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TIME IN: Interview with Sally Faehrmann
3 Plays10 days ago
Welcome to to this first episode of Front Row Hustle!
This episode we were very lucky to speak to Sally Faehrmann, Captain of the Australian women's deaf basketball team, The Geckos. Sally provides terrific insight about deaf basketball, preparations for the 2025 Deaflympics and the administrative and financial struggles The Geckos face.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Focus on Women's Basketball
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to Front Row Hustle, where we put women's basketball front and center.
Sally Fairman's Background and Journey
00:00:10
Speaker
This episode we were very lucky to speak to Sally Fairman, captain of the Australian Deaf women's basketball team, the Geckos.
00:00:19
Speaker
The 24 year old has played her entire junior career and most of her senior career with the Hills Hornets, including NBL1 East. Sally is also full time PE teacher and a gifted all round sports person.
00:00:36
Speaker
Sally, welcome to Front Row Hustle.
Discovering Hearing Impairment
00:00:39
Speaker
First of all, tell us the story of how you learned that you were living with a hearing impairment. Yes, thanks Jacinta for having me on board.
00:00:47
Speaker
um I'm excited. Yeah, so I was born with my hearing impairment genetics from my dad and I guess um I got picked up when I was two years old.
00:01:00
Speaker
Mum and dad found out, yeah, when I was two and then they... got me hearing aids and then I guess being that young age you don't really know any different so i just kind of went about it but then once I reached my guess teenage years and at high school I definitely noticed it a bit more like probably being a bit different at school and things like that so that's probably more when I noticed it more so than when I was younger you don't know any different type things
00:01:31
Speaker
But then you learn that it makes you a like who you are as a person. And, yeah, would say more so when I was in high school, more noticed it more than my younger years.
00:01:43
Speaker
Do you remember much about what some of the signs were that your parents noticed that you may be living with a hearing impairment at such a young age? No, not really. i have heard a few stories of like when I was younger,
00:01:56
Speaker
um of different things that had happened. My sister, who's two years older than me, is also hard of hearing. And we both got picked up at the same time, but she was four and I was two. So um they do sort of say like how we both...
00:02:13
Speaker
um got picked up at the same time but because she was that little bit older and had gone four years without proper hearing so that affected her speech a little bit and also mine. All I would remember is like going to swimming lessons and having to take out my hearing aids before jumping in the pool going to swimming lessons and not hearing anyone in the car because I didn't have my hearing aids in or because that's like really the only time that you take them out especially or even at like night time We take them out um when going to sleep, obviously, and then like when we have showers or bath when you're younger. So those would really only be the times that I necessarily remember.
Impact of Hearing Impairment on Life and Sports
00:02:54
Speaker
Are you able to describe if you're comfortable to do so how a hearing impairment primarily affects your everyday life? Yeah, sure. For me, with my hearing devices in, it doesn't really affect me too much. to um Like, I guess, again, growing up, the only time it would have affected me was when you obviously in your high school teenage years, you become insecure about different things. So definitely would have affected me in that terms.
00:03:23
Speaker
um but now in my everyday life really the only time it would affect me if my hearing aid batteries went flat and i didn't have any hearing aid batteries with me so um if i'm like at work or something and i don't have spare hearing aid batteries then it'll affect me hugely because without them or just even without one it can become quite frustrating not being able to hear or um not being able to hear what's going on, what conversations are being had.
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, so right now that would be like the really only, i guess, ways that it would affect me because there's so much... like awesome technology at the moment, which has helped um make sure, i guess my hearing is at the same level as everyone else without a hearing impairment.
00:04:12
Speaker
But when I was younger, more so that insecurity of it and, um you know, you sort of start to realise you're a bit different to other people. um But then once you overcome that barrier and build that resilience a little bit, um you realise that it makes you who you
Basketball Journey with Hills Hornets
00:04:30
Speaker
are.
00:04:30
Speaker
We are here to talk about obviously you as a basketball player but also to help showcase this awesome team that you're a part of, the Australian Geckos. Before we get to that though, tell me how you basketball came into your life.
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, so um I've always been a sporty sporty kid when I was younger. So was always playing different sports. I got mum and dad to sign me up to anything that I could play.
00:04:58
Speaker
um But netball was probably ah my main sport in primary. That's the winter season and then I wanted to play something in the summer season. So went and played basketball local comp.
