There's one routine he does before matches. He plucks hearing aids from his ears and places them gently in a duffel bag pouch.

On this team, nobody's allowed to wear hearing aids. Not even Gross, who never played without them before making the cut.

The 23-year-old midfielder is the only Ohioan on the 22-player deaf men's national team. The United States received an automatic berth to the 2005 Deaflympics - the Olympics for hearing-impaired athletes - and leaves for Canberra, Australia, Dec. 26.

Players with 55 decibels or more of hearing loss on 16 men's soccer teams will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in Melbourne in January.

Gross is part of the first United States deaf soccer team to win an international tournament. The men's program accomplished the feat in April 2003 in Belgium. Gross had the winning assist in a 1-0 victory over England.

"These players are phenomenal, as good as any players from teams I've been on," said Gross, who is a fifth-year senior and soccer player at Shawnee State University.

"At first, I thought things would be different - that they would be weird - but I found it's just as interesting as other teams."

Gross was born with damaged nerves in his ears and has been wearing hearing aids since he was 2. Without them, the world changes into a pitch-free zone where he can only sense the boom-boom-boom of someone speaking nearby.

"It's like a base system on a stereo. That's what I usually tell people," Gross said. "It's not loud, but you can't make out much of what someone is saying."

Coach Peter Cornell said Gross' talent and leadership have placed him among the team's most respected players. But Gross, who grew up in a hearing environment, was accustomed to playing with teammates who could communicate orally.

"At first, Joel was yelling at teammates, just to get their attention, and I motioned to him to put his hearing aids in. I said: 'You can yell all you want, but no one's going to hear you.' It was like a light bulb went off. He was like, "Oh, yeah,' " Cornell said.

The team subscribes to one theme: "Keep your head on a swivel and look out, or you'll get crushed," Cornell said.

The difference in the game itself is referees throwing flags instead of whistling.

Players have to pay their own way to Australia, and Gross is working toward the $4,800 he needs for the trip. He's hosting a four-man golf scramble at Weatherwax Golf Club in Middletown July 24, which includes a noon shotgun start, prizes and a meal for $75 per person.

Registration deadline is July 10, and anyone interested may call his father, Joe Gross, at (513) 267-0980.

Chatter about the team pegs it as the best men's deaf soccer team the United States has produced.

Gross isn't counting his chickens yet, but he's not planning on leaving without gold, either.

"That's what I want," he said. "To win it all."

Cincinnati Slopers / Blue Ash

The team may be only three-people deep, but it didn't stop each one from qualifying for the USA Climbing Junior Nationals in Sacramento, Calif., July 9-11. Donald Hoeper, 15, Alyssa Hoeper, 11, and Ashley Smith, 13, will be among the nation's elite indoor climbing gym athletes at the annual championships. The Hoepers, of Blue Ash, and Smith, of Florence, Ky., are coached by Mike Lyons at Climb Time on Kenwood Road. They qualified for nationals by advancing in regionals and divisional competitions. "I basically got into (climbing) because I used to climb trees and I broke my arm three times," Donald said. "My mom said, 'Where can I climb and be safe?' We found this and I was hooked."

There are two disciplines in climbing, and the Hoepers will be competing for difficulty, which Lyons said requires technique, body control and problem-solving skills. Smith qualified in speed, or racing to the top of a climbing wall. "I started out going about 15 seconds, but now I do about 7 seconds climbing a 25 to 30 foot wall," Smith said.

Alyssa Hoeper caught the climbing bug from her brother. Even though she's afraid of heights, she enjoys the sport more than basketball, lacrosse and soccer. "It's a really big stress reliever," she said. "Climbing is usually very, very cool because it's not as competitive as other sports. You're not battling anyone."

