Danbury QB Patrick Rosetti prevents his disability from being a handicap on the field
DANBURY, Conn. (BVM) — “There are alternatives to be made for the disadvantaged who want it bad enough,” Patrick Rosetti, a speech-impaired senior varsity quarterback at Danbury High School, wrote to us.
Rosetti played the most important position on the team while managing a severe speech impediment that disables him from speaking full sentences. As an emerging starting quarterback, he managed to work around ways that enabled him to give cues that are typically spoken and are crucial while leading the team during practices and games.
“I was having a very hard time getting the usual cadence of ‘down, down, ready’ out [verbally at one point during his junior season],” Rosetti wrote. “I had already used that cadence with no difficulty the season before. That is the thing about speech impediments, they’re always evolving and are very unpredictable.”
Rather than getting frustrated, the quarterback worked with the head coach Augustine Tieri, who decided to switch the cadence to a clap. This uncommon change in the game was quickly adapted by the entire team and practice continued as usual.
“I recognize it is more convenient to have a vocal quarterback,” Rosetti wrote. “I encourage those with disabilities to strive to be as crafted as they can be in other aspects of their life so that coaches have no choice but to put them on the field and, later in life, employers have no choice but to hire them.”
Rosetti continued to find other ways to communicate with the team. He used technology to record messages or simply text what he could not say aloud before and after games. At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, he made it a goal to overcome the odds ever since he started playing football in the eighth grade.
“I got into football because I am a big Patriots fan and watching Tom Brady compete in the Super Bowl year after year was very inspiring to me, so I decided to try out for quarterback,” Rosetti wrote.
After pushing away thoughts years ago about the perceived requirement of vocalization at the quarterback position, he knows that deciding to go for quarterback was one of the best decisions of his life. When he started high school four years ago, he had moments of being self-conscious because of his speech impediment.
“I’d like to think that I am a pretty confident person through all facets of my life, but this definitely was not always the case,” Rosetti wrote. “Playing varsity football helped with my self-confidence and my acceptance of my disability, which was something that I needed.”
Graduating in the spring, Rosetti expressed that he is distraught about not having a proper senior season, especially not being able to play in front of a packed, at-home crowd one last time. His favorite memory of all-time is the homecoming game that he played with a full team and a packed crowd during his junior year.
As a groundbreaking leader for the Hatters football program, while contending with his severe speech impediment, Rosetti was named as a 2020 USA Football Heart of a Giant Honorable Mention — an award program presented by the New York Giants. He was also awarded the 2021 Michael H. Savage Spirit of Sport Award by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).
“I am very thankful for even being considered [by CIAC], nonetheless winning,” Rosetti wrote. “You look at the list of past winners and it is a group of absolutely awe-inspiring individuals with exceptionally impactful stories. I am very honored to be amongst them.”
Rosetti acknowledges that he is now more confident than ever in embracing his speech difficulties, and he is thankful for his head coach and the Hatters for supporting alternatives to be made for someone who wanted to play ‘bad enough.’
