{"id":1788,"date":"2021-07-08T19:14:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T01:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/?p=1788"},"modified":"2021-07-08T19:14:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T01:14:54","slug":"the-mat-is-a-quiet-place-for-socorros-ayden-lewis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/?p=1788","title":{"rendered":"The mat is a quiet place for Socorro&#8217;s Ayden Lewis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"b210df9ce828c22eb63df9a34f1dcad0\" data-index=\"6\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Above Post Ad 2 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:638px;height:70px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4024319323781499\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8631827568\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<p><em>NMAA<br>J.P. Murietta<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One wrestler went through the 2021 State Wrestling Championships without much noise. In fact, Socorro\u2019s Ayden Lewis made it to the state final without any sound at all. Lewis is deaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI lost my hearing when I was five,\u201d Ayden said. \u201cIt\u2019s a genetic condition that took a while to develop. My dad has a slight hearing impairment, and my brother Carl was born deaf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When he\u2019s not wrestling, Ayden can hear with the use of hearing aids. However, the hearing aids don\u2019t fit comfortably with head gear, so when he wrestles, he does so in complete silence. While other wrestlers feed off the sound of the crowd, Lewis doesn\u2019t get that benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have no idea what that\u2019s like to wrestle with the fans cheering,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to feed off the energy of the stands. I try to focus only on what\u2019s happening on the mat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of a coach yelling out signals from the corner of the mat, his coach pounds the ground to get his wrestler\u2019s attention. \u201cI can\u2019t hear him at all, but I can feel when he hits the mat,\u201d Ayden explained. \u201cEvery time he\u2019s trying to get my attention, he slaps the mat. At first, it was difficult not being able to know what the coaches wanted me to do, but they fixed it right away with signs for the moves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ayden first started wrestling as a freshman in high school. \u201cIt\u2019s actually a really cool story,\u201d he said. \u201cJames McNeil, one of the coaches, owns a barber shop and I went to get a haircut. Sometimes you vent to the barber, and I complained that I was getting bullied at school and having problems. He suggested I join the wrestling team, so I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Ayden first walked into the wrestling room, it was clear that there wasn\u2019t going to be any special treatment despite the fact he can\u2019t hear. \u201cI never treated him any different,\u201d said Socorro wrestling coach Joel Partridge. \u201cWe practice without hearing aids. We never call it a disability. There was never a day when he was frustrated because he couldn\u2019t hear. There\u2019s a wipe board on the wall where I write down instructions. I started that because of Ayden. He reads lips and set a tone that we were serious about this. He had a goal and wanted to be good at something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As it turns out, Ayden became very good in a short amount of time. He placed at state as a junior and reached the finals as a senior, finishing 2nd in 2021. His coach describes him as \u201caggressive and determined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While a lack of hearing might be a huge obstacle for some, his coach says Ayden makes up for it in other areas. \u201cAyden is the first one to get on the line and get ready for practice because he\u2019s paying attention to body language,\u201d said Partridge. \u201cHe developed much faster as a wrestler because he forced himself to learn it. He\u2019s unique and driven. His fight and drive will get him far in life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ayden wants to continue with wrestling at the next level and maybe someday become a coach. He plans to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida and walk on with the wrestling program. Looking back on his high school wrestling experience, Ayden says he has no regrets. \u201cAll I can say is I did everything I could and gave it everything I had.\u201d<\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NMAAJ.P. Murietta One wrestler went through the 2021 State Wrestling Championships without much noise. In fact, Socorro\u2019s Ayden Lewis made it to the state final without<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,67,23,129],"tags":[493,69,478,130],"class_list":["post-1788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-high-school","category-top-news","category-wrestling","tag-ayden-lewis","tag-high-school","tag-nmaa","tag-wrestling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1790,"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1788\/revisions\/1790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmexicosports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}