Kate Ward: 'Inclusion will make you a better coach'

SS: What has been your favorite event so far with the national team?

KW: That’s a tough one. They all are special to me for different reasons. I’d probably say the 2009 Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan, was the most memorable. 

It was my first event. The country poured an incredible amount of money into the event and built various venues specifically for it. The opening ceremony was unforgettable and felt like the Olympics.

SS: How about a favorite memory with the team?

KW: I think that has to be when our team connected with a young, hard-of-hearing soccer player named Malia. 

We first met Malia in 2018. She was nine years old and had flown out to one of our training camps to meet our team. She wore hearing aids, due to her hearing being affected by her fight with neuroblastoma.

When we met her, she was cancer-free and we had an absolute blast with her at camp. It was indescribably touching to see her gain confidence being around people just like her, in the same way that all of my team-mates and I did when we joined the team. 

She went back home with a new-found confidence in herself and her hearing aids, and that was a wonderful reminder to my team-mates and I that our team is about more than winning on the field.

"We understand we have been given a unique platform and we want to use it..."

In 2021, Malia unfortunately relapsed, though we are rooting for her all the way in her fight. I made sure to wear my ’Malia Strong x 2’ gear throughout the lead up to, and at, the Brazil Deaflympics last year.

She is so special to my teammates and I, and a powerful reminder of why we do what we do.

SS: The outreach the team is involved in seems to be embedded in the culture...

KW: One of my favorite parts of our team and program’s culture is how hard we work to give back to the community, specifically the d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing kids who are growing up like us. 

We understand we have been given a unique platform, and we want to use it to make sure the people who come after us are in a better place than we were. 

At every camp, we do a free youth clinic for the community. It’s one of our favorite parts of every camp. My teammates and I also do our best to do our own individual outreach with local d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing kids in schools and communities in our various hometowns.

When I joined the USDWNT at 15, I didn’t quite understand the journey I was about to undertake. I look back 10 years later, and can confidently say this is the most unique and inspiring team I have ever been on.

That’s not necessarily because of our successes on the field, though I will say that we have many. Three-time Deaflympic gold medallists and two time World Cup Champions, undefeated in international play since our inception in 1999 - we do okay...

SS: How have you specifically been impacted by the USDWNT?

KW: My life changed when I joined this team. For the first time in my life, I was around people just like me. 

I often feel that my teammates and I are facing double discrimination, as females with a disability in a predominantly hearing and male-dominated society. 

A vast majority of us grew up in an environment where we had no idea that there were other people just like us out there. 

Our first encounters with people like ourselves occurred when we joined the team. That, to me, is a huge problem. There aren’t enough deaf role models in the world.

My teammates and I have come to realize that we have the ability to address that head on. It’s hard to put into words the effect that sports has had on our lives as individuals with a disability. Inclusion. Strength. Normalcy. Empowerment. 

In my life, sports has shown time and again to improve quality of life. It levels out the playing field for all. It gives freedom, ignites joy, fosters inclusion, and builds self-confidence in ways that can’t be replicated off the field and away from teammates, a uniform and a ball.

While my teammates and I are proud of our legacy of winning, we are well aware that our responsibilities extend far beyond the field. It’s our goal to make this team better for little girls growing up like us.

SS: What has been the most impactful lesson you have learned, as a player or a coach?

KW: How powerful sport can be off the field. I’ve learned that in numerous ways and at numerous times in both my playing and coaching journey. My goal as a coach is to give back to the game however I can. 

Soccer has given me so much - confidence, empowerment, lifelong relationships, and lots and lots of joy. It’s the responsibility of every coach to make each of their players a better person, leader, and player. 

My hope is that I can make each team I’m a part of a safe place for those around me to grow and develop on and off the field.

SS: What is the best advice you would give to a coach working with players that have different abilities?

KW: Realize that the athletes you are working with are human beings just like you. They want to be praised, included, developed, and treated just like the player next to them.

You might have to do things a little bit differently, but I can assure you that inclusion will make you a better coach, your team will become a better team, and you will change the life of the athlete with different abilities.