I love a feel-good story.
This one I found is a couple of years old, but was recently featured in a People magazine I was flipping through. I wanted to learn more so I found a few articles online.
First, let me preface by saying that one of my favorite lines from the movie The Replacements is when the head coach tells his offensive coach that the new receiver is deaf. The offensive coach is close to mortified, asking how in the world he is going to communicate with this person. The head coach says well, the good news is that he will never be called offsides on an audible.
Joking aside, I learned that there was an entire football team that is deaf (or hard-of-hearing) and that they won the championship for their division. Riverside California School for the Deaf serves over 400 Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, between the ages of 3 and 21, who reside in the 12 counties of Southern California.
The Cubs first gained national attention two years ago when they won 11 straight games to start the season undefeated. They lost in the title game, but then won the championship the following year, and now again this season (2023). But there’s more to this comeback story.
First, they play a mix of hearing and deaf teams. WOW
Second, they have lost for the last 50 years prior to this. Imagine trying to recruit for a team that has lost for the last 50 years.
And most of all, the team often gets mocked for their disability and taunted for faking it.
Via People Magazine:
But the players say they shrugged off the ignorance. “Just because we can’t hear, it doesn’t mean anything,” Trevin says. “We’ll still crush you.”
Their turnaround began in summer of 2021, when the boys returned to school restless and seeking ways to reconnect with one another after the isolation of online classes and pandemic protocols.
“COVID made us realize what we were losing out on, and football is a good representation of what brings us together,” says Valencia, 19, a basketball-turned-football player who discovered that he excelled in catching high passes.
Riverside’s deaf community is tightly knit, and many of the Cubs players had grown up together. Coach Adams (who, like the other coaches, is also deaf) credits that bond for their success, along with rigorous training, a fleet-footed playing style and the unique ways in which their deafness makes them stronger.
Stories like this inspire me to do better. To try harder. I hope it inspires you too.