00:05:09
Speaker
That's kind of how it all started, like probably when I was in like year two. Started playing and I remember then trialing out for the rep program and making a rep team for basketball and once you become a part of like a club and people around you you just start to enjoy it a lot and you don't really want to leave it so I guess that's how basketball came into my life and you mentioned before uh the hills hornets which is your local club and off air you mentioned you've been playing for the hills hornets since under 12s have you played from under 12s all the way up to nbl1 for hills without a break
00:05:43
Speaker
ah Yes, there was one season I went over to Hornsby Spiders in Youth League, but then I returned back to Hills after that. um So, yeah, I've pretty much been there majority of my, i guess, basketball life.
00:05:59
Speaker
Yeah, Hills is such a great club and I've loved seeing it grow so much, not only physically, like in terms of the actual building, but the club itself seems like it has so many numbers. It seems like it has a great culture.
00:06:12
Speaker
And it seems like the board do a really great job of being able to, I don't know, make everyone feel really welcome there and have a lot of different programs and are able to celebrate their players in lots of different ways.
00:06:24
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. um Everything you said right there is exactly what goes on there. They're a great club and very supportive and welcoming of all people and Yeah, they've got a really good culture and it's pretty awesome over there.
00:06:38
Speaker
Like we've got our senior presentation tonight and you don't see, haven't seen everyone in a while, but it's just one of those things where like you're excited to go and see everyone and catch up with everyone and have a good laugh and see what everyone's up to. So yeah, it is it is really awesome.
00:06:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's so good to hear that you have such a good club behind you and it shows sky how important having a supportive club is as well. So shout out to the Hills Hornets.
00:07:06
Speaker
You've but obviously been playing basketball for a long time and obviously at a high level as well. as well because you are part of the NBL One squad for Hills Hornets.
Joining the Australian Deaf Basketball Team
00:07:16
Speaker
But tell us how you can now got into the Geckos program.
00:07:19
Speaker
The Geckos is, yeah, unreal. About probably 18 months ago, i got contacted. They were getting it up and running again. So the Geckos hasn't been about for the last 15 years or, yeah, the last 15 years. So this is the last 18 months has been the first time in 15 years for up and running again.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah, so about 18 months ago, i got reached out to because about five years ago, um they tried to get it up and running then. so They put like a flyer up on Facebook and my dad saw it. So we went down for the training camp then.
00:07:53
Speaker
There wasn't many numbers there though, but it was all those that had heard about it. So that was about five years ago, but we just like we had didn't have many people on board and things. So they couldn't keep it going.
00:08:06
Speaker
Sorry, I said five years ago, it'd probably even be 10 years ago. like yeah When I was about 16, I reckon, 16, 15, so eight, nine years. They tried to get it up and running then, but there was just not, like, couldn't find the the deaf ah people that could play basketball and stuff. So ah just kind of died down again. and then about 18 months ago,
00:08:29
Speaker
um it got ah picked up again and now Debbie, our head coach, is on board it. And so that's how it's sort of come about in my life by my dad, actually. So dad, he's got a hearing impairment and so it's genetic from him. so You know, when he saw that program and saw how, you know, how much I love sport and how much I enjoy basketball, he was straight on to it. And me being at 15, 16, you sort of like you're a bit dependent on your parents. So, yeah, he did all that work and pretty grateful for him to find that because, know,
00:09:08
Speaker
Obviously when you're a teenager at that age, you're kind of like, yeah, whatever, like you just, you do it, you don't show any appreciation, but down there down the track, look what it's done. And that is how the geckos came into my life, I would say.
00:09:23
Speaker
as Sally mentioned, it was only 18 months ago that she reconnected with the geckos program. and thanks to patience good faith and the power of social media the geckos were able to recruit enough players with a strong playing history to break their 15-year drought so sally let's get stuck into now talking about the geckos program as a whole um can you tell us a little bit more about what like how players qualify for the geckos program
00:09:55
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. So um to be able to be a part of like the program so that you can play, you know, like the Deaf Olympics or different games, you've got to be at least 55 decibels deaf in your better hearing ear.
00:10:09
Speaker
So um on a scale of like um hearing levels, it goes zero to 100 and zero decibels is like you've got good hearing, you're able to hear everyone around you. So Like yourself, you'd be around the zero to 10 decibels deaf.
00:10:26
Speaker
And then the more you go down the scale is more deaf you are um So someone who's profoundly deaf would be about that 100 decibels deaf. For myself, I'm about, i just almost kind of qualify. So I am, well, just do qualify.
