Deafness sometimes comes with additional challenges for young people. While there is naturally going to be a communication barrier throughout their life, whether it is in social situations, work or in friendships - with a positive outlook, support systems and understanding, the opportunities for a deaf young person can be as fulfilling as their hearing peers.

And that is what three young adults from Mary Hare School for deaf children have done this season; take advantage of their opportunities by venturing into the world of our rugby club. Mary Hare is a national residential school for profoundly deaf children and young people located at Snelsmore Common. We’d like to think that as a club we are welcoming, inclusive and try our best for everyone who becomes part of what is often referred to as our ‘rugby family.’ Hopefully we are but we can always do better and the aim of this article is to highlight some of the obstacles young deaf adults can face in a hearing world and to suggest some ways we as hearing peers can make things better for them in the crucial aspect of communication.

Two of these young people agreed to have a conversation with me about themselves and their experiences at Monks Lane and I am very grateful to them, Shea O’Donovan and Gaen-Kloud Moutran, two sixth form students at the school, and also to the Marketing Manager at Mary Hare, Selina Cross for organising the meeting. There is a third Mary Hare student who plays at the club, Owen Keatley but he was not available to chat. However huge congratulations to Owen for being chosen for the England Deaf Rugby squad. Some achievement.

Hailing from as far afield as Syria and Birmingham, Shea and Gaen-Kloud had no experience of playing rugby before starting at Mary Hare School, so Blues are their first time at a rugby club and it is great to hear them speak so positively about their time with us. Sure, things can be difficult, but during training sessions they both have their personal amplification, either a cochlear implant or hearing aids, which makes understanding a bit easier for them. They also rely on lipreading so it is essential for coaches, managers and players who are speaking to be in their direct eye line. Interestingly, they both said that windy conditions make understanding what is being said more difficult as the wind can interfere with their hearing aids and cochlear implant. The sound of the wind is amplified which can mask what is being said. Speakers also need to be aware that if the students are looking into sunlight or bright lights this can make it more difficult to lip read the speaker. The students have asked that speakers speak a bit slower for them to have a greater chance of understanding. The challenge for coaches here is not speaking too slow so lip patterns become a little distorted and it is important for hearing adults at the club to keep checking the deaf students have understood what has been said. This does not have to be done in a large group but quietly as the drill is being set up. However it is worth being aware that if a closed question is asked which needs a yes/no answer the deaf student may sometimes say yes even though they have not understood what has been said so some thought needs to be given to the way the question is phrased. It might also help if one of the hearing players is assigned to stand next to the deaf students at training and for them to act as someone who can repeat what has been said to check understanding.

During matches it is more difficult for Gaen-Kloud in particular as he takes out his hearing aids to play. He is then totally reliant on lip reading and there was a request that some visual sign be used when the whistle is blown and this might be a simple case of asking the referee to make some sort of gesture whenever he or she blows the whistle. Unless they know the whistle has been blown they are likely to carry on playing and if this takes the form of tackling an unsuspecting opponent this can cause issues.

During the season all three students have played for our Colts and Owen and Gaen -Kloud have also played for the Stags. Unfortunately a broken leg, which was not rugby related, for Shea has ended his season early and he is leaving Mary Hare at the end of this academic year. He will, however, continue playing rugby when he starts university at Oxford Brookes in September, studying for a Law degree. Gaen-Kloud is in Year 14 and will also be heading off to university to study Accounting. Shea started at Mary Hare in Year 9, when his local school told him because he was deaf he would not be able to do GCSEs and would have to study for Functional Skills and lower level qualifications. Shea and his parents vigorously disagreed with this hence the move to Mary Hare and he went onto achieve 7 GCSEs. Gaen-Kloud moved to Mary Hare for his sixth form studies and he says he immediately felt better able to access the curriculum in the smaller environment the school offers along with having a large deaf peer group of friends.

No one should underestimate the emotional effort it has taken these students to come into a hearing environment like the rugby club and we need to do all we can to make sure their experience is the best we can make it, and as a final thought, if any of us, players, managers, coaches, volunteers, supporters see these lads after the game or after training, go up to them, say hello. While there might be some barriers in the communication from both parties, they can be broken down by having regular chats together and wonderful friendships can be made. You will be surprised how quickly you will tune into each other’s communication style.

So, well done to Shea, Owen and Gaen-Kloud and here’s to the rest of this season, next season and many more years of you enjoying this great game of ours both on and off the pitch.