealand men’s representative, can hear but he’s still coming to terms with sign language since being asked to coach the team.

“You can’t shout when you get cross at them. And when they know you’re angry they just look away — there’s nothing you can do,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “But it’s great for spying on the opposition — we get the manager to just watch the other coach signing.”

Despite the communication breakdowns, the Ovens have worked together to bring a young team up who are among the best in the world. But they can’t afford to prove how good they are at the World Deaf Games in July.

The team could not raise the $60,000 needed to get to Denmark for the championships, in which they have won bronze in the past.

But the team did raise $15,000 — cleaning Eden Park and selling lunches — for an Australian tour last month. They beat the Australians, who are off to the World Games, in all three tests.

Susie Ovens, aged 33, has led New Zealand deaf basketball for more than a decade and was voted the most valuable player in the Australian series.

Born deaf, Ovens, who is a computer draughtswoman, has excelled since she was a child. She was a promising sprinter, running with hearing athletes in Auckland, and won a New Zealand Herald Junior Sports award in 1982.

Photo caption: SIGNS ARE GOOD: Susie Ovens, who has been captain of the New Zealand women’s deaf basketball team for more than 10 years (front), with team-mates Teresa Babich (left) and Genelle Moore.