00:10:44
Speaker
i am like 60 decibels deaf in both ears. So I think one's like 57 and one's 60. But because 57 decibels deaf with my better hearing ear, it just meets that requirement of 55 decibels deaf, if that makes sense.
00:11:00
Speaker
um So there's probably like two of us on the team that are like that. And then we're kind of like spread out on that scale down that end. Yeah, that's really interesting because, well, what what comes to mind for me is when we think about the rollers and the gliders who are our Australian wheelchair teams, they also have to go through a classification system, which some people may not know about as well. so and And I noticed that earlier in our um discussion you mentioned about people qualifying. So I was really interested to learn a little bit more about how one does qualify ah for a deaf team.
00:11:36
Speaker
Yeah, well, we've had two like, we've had some pretty good basketballers come along to a training session, but they're just not, they're not tough enough. So, like, they don't, we can't have, like, we would love to have them, but, like, there's no point having them the whole time and then they can't come away with us and play.
00:11:56
Speaker
i remember... like 80 months ago when it all started up again, um i needed to find out my like if I was deaf enough to play. So I called up my local hearing Australia and um I was like so excited and I called them and I was like, um just just ringing it, Sally Fam in here, are you able to check my um my hearing audiology ah form whatever you call it and let me know how deaf I am?
00:12:24
Speaker
And they were like, i sure. They're looking at it and they go, oh yeah, you're about your left ear is 57 decibels and then your right ear is 60 decibels.
00:12:36
Speaker
And I'm like, perfect, yes, thank you. All right, thanks, bye, see you later. And I think the guy on the phone was like, what is going on? Why is she excited that she's so deaf? Yeah. But it was because I knew that I'd be able to play for the team then. Were you tempted to name drop yourself and were like, look, I need to know because I'm about to play for Australia. So I kind of need to know my decibels so I can play.
00:13:00
Speaker
Yeah. And if I'm not deaf enough, I don't want to hear it. And I think that's a pretty unique experience for some people to be like, oh, I i need to know how deaf I am to qualify for something and and then getting excited about it.
00:13:13
Speaker
yeah Yeah, because I think they would normally get like the other way around. Like, you know, if someone's getting better hearing or something, they'd be excited about that, not if they're on the other end. That was funny. It was a good laugh.
00:13:26
Speaker
When you and I had spoken earlier in the year, you were very kind enough to give me a few insights over a message about ah some of the communication strategies that you've got to use during training and games.
00:13:37
Speaker
I'm able to share them as well with our broader Front Row Hustle audience.
Communication Strategies of the Geckos
00:13:42
Speaker
Yeah, of course. So um with our way of communication, because when someone's at 55 decibels deaf to like, I don't know, maybe 60, 70, I don't know the exact numbers, so I won't exactly say, but...
00:13:58
Speaker
um they obviously wear hearing aids. So we've got a range of people on the team with level um of hearing. So we've got people who wear hearing aids, which means that when they take their devices out, they may still be able to hear a little bit.
00:14:13
Speaker
um And then we've got people with ah girls that wear cochlear implants. So that mostly means they're like um lower on the decibels. And so they're um more deaf and they,
00:14:26
Speaker
like pretty much can't hear anything without their cochlear implants in. And then we've also got some profoundly deaf. So they require um Auslan as their main form of communication.
00:14:40
Speaker
um so In terms of communication at training, if we're all got our our devices in, we're able to hear what the coach is saying. And then um those that require an interpreter, we've got our interpreter there at all our training camps and games, etc.
00:14:57
Speaker
They sign for for those that need it. but In saying that, we're all sort of picking up those signs and different things, especially within basketball. So um when we take out our hearing devices for a game, we've got to know, like, what are our team signs? What are our signs?
00:15:17
Speaker
for each other. So when we're coming up the court, dribbling the ball up, we've got um different names for your plays. So as you call your plays out um in a hearing world, you call it out and everyone goes, all right, yep, running pistol or whatever, so everyone knows.
00:15:33
Speaker
But obviously because we can't hear when we're on the court, so we've got a lot of hand signals and visuals. So for pistol, it's literally like a gun So whilst I'm dribbling the ball up or whoever's playing point guard, dribbling the ball, they make sure it's nice and high and everyone's got to look. So as everyone's running down the court to set up for the play, it's like a number one rule. You've got to you've got to look behind and check what the point guard's calling because whoever's playing point guard is making the call and everyone's got to do it.
