By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Today I'm trying something new by (very timidly) using AOL Instant Messenger for the first time. That gives me something in common with my interviewee, the person I'm using AOL for.

It's not that Heather Lightfoot, a world class athlete who also happens to be deaf, doesn't know her way around this computer program - she's an old hand at it.

What gives us something in common is that I'm trying a new thing, also a familiar activity for this 24-year-old champion of not only throwing sports, including hammer, discus and javelin, but volleyball as well.

Lightfoot, who spent most of her childhood in Ravenna and now lives in Glenn Dale Maryland where she teaches art, won two bronze metals at the Deaf World Games in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1997 in discus and volley ball. Two years later, she won three gold metals at the Pan American Games for the Deaf in Havana, Cuba, in the aforementioned throwing events.

"She really enjoys trying new things, just to see if she can do it," says Heather's mom, Hildy Lightfoot, who now lives in Bothell. "She doesn't let her deafness hold her back."

Last year Heather Lightfoot broke the American record for deaf women in the discus and the world record for deaf woman in the hammer throw. She was also named Female Athlete of the Year 2000 by the USA Deaf Sports Federation.

It's not just sports that inspires Lightfoot's adventurous spirit. She says one of the best things about the Deaf World Games is how easy it is to meet new people.

"Everyone signs. There's a lot of language barriers that are broken down," Lightfoot says.

"Body language, expressions and gesturing do most of the work. I was able to tell Spanish athletes I was from Seattle because I gestured the Space Needle and made a map with my hand, pointing to the upper left hand corner."

This summer Lightfoot hopes to travel to Rome, Italy, to compete in the Deaf World Games for a second time, this time in the hammer and discuss throwing events.

"So is the hammer and actual hammer - like for nails?" I ask.

I think I can hear Lightfoot laughing from Maryland.

Apparently the "hammer" is a ball that weighs over eight pounds, stuck to the end of a yard-long wire which athletes swing over their heads a few times and then let fly.

Unfortunately, swinging a hammer over her head isn't the only challenge Lightfoot will have to face on her way to a gold metal. Unlike competitors in the Olympics, the "hearing" event with the Deaf World Games is often compared to, athletes like Lightfoot have to pay their own way. To do this, Lightfoot must raise $3,700.

To help cover the cost of the the competition, Lightfoot's uncle, John Nordstrand, operations director at the History House museum in Fremont, came up with the idea of holding a jazz concert at the museum.

Lightfoot's brother, Jack, will play in the concert as part of the University of Washington Jazz Sextet, making the fundraiser a true family affair. Lightfoot says she will be able to hear the music with the help of a hearing aid.

"It's a good feeling to know the community is behind me, supporting me 100 percent," Heather Lightfoot said. "I'm very grateful to the people at History House for having this jazz concert happen there."