Emily Spreeman was born deaf, though her family was unaware of that until she was nearly 9 months old.
“My grandma was sitting next to my crib and my parents are like ‘I don’t think she can hear because the baby’s not waking to any loud noises’,” Spreeman remembered.
An audiologist quickly confirmed her parents’ hunch. But if Spreeman couldn’t hear, that’s all her parents believed she couldn’t do since her dad signed her up for a youth soccer team at age 4. Three years later she joined a club soccer program and proved good enough to be recruited by U.