00:16:04
Speaker
So a lot of visuals for sure are being used. um And it's also interesting on – defense as well so if we're running a zone um the sign for zone is this and we go by back line so if there's if we're if you're doing a two three zone it's zone three so then we know all right there's three people in the back line with the two three zone we're running or if we're running a one three one zone um it's zone one and we know that's one three one it's all like through Auslan and um sharing that with each other so
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah, so that would like come through with training. But another method we have at training is Braithow assistant coach. He has a whiteboard with him pretty much all the time. And as Deb is talking,
00:16:56
Speaker
or whoever's talking, he will write on the whiteboard and make quick points and turn it around and show everyone so that everyone's on the same page. um So that's another form alongside the interpreter.
00:17:09
Speaker
Timeouts, everyone has, we all know now um that only one person is allowed to talk. So obviously usually it's the person Deb talking the coach. um So she will just ah coach as she normally does, speaks as she normally does, and the interpreter will interpret.
00:17:26
Speaker
But she will also make it very, like, short and sweet rather than going on so that we can stay on top of what's being said. And then another one is when we're out on the court and we get in a team huddle, like after a foul or a foul shot or whatever, um whoever...
00:17:44
Speaker
is on the core, only one person is allowed to speak in that huddle. Because if you've got three people trying to say stuff, everyone's going to be on the on different pages or even two people, everyone's on different pages because half have looked at one person, half have looked at the other person. so it's really important that with our communication,
00:18:04
Speaker
um When we are trying to communicate something that everyone is looking at the person that's trying to communicate. Yeah, everyone is focused on that person and that there aren't any more than one person um communicating at one time.
00:18:18
Speaker
And all those um communication strategies have come through spending um time training together and um over the last year, last yeah last year, last 18 months. So it hast like it hasn't been...
00:18:34
Speaker
like straight away, here you go here's your signs, learn it. Like it's been a journey for everyone to pick picks that up and learn how to communicate what's all right. You hear with your hearing aids in but when you take them out, you can hear a little bit.
00:18:50
Speaker
So you've got to stand next to the coach. So that's another thing. Everyone's sort of like we've got like a positional, an unspoken positional rule where whenever we do like come in,
00:19:04
Speaker
um and the coach speaks, um everyone's kind of like positioning themselves where they best can um pick up what the coach is saying. um So for myself, because I can hear without my devices in I go and stare next to Deb so I can still hear her.
00:19:20
Speaker
Ella does that as well, um same as Alicia. And then as the circle goes on, it's kind of like those who rely on Auslan stand opposite the interpreter so that they can see the interpreter.
00:19:34
Speaker
um yeah so that's another another thing about communication that is so cool like thank you for breaking down all of those points for us because that is so interesting so there are so many different levels and ways of communication so you you mentioned the whiteboard mentioned obviously someone signing, but learning about the positioning as well of ah people in your immediate surroundings and close to the one person who's designated to talk like your coach and then being that person then being able to communicate with the rest. That is so interesting and so smart, but also sounds like so much thought has to go into it. So you're already trying to prepare as a team in a short period of time for the Deaflympics in November.
00:20:23
Speaker
like on court. So you've already got to think about things like strategy, ah gameplays, you know, what ah you need to work on and all that, all that kind of technical basketball stuff. But then it sounds like you have to do a whole other bunch of training just to ensure you've got a smooth communication style as well. That's like incredible.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah, um and another one is um when, like, a screen's coming to be set, you can't just yell. Like, you can yell out screen as you normally would playing basketball, but we can't hear on the court. so you've almost got to, like, you stomp your feet as you're going so that they feel the vibration. Oh, there's a – someone's banging their foot near me, so there's a screen coming. Or if, like, you're on helpline defence and someone hasn't rotated and enough,
00:21:13
Speaker
You literally just go and push them. ah Get out of the way. go like Go to your next person because, like, that's our form of communications. We can't – like, I'm a very loud person on the court as it is, but on the court at the geckos, we can't hear each other. So we've got to adapt to these other styles, whether that's, like, um yeah, physically touching each other to make the move or I'm very, like – I've got to make sure everyone knows what's going on. So, like, when we're in a huddle, um I'll make sure I've got eye contact with everyone and say, we're doing red as our next play. We're all good. Thumbs up. Show me you're good with that.
