Marios Costi Blog:
Signature recently reached out to Marios Costi, who is a Deaf BT Sport presenter and Head Coach of the England Women’s Deaf Futsal team.
Carry on reading to find out more about Marios and his experiences of deafness:
- Hi Marios, can you please tell us some more about yourself?
My name is Marios Costi. I am married to Tina, and we have 4 children, all boys! I have my own business, AbleSign, which was founded in January 2023. AbleSign was set up so that I could teach BSL and Deaf Awareness to mainstream organisations, as well as individuals that want to progress with their BSL. Alongside this, I am also television presenter, doing in-vision recordings for TV programmes and a BSL consultant. My passion is football, which I will now go into more.
2. When did your interest in football start and how did you get into teaching?
I grew up with a passion for football, I just love the sport. My family are also fanatical about it! Growing up, there wasn’t any Deaf youth clubs around at that time, so I joined a hearing club called Edmonton Rangers. Then when I was about 15 years old, I joined St Johns Deaf FC, where we have played semi-professional and I have been with them ever since! In recent years I have been selected to play for Great Britain Deaf Football Team and also the England Deaf Futsal Team. Having now retired from both football and futsal, I have been involved in coaching youth teams at St Johns and more recently England Women’s Deaf Futsal Team.
3. What advice would you give to someone who is d/Deaf and feels apprehensive about pursuing their football passion?
My advice for anyone that feels a bit apprehensive about starting their football career is to go for it! You have no need to worry. Being a part of a Deaf football team is so much fun. You make new friends, travel to so many different places and make real friendships. The atmosphere within a Deaf team is fantastic and is very good for your mental health. When you join a club and are playing football, for me, that is time to switch off from the outside world. It is your time to focus on yourself, enjoy yourself and keep yourself fit and active, which is very important. Being part of a team will help you to make friends, who you can then socialise with and perhaps visit other football stadiums with them and learn more about football. The important things to remember are to be yourself, be confident and you will be fine!
4. How did you get into presenting, and did you face any barriers when pursuing this career?
My journey into becoming a television presenter has been a positive one. I haven’t really faced any barriers as the organisation’s that I work with are very Deaf aware. They will provide me with a BSL interpreter if necessary and make sure that I have full access where possible. Some organisations are Deaf led, so the majority of staff are BSL users and if there are any hearing staff there, they can sign, so there aren’t any communication barriers, which is great!
5. Can you tell us more about “Deaf Away Days”:
Deaf Away Days is a programme that I present with my brother. It is a very interesting role as not only do I get to present about football, I also learn about other sports that I never really knew about. For example, cycling. They go round in a big loop in a velodrome, and I learnt all about the tactics and rules. I have also presented a British Superbike race and a rugby match, both of which I have no idea what they are about, but by doing the programme I learnt all about them and can use that knowledge in the future. Having knowledge about a variety of different sports other than football allows me to expand my mind and learn about their world and how they play and participate. There are a few perks to presenting Deaf Away Days programmes, one of which is that I get to meet a lot of celebrities, which is nice! I am fortunate to meet new people, network and raise awareness of the Deaf world and community.
6. Do you have any aspirations for the future of England Deaf Futsal?
I have a keen interest in coaching and would love to coach more in the future. I recently coached the England Deaf Women’s Futsal team that won gold at the European Championships in Italy last year. They had a lot of young players that were very talented and will go far in the future. I really enjoy coaching, it’s great fun, I get to meet new players and form friendships and take on new challenges. I would have liked to continue with that journey, but unfortunately the Football Association has since taken over. There could be an opportunity in the future for me to coach the GB Women’s Futsal Team in Turkey next year for the Deaflympics, but we will have to wait and see.
7. Finally, what has been your proudest moment throughout your career?
I have a few moments that I am proud of, these are my top 5:
- Setting up my own business so that I can educate people and enable BSL users and hearing people to integrate and work together effectively.
- Winning gold at the Deaf European Futsal Championships in 2023, that was amazing!
- Winning bronze at the Deaf European Football Championships 2015.
- Winning the Coach of the Year Award at the Deaf Sports Personality of the Year ceremony.
- Shortlisted for Broadcast Short Form Content of the Year Award with Deaf Away Days.
- There are so many and each one is very special to me.
We would like to thank Marios for taking time to respond to us here at Signature. It has been great to learn more about Marios’ achievements and wish him look in the future.