Town & Country Wild Things / Northern Kentucky

This U-13 soccer team, comprised of girls from Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, won the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association State Open Cup Championship May 16. The team went undefeated in five games to win the state championship, defeating Lexington Football Club 2-0 in the finals. The Wild Things competed in the Midwest Regional Championships in Rockford, Ill., June 25-30 but was eliminated in three games. Members include (kneeling, from left): Carrie Knauer, Meredith Chell, Chrissy Sonderman, Tori Hausfeld, Kaitlin McCulloch, Laura Bush, Amy Hebbeler; (standing from left) coach JT Roberts, Courtney Woodard, Sharon Gunsiorowski, Kathryn Scott, Anna Ayers, Rachel Scott, Chelsea May, Elizabeth Schmitt, assistant coach Karl Schmitt. Tiffany Norton not present.

Mizuno Cincy Classics / Springdale

This 14-and-under club was named the USA Junior Olympic Volleyball Champion after beating the Northern Kentucky Volleyball Club 25-17, 21-25, 25-12 for the title in Houston, June 22-26. A 48-team field qualified from January to May and 10,458 teams are registered nationwide in the division, according to Classics coach Chuck Harmon. Though only two players had any experience at the national level, Harmon (who is also the new varsity coach at Ursuline Academy) said he "knew in any given match we could beat anyone in the country." Classics players hail from several area schools, including Colerain, McAuley, Mount Notre Dame and Oak Hills. Players are (seated, from left) Sam Morgan, Andrea Lutter, Jackie Schnicke; (kneeling, second row) Becca Dufford, Alex Randolph; (standing) assistant coach Tricia Tallman, Rachel Krabacher, Ashleigh Doyle, Brook Maher, Lindsey Roy,Chuck Harmon.

This week's online poll

Question: If the Reds fall out of contention by the July 31 trading deadline, what do you think will happen?

A: The front office will trade, or try to trade, some of the more expensive players on the team.

B: A few trades might be made to free some money, but it won't be like last year's "fire sale."

C: Nothing much. The team will stay mostly intact.

Go to Cincinnati.Com, Keyword: Sports poll, to vote; results will be published next Sunday.

LAST WEEK'S QUESTION: What Olympic sport are you most interested in watching this year?

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS (195 replies):

• Track and field: 27 percent

• Other: 25 percent

• Gymnastics: 18 percent

• Swimming: 17 percent

• Basketball: 13 percent

All thumbs

Thumbs up:

Baseball. The Yankees-Red Sox 13-inning epic Thursday night set television viewership records for the teams' cable channels. The game, a 5-4 Yankees win, drew 9.7 percent of the 7.4 million households in New York and 14.6 percent of the 2.4 million households in Boston.

Maria Sharapova. The young Russian is like Anna Kournikova with game. Awesome.

Thad Matta. The Xavier coach said this week he's not interested in taking the vacant Ohio State job. Here's to loyalty. Cheers, Thad.

American Movie Classics. The cable network celebrated the week preceding the Fourth of July by airing a different Rocky movie each night of the week. Thursday, AMC followed Rocky IV with the Karate Kid, which is basically like Ruth and Gehrig go back-to-back.

Ohio State. Despite operating 35 varsity sports, by far the most in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes athletic department announced this week it expects to finish about $1 million in the black on the year. Wow.

Thumbs down

Tim Henman. The Brit lost in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon this week, ensuring another slew of "no Englishman has won Wimbledon in umpteen years" stories in 2005. Thanks.

John Weisbrod. After trading away his team's best player, league scoring champion Tracy McGrady, the Orlando Magic general manager spent all week ripping the only one on his 2003-04 team that could score 20 points in a game or draw fans to the arena.

Thieves. Someone in Charlotte, N.C. stole three of former Steeler Rocky Bleier's four Super Bowl rings while he was in town for a speaking engagement. Does it get any lower?

Ernie Fletcher. The Kentucky governor spent part of Friday grand-standing against the upcoming Mike Tyson fight in Louisville. Fletcher said he hadn't spoken up before because arrangements for the biggest sporting event this side of the Derby had been made before he knew of them. Aw, OK.

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E-mail srussell@enquirer.com