Like many youngsters, Chris Jones of Sykesville developed a love for soccer at an early age.

An accomplished goalkeeper at Century High School, he was good enough to earn a college scholarship.

During the past two years, Jones' career has taken a unique turn -- playing for his country in international competition as the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. Deaf Soccer team.

Jones, who wears hearing aids, was born with a profound hearing impairment.

In the spring of his freshman year at the University of Delaware, he learned about U.S. Deaf Soccer when he was invited to training sessions with the team. He eventually became the goalie.

"It was an opportunity to represent the U.S. and play overseas," Jones said. "It's been a great experience.

"When I first joined the team, it felt like we knew each other for a long time," he said. "Even though I wasn't raised in the deaf community, I felt that the bond was there right away."

Jones has expanded his off-field communications skills through the use of sign language.

"Playing with the national team has opened me to the importance of knowing and using sign language," he commented.

While he enjoyed the experience from the start, the 2005 Century graduate admitted there have been frustrations because of his previously limited exposure to the deaf community.

"The communication is certainly a little different, because during a game my teammates can't hear me and I don't have time to sign to them," said Jones, who does not wear his hearing aids when he plays. "The beauty of it is that we all have to know what we need to do before we even step on the field."

Jones and his teammates recently returned from the first World Deaf Football (Soccer) Championships, held July 2-12 in Patras, Greece.

His steady play in goal was a big reason the United States placed fourth against some of the most prestigious soccer nations in the world.

Jones played every minute of the tournament for the U.S. team. He began with a 2-0 shutout over the Netherlands in a first-round matchup. After a 3-0 loss to France, the United States posted wins over China and Italy to reach the semifinals. The squad lost a semifinal game to Turkey in a shoot-out, then fell by a 2-0 score to France in the third-place game.

Jones had mixed feelings about his trip to Greece. He loved the country, but admitted the soccer experience was far from ideal.

"The country is amazing," Jones said. "We were there for three weeks and didn't get a drop of rain. The sunsets were unbelievable.

"We were lucky to play in one of their Olympic qualifying stadiums on three different occasions, but their other fields were horrendous," he said. "One of the fields actually had huge pieces of shrapnel and nails that were seven or eight inches long. ... That was the field that we played on in our third-place game."

Jones wasn't enamored with the treatment the American team received from officials who worked the tournament, either.

"The organizing committee was awful," Jones said. "The referees ... called everything in favor of the Greek team and against the American and English teams. Considering all that we had to overcome, we thought a fourth-place finish was impossible."

The strong U.S. performance encouraged Jones, who hopes to make the trip to Taiwan next summer for the 2009 world championships.

Even though the U.S. team finished fourth this year, it will still have to qualify for the 2009 event. The lack of practice time hinders the team, but Jones feels the squad can still prevail.

"We have 20 to 30 players between the ages of 15 and 31 on our roster, including some from as far away as Seattle and California," Jones said. "So we can only get together two or three times a year.

"The commitment has to be there when we can't be together," he said.

High school highlight

The World Deaf Championships wasn't the first time Jones has made a big difference for his team. He helped Century win its only boys' state soccer title in 2003, as the Knights defeated state powerhouse Parkside to win the championship in the school's second varsity season.

"I will never forget that state championship game," he said with a smile. "I'll always remember the run we had after starting off the season with three ties in a row."

After Century, Jones headed to the University of Delaware on a scholarship. After one year with the Blue Hens, he transferred to Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Conn.

Jones sat out the 2006 season and was the backup goalkeeper last fall when Central Connecticut won its first-ever Northeast Conference championship.

The Blue Devils then defeated Harvard and Tulsa in the first two rounds of the tournament to make the NCAA Sweet 16.

Since last year's 10-9-3 team was comprised of mostly underclassmen, Jones anticipates a strong showing this year.

"For a small school to be ranked so high is very rare, and it makes you want to go to the Final Four and win the national championship," said Jones, who is majoring in physical education at Central Connecticut.

"To be able to be among the final 16 college teams in the country is a great honor, and it definitely puts Central Connecticut on the map," he said. "But winning the state championship at Century meant more to me, because it happened with the guys I had grown up with and played with for years and years."

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