High school state champ Chelsie Brown earns Deaflympics bronze medal for Team USA

Chelsie Brown joined Team USA to compete in the 2025 Deaflympics tennis tournament on Nov. 15-26 in Tokyo, Japan.

The Sterling High School senior tennis standout—who recently repeated as the Kansas Class 3-2-1A state singles champion in undefeated fashion—was born hard of hearing and wears hearing aids. That hasn’t deterred her from dominating on the court in Kansas and now abroad, where she collected a bronze medal in women’s doubles for Team USA.

“I found out in late October that I was for sure going to the Deaflympics. I was very excited, and it made me feel very important that they chose me to be on Team USA,” Brown said. “I felt that I was recognized for my hard work and dedication.”

The USA Deaf Sports Federation found out about Brown’s tennis prowess through an online article and reached out to inquire whether she’d like to represent Team USA on the international stage.

The trip itself was an expensive one for Brown and her mom, Sherry, to attend—to the tune of $20,000—but the local tennis community, family and friends stepped up to donate via a GoFundMe page to ensure Brown’s dream to compete in Tokyo could come true. Both USTA Missouri Valley and USTA Kansas contributed as well.

“I feel very grateful and blessed because I’ve had a lot of support from my community, businesses, my tennis family and people who really just care about me,” Brown said. “I got to go to Tokyo, Japan, and play in the Deaflympics with their help.”

The youngest on the team of four tennis players, Brown had a tough schedule of play ahead of her, as she competed in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

After a first-round bye in singles she fell to Asia Carrera of Italy, 6-1, 6-4. And during a hard-fought match in the mixed doubles draw with her partner, Alfredo Galvez, the team from Japan emerged victorious, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

However, in the women’s doubles competition, Brown and partner Emily Hangstefer made it through to the semifinals in dominant fashion. They won the third-place match, defeating France’s Marine Beney and Jennifer Lambert 6-3, 6-2, for a spot on the podium.

“We only practiced doubles for a couple of days, then it was time for the big competition,” Brown said. “It means a lot to me to win that because of all of the hard work and dedication that I’ve put in. To win, it shows that I was determined and worthy enough to play well with my partner and bring home a medal for the United States.”

Upcoming Opportunity in France

The tennis committee of the USA Deaf Sports Federation is recruiting players with hearing disabilities to represent the U.S. at the 2026 World Deaf Tennis Team Championships in Grenoble, France, on July 5-12, 2026.

As U.S. citizens, players may be deaf, hard of hearing, hearing-impaired, cochlear-implanted, late-deafened, hearing-challenged or hearing-disabled to qualify.

To be eligible, a player must have a hearing loss of 55 decibels or greater in the better ear, averaged over 500/1000/2000 Hertz.

Participants may be either oral-language users or sign-language users. Interested tennis players can email HowardGorrell@aol.com by April 17.

For information about the USA Deaf Sports Federation, visit www.usdeafsports.org.