Meet Jodie Ounsley. She’s a cochlear implant user and international athlete. After representing her country in several sports, Jodie is now at the start of a successful career in professional women’s rugby. What’s more, she’s just 17 years old.
We sat down with Jodie to find out all about her sporting achievements, and to get her top tips for playing sport with a cochlear implant.
My name is Jodie Ounsley. I’m a 17-year-old deaf athlete from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England. I live on a college campus at Loughborough, training full time as a rugby player. In my spare time I like hanging out with my team mates.
Can you tell us about your hearing journey?
I was born prematurely and needed lots of antibiotics, one with well-known side effects connected to hearing loss. It was established in the first few months of my life that I was profoundly deaf on both sides.
My family didn’t know how being deaf would impact my life so in the days following diagnosis they arranged a meeting with a health professional. I was fitted with a cochlear implant aged 14 months, which was quite young at that time. My parents had pushed for the operation to be done as soon as possible. It’s more common now to fit early.
Have you always been interested in sport?
我一直非常竞争，对运动感兴趣。我总是听到我两三岁的时候，我拿起了一袋胡萝卜，把它放在我的背上，开始以最高速度的餐桌上跑去。我只是继续前进。我认为这是他们意识到我将成为一名运动员。
我继续在田径等几个运动中做得好，我是巴西九武寺的前英国冠军。我在土耳其的聋哑人中代表了英国100米和200米。我有资格成为一个15岁的孩子，这让我成为田径活动中最年轻的人。
I’m also a 5-time world coal carrying champion. It’s a bit of a Yorkshire tradition, sprinting a course from the pub to the Maypole with coal on your back. I don’t think it will be in the Olympics anytime soon!
你是如何第一次对橄榄球感兴趣的？
I always wanted to play rugby, it just really appealed to me. My Dad always tried to put me off. But once my younger brother started playing, he was coming home every week telling me about it, and it made me even more determined to have a go.
我觉得我的父亲认为我会把它送去停下来。我一周训练，并被邀请参加下一个周末替代游戏。除了你必须得分之外，我并不真正了解统治。我在翼的最后几分钟里来到了该领域。就在我以为我不会接触的时候，球在我自己的一半来到我身边。我踩了几个球员，并跑了一个字段的长度，以便尝试使用我的第一次触摸。我被迷上了。
What have been your proudest moments in rugby?
The last few years of rugby have been a bit of a whirlwind to me. I progressed very quickly through the levels: starting at my first club, Sandal RUFC, in the u15s, then Yorkshire, north England and England u18s at 15 years old. I’ve played at Twickenham, the home of England rugby, not once but twice in the last few weeks. Both times were finals for different teams. I was very honored to represent Yorkshire senior women in the county championships, with a 52-0 win over Surrey. I had a dream start by scoring a great try with my first touch.
I’ve also just recently returned from Australia. I represented England deaf women in 15-a-side and 7-a-side, and we won gold. But the experience for me was much wider than winning a rugby tournament. I don’t regularly mix with other deaf people, but I felt very at ease and comfortable around other deaf players. We all have had to deal with similar issues in our lives around communication. The deaf England team are an amazing bunch of people who really helped and supported me as the baby of the team.
How does it feel to be competing at such an elite level of competition?
这一切都很快就发生了。橄榄球是我生命中巨大的一部分。除了我的学术研究外，我的职业生涯和大多数主要生活目标都围绕未来的大橄榄球成就。这对我来说是一个非常令人兴奋的时刻，我现在经常在与惊人的球员的大型游戏中旅行和参加令人惊叹的机会。近年来，女性的橄榄球已经脱离了，这是在我的立场的美好时机。
Does your hearing loss affect you when playing sport?
In athletics it wasn’t a big issue competing against hearing competitors. Sprinting doesn’t need much communication. It’s really the coaching and training which needs a bit of thought and planning if you want to learn.
在聋哑人，每个人都必须删除所有电子设备以提供级别的播放领域。这对我来说这确实很奇怪，因为我所知道的只是我的耳蜗植入物。甚至在没有它的情况下运行奇怪，我听不到风感，人群欢呼，我的呼吸等。
橄榄球是一项团队运动，沟通更重要。我不得不提前计划并制定策略来克服没有听力以及我的听证队友。在训练领域，我倾向于获得新的动作和更长的触摸线面对面的解释，而不是让他们在冒险的恶劣天气中喊着越来越多的噪音。当我错过了哨声并继续跑步时，已经有奇怪的尴尬情况，但在主要的主要一切都很好。
你会给其他年轻的聋人运动员给什么建议？
Don’t be put off thinking you won’t be able to understand, communicate or keep up with what’s happening. I’ve found the best strategy is to be open and upfront right from the start. Let everyone know what you can and can’t do and what will help to make communication easier.
I always try and keep fairly light hearted about my hearing loss and maybe make a joke about me not ignoring everyone and explain I’m just mishearing things! It helps break the ice a bit. It is probably the case most of your team mates and coaches won’t have any idea about hearing loss and how it affects communication. Most of my teammates still find it hard to comprehend I hear nothing without my processor!
你在橄榄球看到你的未来吗？
我认为是一个爱好是让我职业生涯的机会。我在16岁的家里搬到了家里，在Loughborough的校园里生活在一个高潜在的体育计划，精英橄榄球运动员。我全职训练和学习，最近加入了一个英超俱乐部，Loughborough Lightning。
My life is so busy and hectic at the moment but I wouldn’t want it any other way. In the next few weeks I’ll be playing for England in Bulgaria. I’m also receiving lots of exciting offers, so who knows what will happen next!
谢谢，Jodie！
游泳、排球、或盛装舞步?看看我们top tips forplaying sport with a cochlear implant.
了解更多how cochlear implants work他们如何帮助您或您的孩子。
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