Former South Carolina golfer Erica (Battle) Pressley (2002-2006) has overcome some big challenges, but she always finds a way to succeed. Now legally deaf, Pressley is one of three women playing on the USA women’s golf team at the Deaflympics November 15-26 in Tokyo, Japan. The Deaflympics is an international, multi-sport competition for deaf athletes, held every four years and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These games predate the Paralympics, having been first held in 1924 in Paris.
“It means the world to me,” said Pressley, a native of Irmo, S.C., who was recently inducted into Irmo High School’s Athletics Hall of Fame. She now lives in Texas. “Back when I was younger, golf was not in the Olympics, so I always wanted to win the U.S. Open. After college I sort of got burned out on golf with all the travel that we did. Now I’m 41, and I’m a mom and wife, so to be able to represent my country and the sport that I love, it’s amazing to me.
“As a former Carolina golfer, it’s pretty special that I can still do something almost twenty years after I graduated. I can’t help that I lost my hearing and why it happened, but I can use my disability to bring awareness to the deaf community. We can compete and do anything that anyone else is doing. If you put your mind to something, you can always do it. It shows my kids that it doesn’t’ matter what obstacles you have to overcome. If you work hard, you can achieve whatever you want to. My dream of representing my country is now coming true! Who knew it would be 20-plus years after I graduated from Carolina?”
Pressley has always been a competitor and has worked through challenges before. Her father, Eddie, who was her first coach, passed away when she was a freshman in high school. She continued to play several sports and also excelled academically in honor of him. She competed for Irmo High School’s girls and boys golf team and was a highly sought-after college recruit. She landed at her hometown school at South Carolina and that’s when she inadvertently found out she had a hearing problem.
“I actually started losing my hearing when I was about 16 or 17, but I didn’t notice it at first,” said Pressley, who is married to former South Carolina track and field standout Gerald Pressley and earned degrees in marketing and real estate with a minor in hotel, restaurant, and tourism management. “It was actually my teammates at Carolina. They went to my…
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