Hoop Dreams: 8-Year-Old Deaf Basketball Player Heads to Nationals

Ask 8-year-old Zeke Ortiz what he wants to be when he grows up, and he'll answer without hesitation — a pro basketball player.
Zeke has been playing since he was a 2-year-old, but he decided earlier this year it was time to step up his game. That meant leaving his YMCA league to join a more competitive team - the Playmakers.
"The team I'm with now is a challenge," Zeke said. "It's tough for me."
 
But it wasn't the skill set or the level of competition that was the biggest hurdle in making the change for Zeke. It was the fact that none of his new teammates knew how to sign.
Zeke, his 10-year-old brother Zion, their parents, grandparents and nine cousins are all deaf - and this was Zeke's first time playing a sport with hearing teammates.
"He's lucky that he was born into a family of deaf people and to have deaf parents, so he'd had full access to communication since birth," his mom, Jennifer Yost Ortiz, said.
Zeke, who attends a deaf school, had always been able to communicate with his family and peers. When he joined the Playmakers, his parents say that for the first time, he felt lost.
"Everybody was talking," Zeke said. "I didn't know what they were saying or what to do. Nobody was interpreting for me."

"At the very beginning, the first practice, Zeke kept looking at me saying, 'I don't understand,' Ortiz said. "And we said, 'It's okay, just watch.'"
Without an interpreter, it was like a guessing game. Zeke couldn't do the little things, like hear a whistle blow or a call being made.
His father, a former basketball player, picked up on the coach's signals and was able to interpret plays and drills.

Tony Ortiz, Zeke's dad, interprets a play

"He would tell me what to do, what the plays were," Zeke said.
Coach Korey Cobb began drawing plays on boards and using gestures to communicate with Zeke and his father. And as the rest of the team began trusting Zeke, they developed their own ways of communicating.
"It was tough, but Zeke earned his respect," Coach Kobb said. "Kids are not like adults. They don't judge, they see Zeke as a natural kid, just as another one of the boys."
As Zeke improved and built trust with his team, the communication barrier with his teammates began to dissipate.

A teammate communicates with Zeke

"If you see someone scoring, if you see someone aggressive, if you see someone really hustling for the ball, eventually they're going give you the ball because they're going to trust you," Coach Cobb said. "Kids are about trust sometimes."
 
The other players on the team say he's "the best."
"He's fast," 7-year-old Joziah Cobb said.
"He shoots a whole bunch of three's," 7-year-old Andrew Spencer said.
The team has come up with motions and gestures so Zeke knows when to put the ball down, when to shoot and when there's a time out.
Two championships later, Zeke and his family created a video to teach the team how to sign helpful basketball terminology. One teammate even signed up for an American Sign Language course this summer.
"It's a gift to be deaf," Ortiz said. "There's no reason to let being deaf be a barrier for us in any way."

Lagos: Bold-faced Woman Masterminded Ikorodu Bank Robberies

 
Dare-devil armed robbers, in commando-style, yesterday, held residents of Ipakodo area of Ikorodu in Lagos hostage for about two hours as they robbed two major banks in the area. The scene of the robbery operation was just a stone’s throw to Ipakodo Division...
A gang of robbers attacked Zenith and First banks in Ogolonto, Ikorodu area of Lagos yesterday and escaped with huge sums of money in their possession.

A lady was the leader of the gang.
 
At the First Bank robbery scene, the suspects used a device to open the computerized door to gain entrance to the banking hall.Monies were carted away but no staff of the bank was killed.

 
Sources at the Zenith bank disclosed that there were about 15 armed robbers whose ages should not be more than 20years.

Witnesses said she sat down in front of the bank and was bragging, as no policeman was able to confront her as she was reported to have used a charm which she tied around her neck.

The bank’s safe as reported was broken with the use of dynamite and the staffs were made to lie on the floor while the robbery continued.


The young robbers were reported to have burnt three of their vehicles in front of Origin Gardens, a recreational place not far from scene of the incident, and escaped via the ferry service operated beside the Garden.

 
Only one person was reportedly shot in the leg and has been taken to Ikorodu General Hospital for treatment.


The Police staged a pursuit but the robbers escaped, leaving the policemen’s vehicle riddled with bullets.

Lagos state Commissioner of Police (CP), Kayode Aderanti, who was at the escape route, told reporters that the police would investigate the matter to know how the robbers carried out their operation successfully.

“We shall look into the matter and investigate thoroughly to know what happened,” he said.

New alert over rapists who use Facebook to find their next victim...

New alert over rapists who use Facebook to find their next victim: Director of Public Prosecutions warns that sex predators are using site and Twitter to target vulnerable women

• Rapists and paedophiles use online information to target their next victims
• Predators can 'befriend' vulnerable people online before they pounce 
• The DPP warned that Facebook and Twitter can be used for 'grooming' 
• Prosecutors want banning orders to prevent offenders accessing the web 

Rapists and paedophiles are using Facebook and Twitter to select their victims, according to prosecutors.

They are using the mass of personal information on social media to build up a detailed picture of their targets.

The predators then befriend the vulnerable, often by pretending to share the same interests, said Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Jennifer Lopez flaunts...

45 year old Jlo displayed her enviable figure as she took her seven year old twins, Max and Emme watch shopping in the Hamptons...

2 kids lose limbs in horrific shark attacks in North Carolina beach(Photos)

A 12-year-old girl and a teenage boy each lost an arm in separate shark attacks in North Carolina.

The female victim had her left arm amputated at the elbow and could still lose a leg while the 16-year-old boy lost his arm below the shoulder, officials confirmed.

The pair had to be airlifted from the beach after both were mauled by an unidentified shark within 90 minutes of each other off the coast of Oak Island on Sunday.

Both arrived at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in a critical condition but have responded well to treatment.

Adorable Photos of Kate Middleton playing with Prince George

 Just 6 weeks after giving birth,the 33 year old Duchess of Cambridge was spotted playing with her son at the Festival of Polo at the Beaufort Polo Club in Gloucestershire..
She seem to have gotten her body back..Cute boy!

 

FADAN fashion event

Florence Ita-Giwa, Rasaq Okoya and Shade, Abba Folawiyo, former Lagos state First Lady Bimbo Fashola and others at the Fashion Designers' Association of Nigerian fashion event that took place at Federal Palace yesterday.
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