From silence to star on field

On Feb. 2, Hanover senior Juliana Moore signed a letter of intent to continue her field hockey career in college.

But Moore's commitment was much more than just the realization of a dream. Playing any sport in college was not on the radar for most of her early life as the shy youngster had bigger battles to overcome.

Moore was born deaf; she did not hear a sound for the first 2½ years of her life.

But six months before her third birthday, Juliana's mother, Becki, took a chance on what was then a fairly new procedure called a cochlear implant — an electronic device that creates an interpretation of sound that allows the patient to hear.

"She doesn't hear like we hear," Becki said. "What they tell us is, it gives you a concept of sound. So the brain works overtime to make sense of all this."

Juliana underwent surgery to have the device implanted just above her right ear.

"Back then, that was state of the art," Becki said. "You did one side."

Though still extremely young, Juliana vividly remembers when she heard for the first time.

"I was so scared," she said. "I cried the first time the sound was turned on."

Juliana gradually adjusted to the world of sound as 75 percent of her hearing was restored.

As Juliana grew, Becki began to get a sense that there was a bit of adventure in her child.

"She has no fear," Becki said. "In water, even when she was little, she'd just jump in."

Juliana took up soccer between the third and fourth grades, but when she got to high school, she found a new love, field hockey.

"I just try it when I was a freshman, just try different sport," she said.

Hanover field hockey coach Sarah Bottorff had already developed a relationship with Moore through teaching her biology class.

"I was kind of used to communicating with her anyway," Bottorff said. "It wasn't that much of a transition for me.

"Her mother gave me some strategies (like) speak to her on the side she has the implant on and I just had to make sure I did those things so she could understand what I was trying to tell her."

For Bottorff, field hockey was the perfect fit for Moore.

"That's what's so cool about the sport," she said. "You don't have to be the best athlete or you don't have to be just a certain type of athlete, a certain type of person. There's all different types of people (who) play hockey around the world and that's what makes it a cool sport. It's a different group of people and she's a testament to that."

As a freshman on the Hanover JV team, Moore joined a group of others who had never played before. "I was pretty bad," Juliana laughed. "I had no clue as to the rules or anything."

Juliana made varsity as a sophomore, and joined the Swift Creek Fusion travel team.

"She didn't know a soul on the team when she went over there," Becki said. Furthermore, because of heavy snow that winter, Juliana made only a few practices before they hit the road.

The first trip was a broadening experience when she was forced to room with the group of virtual strangers during a tournament at Disneyworld.

"They flew down, she knew nobody and by the time they flew back, it was just like she had known them for years," Becki said.

On top of that, Juliana proved valuable to the team.

"They didn't know her, really, so she went from just subbing in to being a really valuable member of the team (and) starting," Becki said. "They depended on her and the girls saw she's just one of us and it really did make an impact."

Last February, Juliana received her second cochlear implant above her left ear. "The new one by itself, it will test maybe zero," Becki said. "But the two of them together will test around 95 (percent). It's just fascinating to me."

With the increase in hearing and maturity, Juliana began to undergo a transformation. Bottorff believes a lot came from her involvement with field hockey over the summer. "She was shy and trying to come out of her shell and that really happened for her," Bottorff said. "She really blossomed."

Where Juliana used to hide her hearing disability, she became more comfortable with who she was and Moore's senior season at Hanover turned into one that could be written as a Hollywood script.

The Hawks went undefeated through Capital District play and reached the Central Region semifinals against Cosby, a team consisting of many of Moore's Fusion teammates.

Moore broke a scoreless first half by scoring with 27 minutes remaining. Sidelined with a yellow-card penalty, Moore then watched as Cosby tied the game minutes later.

"I was thinking I did not want to go overtime," she said. "I hate overtime."

With the clock winding down, teammate Abby Bellows found Moore inside the circle. The sound of the ball making contact with the back of the box was an unforgettable moment for Moore and meant Hanover would make its first trip to the state tournament.

"Oh, my gosh, this is the best, best ever game for me," she said. "It's just so exciting."

But Moore's year of accomplishments was not over. During Thanksgiving break, Moore and her Fusion teammates swept their pool at the USA National Field Hockey Festival in Phoenix, Ariz., to earn a gold medal.

Moore wanted to play field hockey in college and found the perfect fit at South Carolina's Limestone College, an NCAA Division II school in its third year of fielding a team.

"I'm feeling comfortable with this college," Moore said. "They're very nice people and a very nice coach. So I just go there and keep playing field hockey."

Limestone coaches watched Moore play at Disney and elsewhere before making their evaluation.

"When we went in October for an overnight visit, they were 'Yeah, we definitely want you to come here,' " Becki said.

Juliana will attend Limestone on a partial athletic scholarship and partial academic scholarship.

Like any mother, Becki gets emotional when she talks about her child going away to college, but perhaps her reaction stems from knowing how far her daughter has come.

"It's going to be tough but I'm just extremely proud," Becki said. "She has just worked. I never thought I'd see this day."