By: Russ Brown
Photos provided By: Will Frentz
Will Frentz describes his life as being “a lot of ups and downs,” but these days the ups far outnumber the downs after a series of struggles and challenges related to his lack of hearing.
Frentz, 33, was born profoundly deaf in both ears, but has overcome the handicap with the help of his family, the Heuser Hearing and Learning Academy in Louisville and his love for soccer, a sport he has played since childhood and which he credits with enabling his social growth and providing other benefits.
Frentz has undergone three rounds of cochlear implants, beginning at age five, and after an arduous journey from a silent world into a hearing world, can now communicate on a virtually normal level. He is a 1997 graduate of the former Louisville Deaf Oral School (now Heuser Hearing Institute) and a 2002 graduate of Centre College, where he majored in history with a minor in political economics.
With cochlear implants, there is a risk of developing very bad vertigo, but Frentz escaped that threat, and with the third implant in 2019, his ability to hear in various situations improved markedly.
“Technology has really improved my quality of life,” he said. “It helped so much with my ability to hear on the phone and have conversations with people I would have had a harder time understanding, especially if I didn’t know the person well, or people with accents.”
After spending nine years in banking, Frentz joined the fundraising team at Heuser and was recently named Philanthropy Officer. So he has come full circle, returning to where his journey began 30 years ago. His schooling has included speech therapy and sign language, and as you could surmise, his path wasn’t an easy one to navigate.
“I was the only deaf person in elementary and middle school,” Frentz said. “So that was definitely an isolating experience for me, being different from all the other kids with those kinds of issues of just understanding and communicating. But now I’m happy. It’s part of who I am, but it was definitely difficult. I didn’t really participate in group conversations. I could only communicate with people one-on-one until well into middle school, so I was really behind in that aspect. Growing up, I didn’t have any deaf role models at all to look up to.”
Frentz credits his mother, Cynthia, who passed away a year ago, with providing the drive for him to succeed, even to the extent of selling her healthcare business so she could spend more time helping him progress.
“My parents really, really pushed me, my mom especially, to do well in school, read a lot on my own, helped with my exercises,” he said. “She gave up her career to stay home with me, so she’s definitely my hero for that.”
Heuser was also instrumental in Frentz’s education and development. Formed in 1948 as the Deaf Oral School, it was the first of its kind in Kentucky.
“Thanks to the generosity of the community, it’s been a mainstay for 76 years and helped hundreds and hundreds of kids reach their full potential,” Frentz said. “Kids with hearing loss have so many challenges living in a hearing dominated world that they need all the tools they can get to succeed.”
Soccer, which he began playing at age three, provided another boost and developed into a passion over the years.
“Soccer was a really great way for me to make friends,” Frentz said. “It gave me something in common with other kids. My parents wanted me to be in a mainstream school setting like that and to start figuring out how to make friends with kids who do not have hearing loss. Sports are a natural way to make friends.”
Frentz went on to play soccer at Manual High School and Centre, and with Javanon FC soccer club while also competing with the U.S. Deaf Men’s National Soccer team and later becoming a board member of the non-profit USA Deaf Soccer Association. He served as captain of the national team until retiring several months ago after becoming a world traveler with trips to six countries. He intends to stay involved as an assistant coach and says that at some point he would like to become head coach.
In the meantime, Frentz coaches the soccer teams of his daughters, Josephine, 7, and Hudson, 4. He also conducts regular soccer clinics in the community for kids who have suffered hearing loss, along with children of deaf adults.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” he said. “The kids love it, but I get just as much out of it, trying to give back and serve as the deaf adult role model for them that I never had as a kid. So I’ve been blessed. For most of the last 10 years I’ve been focused on training and staying in shape for the national team, but now I’m spending more time with my family [which includes wife Kacie].”
Aside from his coaching and clinic responsibilities, Frentz also gives motivational speeches and has been asked to give more and more talks in his role as a fundraiser at Heuser.
“That’s been an enjoyable experience, just stepping out of my comfort zone,” he said. “For a long time I was very self-conscious about the clarity of my speech in front of an audience. So that’s been a new challenge for me. But I like challenges and I’ve grown stronger because of the challenges I’ve gone through.”
“You can get overwhelmed, but I always try to keep a good outlook, as you can tell from what I’ve done. And that’s just a little bit of it. I’ve never let anything stand in my way of doing what I wanted to do. I was just going to do it. That’s the only way you can handle it. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do something. Just get it done.”
That’s the Will Frentz way, and he can certainly serve as a role model and an inspiration not only to deaf children, but to anyone facing difficult challenges.
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