The Journey to the Deaflympics with the U.S. Deaf Women’s National Soccer Team

They’re “the greatest team they’ve never heard of,” is how the joke goes. That should give you a sense of the incredible energy and comradery surrounding the U.S. Deaf Women’s National team (USDWNT). Right now, they are preparing to travel to Caxias Do Sul, Brazil, for the 2022 Summer Deaflympics, which will be held May 1-15. 

Don’t let their fun and lighthearted attitudes fool you, though. This U.S. team has never lost an international competition. Yep, that’s right. They’re undefeated and have two World Cup and two Olympic titles under their belts. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and safety issues, the USDWNT could not compete in the last Deaflympics.

2022 Summer Deaflympics

This Deaflympics was originally supposed to be held in 2021, but due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed back to 2022. It will include 20 sporting events, including beach volleyball, golf, mountain bike, swimming, tennis, and of course, football.

The USDWNT will compete against other national teams like Japan, Kenya, Poland, and Brazil. The U.S. Deaf Men’s National Team will be competing as well. Just like the Olympics, the Deaflympics only happens every four years. This is the 24th edition of the Deaflympics and the first time that a Latin American city will host. 

 

The Coaches

The USDWNT is led by volunteer head coach Amy Griffin and volunteer assistant coach Joy Fawcett. Both are former U.S. national team players and were on the 1991 Women’s World Cup championship team. Joy stayed on the USWNT to win three more World Cup and two Olympics titles before retiring in 2004. She was and still is the highest-scoring defender for the USWNT. She was the head coach of UCLA from ‘93 to ‘97 and is an investor in the new NWSL team, Angel City FC. 

Amy was associate head coach at the University of Washington for 24 years before becoming the Executive Director of the OL Reign Academy in 2019 and is now President and founding member of the Girls Academy. Last year, she was awarded the United Soccer Coaches Women’s Soccer Award of Excellence. 

Although this will be their first Deaflympics, they hope to continue the trend and bring home gold. 

 

Their Road to Success

Despite how successful this team has been, the road to success has been challenging. For starters, the team is a non-profit, compared to other national teams that are funded by their government. Many of the girls are paying for their own expenses and have continued fundraising for the Deaflympics.

There are also no U-20 or U-17 teams where players can develop and work their way up to the senior level. The age range is 14-41 years old, says Amy. How do they recruit, you ask? They often contact schools with deaf programs to invite and encourage girls to attend soccer clinics they host. Her future goal is to have these grassroots programs grow and connect with each other to form stronger youth teams and youth tournaments. 

They also only host two team camps a year! Imagine only playing with your team in full twice a year and then being expected to perform at an international event, which you only get once every four years. Talk about the odds and the pressure! But somehow, this team finds a way, and we feel it has something to do with the players’ resiliency and love for the game.

Amy says it feels like she’s back in ‘91 with the U.S. national team–with the Julie Foudys and Mia Hamms–where the team was doing everything themselves and were driven by the pure love of the game. The girls are the ones washing the pennies, coordinating travel plans, and assembling the equipment. There’s nowhere else they’d rather be, Amy says. 

 

Communication is Key

What’s even crazier is that not everyone on the USDWNT speaks the same language. That is, players who have hearing aids do not necessarily know sign language, which is how the ASL (American Sign Language) players communicate. According to deaf league rules, you are not allowed to play with hearing aids. In fact, if a hearing aid is seen in the locker room, the team is disqualified. 

So how does the team talk with each other? They started by having all players take off their hearing aids at practice to get used to it, but this quickly failed, Amy says. None of the hearing aid players knew ASL yet, so they were completely lost during training. They moved to a slower transitioning process using words in combination with ASL. Come game time, when the hearing aids come off, everyone at least knows the foundational soccer terms in ASL. They find a way, just like they always do.

 

It’s the Players that Make It 

It’s an unbelievable challenge, but the girls have the best attitude, according to Amy. They show up every day expecting things to not go their way, so immediately when something goes awry, they are on it to problem solve and find a solution. 

Every time a new player joins camp, they’re always a bit overwhelmed and unsure if they can do this. The players know this, though, Amy says, because they’ve all felt like that. Without missing a beat, they bring that player into their group and tell them, “you’re okay.” Sure enough, you can see their confidence build as they play soccer with girls just like them. They feel like they belong, and they are proud of who they are. 

“It’s their team,” says Amy, “I’m just there to facilitate and help them represent themselves.” Fulfilling is probably the word that best describes how she feels being a part of this team.

 

How We Can Support

They now have a couple of team alumni coordinators who have been great additions to the team around the team. What about us, though–the fans, fellow female soccer players–aren’t we also, their team around the team? How can we help support these girls and the U.S. Deaf National Women’s team?

For starters, we can tune in to watch the Deaflympics, which will be streaming on X Play TV YouTube channel. Girls Soccer Network will be sure to provide links and game time reminders so followers can easily watch. You can find more information about the Deaflympics here.

Our support won’t stop there, but it’s a start. The USDWNT is an example of passion and resiliency coming together to achieve something great. These girls are not just soccer players. They are leaders and game-changers. They’re the greatest team we’ve ever heard of. 

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