00:21:53
Speaker
um And everyone responds really well to it. So it's a massive yeah massive credit to the whole team as well. Like, we've got some young girls on our team who are still at school, like, 13, 14, 15, 16,
00:22:05
Speaker
at school um like thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen like for them in this environment where like school as a teenager is hard enough as it is and then coming into this environment where you're not used to it it's overwhelming it's a completely different world like taking out your devices and learning to instantly pick up all right if I can't hear how am I going to communicate how am I As a person who is hard of hearing, when you are without your devices, like say you're in a swimming pool or something socially, and if you can't hear what's going on, it can it gets really frustrating because you're missing out on
00:22:48
Speaker
like what's going on around you. So those young ones coming on board with this program, it's a massive credit to everyone in the team. Everyone's done really well to adapt, be resilient um and trust each other.
00:23:00
Speaker
Yeah, trust each other, definitely. Because when I was thinking about your when you were describing what it's like in terms of communication on and off the court, I also didn't realise that you don't play with any devices, but I was still under the and so assumption that players who are deaf were still playing with some kind of listening, like hearing device.
00:23:20
Speaker
And yeah me learning that you're actually... No one has a device. And so obviously making those communication strategies even more important. But I imagine that certainly comes with the level of vulnerability for people having to jump into something brand new with no device, especially they're used to living the rest of their life with devices all the time.
00:23:40
Speaker
but you know when you get like you just get frustrated with someone and then you're like well what did that person say what did that person say it's like yeah it is a different sort of um like feeling but you get used to it yeah so those younger girls yeah credit to them as well but credit to everyone in the team yeah that's amazing thanks so much for sharing what it's like being in the geckos team or or a elite level deaf team as well because like you said some members of the geckos are profoundly deaf so what happens when like there's a timeout siren or the shot clock goes down or you know it's it's quarter time how do you communicate that with everyone
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah, so the game still goes on as usual. Like the refs have their whistles and ah the like scoreboard and everything because basketball such start-stop sport and technical, as you say. So because we have that team now where, you know, everyone plays basketball to some extent, everyone knows that like um without our devices in, we all know that like if someone's going in for a layup and it looks like it's a foul, like everyone's just got that instinct to,
00:24:48
Speaker
they look at the ref and the ref hasn't like put his hand up or anything. He just keep playing. But it's a lot of like just looking and just visually looking around. All right, the ref, we're still playing. The ref hasn't called anything. The hands aren't up, like still play.
00:25:05
Speaker
um There's a lot of teamwork, like mirroring. So this is another thing. When we're on the court, whoever's on the five on the court, say the point guard is dribbling the ball up and calls a play, um like wave, and this is a sign for wave, and they're dribbling the ball up, call wave.
00:25:22
Speaker
The five that are sitting on the bench or the bench players and the coaching staff, everyone, has to also mirror what the point guard is calling. So they've all got to stand up and do it as well so that those up the other end on the court can see, like, all right, we're in wave.
00:25:38
Speaker
That's a play that's been called. um So that's one thing. Another thing is like when the shot clock um is going to expire, um everyone just gets up and has to do this. So if you're on the bench, because when you're on the bench in a um in the hearing world for basketball,
00:25:56
Speaker
Everyone court counts down 10, 9, 8, 7, quick, get a shot off type thing. So for us, everyone has to, like, make sure they're doing the shot clock sign. And, um yeah, so then those that are on the court can see, oh, everyone's doing this.
00:26:13
Speaker
Quick, give me the ball, set me a screen. um Or we go into our sets for our last eight seconds type thing. Wow, so there's so many more things that you have to consider because even thinking about like how often would you actually look to the bench during a game at all? So then i the bench needs to be watching the game properly because there's lots of times that players on the bench may just kind of like wander off or have a little chat or something on the side. So they need to be watching properly and then the players on the court still need to be watching the bench in terms of communicating with players
00:26:48
Speaker
the the point guard running the show. So there's just so many more layers and complexities with just communication in your yeah and that is that needs to be considered. Yeah, and like when not wearing your devices, like your brain's working that like a little bit harder because you're not used to that. So it can become a bit exhausting.
00:27:11
Speaker
Like there's so many extra layers that go into it. So that's another thing as well. But learning the different signs in Auslan and... picking it up and seeing like Sienna and AJ who rely on Auslan and communicating with them it's just like it's amazing to see that like yes communication is a barrier but like you've still got you've got to have a relationship with everyone and um you just you sort of figure it out on how to communicate with each other and yeah there is a lot that goes into it but it's it's just it's like heartwarming and like amazing how it all
00:27:46
Speaker
works and come together amazing like I definitely would love to see that what about like do you do some team bonding off the court as well like to build rapport with each other as a team and then sometimes maybe that can foster some more communication as well Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so going like along with our training camps, we try go out for dinner, um things like that. But like so at the moment we're training once a month in Melbourne ah over weekends, training camps.
