FORKS –– A gold rush struck Forks this week, as former Spartan hoop star Alexa Justus returned home Tuesday with a gold medal from the 2013 Deaflympics in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Justus played off-guard for a Team USA squad that ripped through international competition by a combined score of 615-261 on its way to a gold medal in the Olympics for the hearing impaired.
“I feel amazing and exhilarated knowing I was playing for my own country,” Justus told the Peninsula Daily News in a text message interview this week.
A 2009 graduate of Forks High School in 2009, Justus was named Most Valuable Player of the Evergreen League her senior year.
Her play as a wing guard was instrumental in Team USA’s gold medal run.
The USA team took gold with an 81-57 win over Ukraine in the medal round.
“The Ukraine team is very physical,” she said.
Justus stuffed the stat sheet with a line of 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals in an elimination round 109-24 win over China.
The team blew through Italy, Ukraine, China and Belarus in pool play. It then topped Japan 90-25 in the quarterfinals and earned a spot in the medal game by topping Greece 66-51.
But Justus was proudest of leading the squad’s full-court press that suffocated the international competition.
“I am a much better defensive player,” she said.
Gym rat
Growing up the daughter of former Forks high standout and basketball and softball coach Scott Justus, Alexa grew up on the court.
“I’ve played since second grade. Basketball is my true passion sport,” she said.
Her brother, Jordan, was league MVP in 2006.
Her passion for the sport took her to the Olympic level, Scott Justus said.
“She’s gone through the challenges of being the only deaf kid in school or on the team,” he said.
Her family here stayed up into the early morning hours to stream Alexa’s games through the Internet.
“I got to watch the opening ceremonies,” Scott said. “That was pretty emotional for me.”
Not so much for Alexa, who admitted to thinking the ceremonies were a bit boring.
Signs on the court
Alexa credited playing on hearing teams for making her game better.
After high school, she played for South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia. She played a year and a half there before transferring to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the world’s only university with programs specifically designed for the deaf.
She started on the bench, but said she put in extra effort during practice to earn a starting spot within a few games.
She and three other starters from the Gallaudet team were picked by coaches Jimmy DeStefano and Laura Edwards for the Olympic team.
“It is very different playing with a deaf team,” she said.
“On my hearing team, I had to rely on an interpreter to inform me what to do. On my deaf team, my coach signs.”
Communicating with teammates is easier on a deaf team, she said, as everyone on the court also uses sign language.
“Sometimes we talk crap too,” she said.
She is soon to head back to D.C. to start classes again at Gallaudet.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
