She says Team GB has only two weeks to raise 40-thousand pounds to attend the Winter Deaflympics where she's been shortlisted for Team GB's futsal team.
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00:00 Now it must have felt pretty good to be shortlisted for the squad because it's the first time
00:05 that Footsall has been at these games.
00:06 Yes, so it's just been out, so it's the first time ever to have Footsall at Winter Deaf
00:12 Olympics. So in the summer Deaf Olympics is football, so it's amazing to have Footsall
00:17 in Winter Deaf Olympics.
00:19 And as well it's really quite interesting about the funding situation because, I mean,
00:23 looking at your fundraiser and what's been written, £40,000 is quite a lot of money,
00:27 there's so much that goes into it.
00:29 Yes, so we literally get zero fund whatsoever. It's just difficult, so we've got literally
00:36 two weeks left to try and raise £40,000. If we don't find the money for it, we won't
00:43 be able to go. We'll be devastated if we don't find the fund to go, so we're just trying
00:48 to raise as much money as we can to go to the Winter Deaf Olympics.
00:52 And it must mean quite a lot as well because, I mean, we can see the pictures here and on
00:56 the screen as well. To be able to put on that England shirt, that iconic white and blue,
01:02 it must mean so much to be able to represent the whole country.
01:05 Yes, it's just an honour to wear that shirt. It's so proud, you worked so hard to earn
01:11 that shirt and it's just an honour to wear that shirt.
01:17 And you've had quite a good reception as well at the moment, more than £2,000 already raised.
01:21 What's been the kind of response that you've heard from people since this story's been
01:26 put out?
01:27 Yes, so, yeah, from fundraising going well for me, it's just that we've got to do it
01:31 as a team. Obviously, we've got to try and find sponsors for the kit. We've literally
01:37 got no coach, no coach or any of the training kits, so we've got nothing like that. We're
01:43 just trying to find sponsorships out there to try and get us to the Winter Deaf Olympics.
01:49 And it's the 100th Games as well, so quite a monumental one. What does it mean for you
01:55 to not just be representing England, but also the deaf community as well within these Games?
01:59 Yeah, sure, for the deaf community, especially when you've got young kids who maybe want
02:05 to dream to play for England for one day. For me to be a role model for that little
02:11 kid to say, "Oh, I'll be like her when I play England one day." So it's good to show them
02:16 to be a role model for the kids as well, for the deaf kids.
02:19 Of course, I mean, I was looking up a statistic and it says 53% of adults over the age of
02:24 16, deaf adults over the age of 16, don't get involved in sport, and that's compared
02:29 with 15% of those without a disability. So hearing from you now, it seems like there
02:35 are barriers that prevent people from, maybe it's the confidence thing, but what is it
02:39 that's stopping young people?
02:41 Yeah, so I hear a lot. So the communication, so I know a lot of players have gone to a
02:48 football club and they struggle to fit in because of the communication and it's just
02:54 a bit of lack of deaf awareness out there. So it's important to spread the deaf awareness,
02:58 like first of all, how to communicate, like how can we work well, make it easy for the
03:03 person. And like you said, it's the confidence, it's having confidence. So yeah, it's the
03:08 communication and fitting in. And it's important we need to try and encourage as much kids
03:14 as we can into sport and grow their confidence.
03:18 What was it for you then? What got you into football and futsal?
03:22 My family's a massive football fan, a massive Man United fan. And so yeah, growing up, when
03:30 I was in school, primary school, I was like, I didn't care I was only a girl on the team,
03:35 like all the lads, playing football with the lads. So yeah, been growing up playing football
03:40 with the lads in the school. So that's how it started.
03:42 There's no other sport then, it was always going to be football?
03:46 I've done other sports like windsurfing, I did that before I started playing for football
03:50 club, I did some windsurfing, skiing, so basically I do all sports, but yeah, so much passion
03:55 for football.
03:56 No, it's fantastic. I want to take you back to last year as well. You were at the Futsal
04:02 World Championships in Brazil where you won that bronze medal. How did that feel?
04:06 It was the most tough tournament we ever had. It was a heatwave in Brazil. So it was 37
04:14 degrees and all the venues in Brazil don't have aircon. So it was just so hard, like
04:22 hot. And it was a dream to play futsal in Brazil because that's how it started, futsal
04:29 started in Brazil. So it's a dream just to play futsal in Brazil where it was started.
04:35 So it's an absolute dream. And the girls, the squad, we just got such a good squad and
04:42 it just feels good to come home with a medal.
04:45 You must be quite close with the rest of the girls as well.
04:47 Yeah, we're just like a second family. The bonding in the team is brilliant and the squad
04:53 we've got now, hopefully when we go to win the Deaflympia, we've actually got a very
04:57 good squad. So I believe in this team.
05:01 What would your advice be to someone, you mentioned those youngsters who look up to
05:05 people like yourself, what would be your advice to them if they're struggling with their confidence?
05:09 I'd just say to just be you. Do not change anything, just be you and do what you enjoy
05:15 doing. Yeah, just be yourself.