A world of silence

A roar came from the Woodbridge crowd as it watched Evan Greenleaf take down Fairfax's Kevin Karsner during last Wednesday's match.

Lloyd Carrera heard the applause.

Carrera has watched Greenleaf compete since the beginning of the season.

Carrera, however, is no coach or wrestler. He is Greenleaf's interpreter. Carrera carefully watched the match and was ready with hand signals if Vikings coach Jim Dutrow instructed Greenleaf on how to apply a move.

That's because Greenleaf is deaf. He has been so since birth.

But the Vikings junior, who often wrestles in the 215-pound weight class, combines his instincts and abilities to prevail. Greenleaf is 27-8 with 26 wins by pin. He is six pins short of setting Woodbridge's record for most pins in a season.

"I think the time he put in out of season, you can really see the difference in how he is wrestling this season," Dutrow said.

A third-year wrestler for Woodbridge, Greenleaf does not feel his lack of hearing hinders his ability to wrestle.

"It has made no difference that I am deaf," he said in writing his answers to questions on a sheet of paper. "I wrestle just like hearing people. But mastering the moves takes time."

He faces two tasks when wrestling: focusing on handling his opponent and heeding Dutrow's instruction. So he gazes at Dutrow and Carrera for advice on defeating his challenger.

"He has adapted well to knowing when he's in a position where he can look to see if we are giving instruction," Dutrow said. "I think that's through the last couple of years of wrestling. He's figured out when he can get away with looking over at the interpreter and when he needs to focus on wrestling."

Greenleaf's success reflects his practice habits. He runs laps around Woodbridge's wrestling room during each practice before sitting to stretch and taking on his practice opponent.

But his work ethic extends beyond the room. Staff sergeant Bill Calan, a former wrestler, who teaches at the Martial Arts Center for Excellence (MACE) at Quantico Marine Corps Base, practices with Greenleaf during off days.

Calan, whom Greenleaf's father, Master Sergeant Tim Greenleaf, learned of when he spoke with Calan's wife at a Quantico football game, worked with Greenleaf on perfecting moves and conditioned him to prepare him for the season.

The two communicate by using signs and charades with Calan giving Greenleaf tips on how to succeed.

"It works out very well," Tim said.

His only wrestling experience before his freshman year came when he did club wrestling in seventh grade. But Greenleaf's passion for the sport began when he witnessed his older brother Adam, also deaf, wrestle in several tournaments.

Adam wrestled three years at a Florida school for the deaf and blind before doing so as a senior at Pearl City High School in Hawaii when Tim was transferred.

Evan "had a good understanding of what was going on," Tim said. "He saw the camaraderie. He saw the way the team got together. He saw them sad when they lost and happy when they won. He had a good four-year base of hanging around that team."

Then he came to Woodbridge. Greenleaf played on the school's freshman football team and met Nolan King, who took American Sign Language and is one of several Woodbridge wrestlers who communicate with Greenleaf by using hand signals.

"I'm a really open person," King said. "I started taking ASL to be aware of him. He's helped me a lot with signing and I've introduced him to people."

Off the mat, Greenleaf communicates by text messaging. He will use his phone to converse with friends, order food from McDonald's and inform his parents and sister Alyssa about the outcome of a recent match.

And the conversations become fairly animated.

"He describes his matches better than [other] conversations," Alyssa said.

Greenleaf, however, is not on the mat to socialize.

On Wednesday, he wrestled in the 285-pound division. He pinned Karsner with 1:22 remaining in the second period and the Woodbridge crowd clapped its hands after one of five Vikings victories in a 47-29 loss.

This season will be Greenleaf's last at Woodbridge. His family is moving back to Hawaii for his senior year and Greenleaf plans to wrestle at Pearl City.

He will be missed, but he has left an impact on his teammates and coaches.

"Sometimes I forget that he's deaf, but he's adapted so well to being able to communicate and interact with the other guys on the team," Dutrow said. "It's been good for both him and our other guys."

Staff writer Robert Daski can be reached at 703-878-8049.