Deaf basketball isbasketball played bydeaf people.Sign language is used to communicate whistle blows and communication between players.
The game played by deaf people is organized with national and international associations including Deaf Basketball Australia,[1] Deaf Basketball UK[2] and United States of America Deaf Basketball.[3][4]
Deaf basketball has gained great visibility because of athletes likeLance Allred who played basketball with theNational Basketball Association's (NBA)Cleveland Cavaliers. Allred is hard of hearing, with a 75-80% hearing loss wearing ahearing aid. He later continued to play basketball professionally in the European basketball leagues.
Another high-profile deaf basketball player is theSlovenian professional basketball playerMiha Zupan, born with an impairment similar to that of Allred, yet playspower forward at the highest professional level in Europe.
The Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF) is a world governing body for international deaf basketball with the support ofInternational Basketball Federation (FIBA) and in cooperation withDeaflympics and its confederations. In February 2003, it was recognized at the Congress of Comité International des Sports de Surds (i.e. the International Committee of the Deaf Sports during the Winter Deaflympics inSundsvall,Sweden as an independent association composed of the National Organisations governing deaf basketball. DIBF encourages the growth and development of deaf basketball in all nationals of the world through an organized program of education and instruction. The Federation schedules and conducts all international contests and championships in deaf basketball in cooperation with theDeaflympics (The Deaf Olympics) and its confederations. DIBF also maintains a documented basketball history by recording and reporting on all major international contests from the inception of international competitions to the present.