This week, we share more about Ceara Toal, a deaf sportswoman with a passion for cricket and football. Throughout the blog, Ceara opens up about embracing her deaf identity and forming friendships with others in the deaf sports community. Ceara advocates for improved accessibility and funding for deaf athletes, encouraging both deaf and hearing individuals to pursue their sports passions.
1. Hi Ceara, first, can you please introduce yourself to our Signature readers?
Hi Anna, firstly, thanks for having me on the Signature blog, I am delighted to take part in this feature for you. My name is Ceara Toal and I’m a deaf sportswoman from Leicestershire. I have played for Deaf England/Great Britain in Football and Futsal for 9 years and I am also a player for England Women Indoor Cricket and have been playing for 15 years!
2. Can you expand on your journey into sport, was there someone who inspired you to get involved?
Sport has always been a part of my life and in my family. I’m the youngest of 6 and all of my siblings were involved in sport or dance, so it was inevitable that I was to get involved too. It started off with playing football and cricket with my brothers in the park and in the back garden and then playing in school teams. My Dad and two brothers played cricket, football and rugby and my dad always made sure that I had plenty of opportunities to play. I am a former javelin thrower as well and was the county junior girls champion for a few years. It is safe to say that sport is just a natural part of my life!
3. What were some of the biggest challenges you faced playing sport as a deaf individual?
As expected, communication was always the biggest challenge and having to explain to every new team that I join, about my hearing. Most of the teams that I play for are hearing teams and usually I am the first person that they have met who is Deaf. Most of my experiences have been fairly positive and players and coaches aim to be inclusive. I do miss out on a lot of things though, such as the changing room banter and I frequently miss out a lot of jokes. I have found that some people are reluctant to engage in conversation with me, particularly with new teams. Whether this is because of my hearing or not, I am not sure but if it is because of my hearing, it makes me more shy and quiet. The people that I play with at cricket will certainly say I am not quiet!
4. How did you get involved in Great Britain Deaf Football and Indoor Cricket, and what was this experience like for you in the first couple of years?
Although I have been playing football since primary school, I first got involved with GB Deaf Football in 2009 when I trialled for the Deaflympic Squad. Unfortunately, I did not make the final squad and I decided to step away. In that same year, I was picked to play for England Indoor Cricket World Cup in Australia so if I was selected to play for both competitions, it may have been challenging as both competitions were self-funded. When I first joined GB, I was completely overwhelmed. U had never been with a group of deaf players before as I grew up in the ‘hearing world’ and the only other deaf people I knew were one of my brothers and one of my sisters. Both have the same hearing loss as me. GB was predominantly a sign language community and I had very little experience of BSL, so it was actually quite daunting, and I felt very out of place. Indoor cricket was the complete opposite as I was playing with people I have played with previously, so I found the experience a lot more natural.
5. Can you share with Signature a memorable moment or achievement in your sporting career that has had a significant impact on you?
I wish I could say that I have gold medals and trophies coming out of my hears but unfortunately this not the case! I would say that one of my memorable moments was winning the bronze medal match at the Deaf Football World Cup in 2016 and it wasn’t just because I scored a goal! It had an impact on me because it was a rollercoaster of a tournament with plenty of ups and downs on and off the pitch and for the team to come away with a medal was very rewarding. For me, I did not start that games and it wasn’t until the last 15 minutes or so when I was subbed on. I remember constantly warming myself up (even though it was 32 degrees) and repeatedly telling our coach, “I’m ready to go on Chris” in a respectful way, of course. To go on and then score a goal to seal a 2-0 win over Poland, instilled every self-belief to keep working towards the end target, no matter what adversity faced.
6. How do you navigate communication with teammates while playing with your hearing teammates in cricket?
Very tricky but fortunately, I have played with the same people for a very long time as a lot of the players that I play with, play both indoor and outdoor cricket. There are a lot of arm signals and waving to get my attention, especially when we are fielding. When batting, I make it a rule to my teammates that if I’m not facing you, don’t call for a run! I make sure that I play my part as well in terms of making sure I am looking around and being aware of my teammates. Indoor Cricket is very difficult as you can imagine being indoors, the acoustics are horrendous and when you are playing with other games going on it’s almost impossible, so the conditions aren’t great for hearing people either. I actually believe that sometimes I have an advantage as I don’t hear everything that hearing people can and use non-verbal communication better. When I am batting with my partner, I will have a chat with them beforehand to reiterate some things. One of my partners from the 2017 World Cup, we would always give each other a nod to make sure we are both ready.
7. How has being a part of both deaf teams and hearing teams helped you to embrace your deaf identity?
I will be honest; I never really embraced my deaf identity until I returned to the Great Britain Squad in 2015. It wasn’t because I was shy or ashamed, but it was mainly because I wasn’t around enough deaf people and was having to fit in with the hearing world. When I returned to GB, there were more oral speakers, and the team was more diverse, and I saw that there were more people like me. This helped me embrace it more and realise that there are varying levels of deafness and upbringings. I have developed some close friendships with a couple of deaf people which I would never have had if I did not return to GB. For my hearing teams, I think the benefit is more for them! I believe it helps them to be more deaf aware and to be consciously aware of how they are speaking and their general mannerisms when they have a deaf player in their team. However, they do need reminding sometimes! All in good spirit of course!
8. How would you like to see the accessibility for deaf athletes improve in the next couple of years?
I would like to see more opportunities in local or regional areas for Deaf athletes. It may be a bit of a stretch to have something regular due to costs but it’s more important to have these opportunities. I feel that there are some deaf individuals out there who haven’t embraced their identity, which is something I have experienced myself, so it is not a criticism. There are things that would certainly help such as having BSL in the school curriculum and talking more about deafness in schools, communities, businesses and every industry out there to be more deaf aware to show they are taking steps to be more inclusive. The more visible deafness is, I believe that it will help us identify more deaf athletes and help improve accessibility. The biggest barrier to accessibility is money. Too many deaf sports and events are self-funded. I would like to call on major businesses to invest in Deaf Sport and help it thrive. I would like to call out the government as well to consider funding opportunities for Deaf Sport. We see the impact the Paralympics has every 4 years. Our Deaf athletes are expected to train at the same intensity as hearing athletes but simply do not have the funds and/or availability.
9. Finally, what advice would you give to those who want to pursue their passion for sport, both deaf individuals and hearing individuals?
Just give it a go! Be open minded and give it a really good run! You will be more annoyed at yourself for the opportunities you didn’t take rather than the ones you dud that unfortunately did not work out. Whatever happens, every experience is an experience!
Here at Signature, we would like to say thank you to Ceara for sharing her story with us. It has been great to learn about her path into sport and find out more about the difficulties she has faced throughout her journey. We too hope that sport becomes more accessible, and that government funding is provided as soon as possible. We wish Ceara all the best for the future!