00:28:19
Speaker
So we've had one every month in the past year in the lead up to Japan. And then October we'll have two weekends. But because the weekends are so jam-packed, like, we've got so much to get through. Like, with a normal season, like NBL1 or Youth League whatever, you're training twice a week and you're seeing each other regularly. Like, everything's fresh in your mind. You just keep going. You get through the motions or whatever.
00:28:43
Speaker
But for us, it's like, bang, straight in Saturday, train all day Saturday, then train all day Sunday. Like, it's – they're big weekends. They can, like, be quite exhausting. So – On top of that, yeah, we do try and have team bonding, but we'll also do like some team bonding activities. So our team manager, Shirley, she's profoundly deaf and she's like an amazing person. She has like, you she's ran some different like um Auslan games for us as well. The team bonding definitely helps in building those communication skills with each other.
00:29:18
Speaker
The Geckos are getting ready to go and compete at the 2025 Summer Deaflympics in Tokyo. Official dates for the tournament is from the 15th of November to the 26th of November. Sounds like preparations are going pretty well so far. there anything else you can tell us about the preparations leading up to the Deaflympics?
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah, so like I said before, monthly training camps over the weekends. So we're incredibly lucky for the coaching staff that we've got, um for everything they've put into our program.
00:29:51
Speaker
ah So Debbie Coulson's our head coach and then now two assistant coaches are Braython Kerr and Tracy Whiteman. And the experience they have behind them, like Victoria Basketball State coaching, NBL1 coaching, rep program coaching, like such high levels and even trace at the moment is with the WNBL UC Caps, their assistant coach.
00:30:15
Speaker
We're extremely lucky for who we've got and they have made the program what it is today. like their basketball knowledge and putting their time into and doing that and they're all they're volunteers for the program as well and then we've got our um team osteo or team physio which is Marnie Nadine and then our two interpreters Mel and Maddie and they're incredible as well so our monthly training camp there's so much that goes into it that I think we even myself I forget what goes into it like
00:30:48
Speaker
You rock up there and ah the training program set out for the two days. ah We've got our physio there when she's available. She's there. We've got the interpreters and they, like, you don't you kind of forget everything that goes
Challenges Faced by the Geckos
00:31:02
Speaker
into it.
00:31:02
Speaker
Preparation has been going... really well we I think we even we feel like we're ahead of where we could have been like I think Deb is like really really impressed with where we are as a team like she was like I didn't think I'd be able to teach you guys this as a team but we've gone so far that we've completed what we needed to we're going to keep adding stuff in and Preparation's been good. And another person we've got on board with us is Durham. So Durham's our strength and conditioning coach and he owns Core Advantage in Melbourne, the training facility.
00:31:37
Speaker
And he's been incredible as well. Set us all gym programs and how to stay fit in our office. Like it's all our NBL One and Youth League off season. So how do we stay fit and ready to go game ready for the Deaf Olympics when we're all from different parts of Australia and can't train together?
00:31:55
Speaker
and only have the chance monthly to train together, how can we make sure we're staying on top of our fitness and um all that as well. So there's so much that goes into it and so many people that have helped get it to where we are. um The thing that's going to hurt us in the future is the sustainability of the program.
00:32:14
Speaker
And so everything right now is self-funded. So for us three that fly to get to Melbourne for each training camp, myself, Ciena from Sydney and Ella from Perth, for us to fly, we have to pay for our own flights.
00:32:29
Speaker
And then what we do as a team is the manager, Shirley, she works out the calculations of those flights. We get reimbursed, but everyone pays a camp fee, which covers that reimbursement.
00:32:43
Speaker
So the camp fees could be usually around $100, $150 each camp. So, like, over the year that sort of builds up and you've got your young players again or we've got some players who are at uni and, like, for someone who's at uni not working much, like, that's a lot of money to them – Constantly pay that as well.
00:33:04
Speaker
um But then our trip over is all self-funded um in Japan. So that's all being self-funded. And that was looking at about $110,000 for the whole team. so about per player.
00:33:18
Speaker
But we've managed to secure funds and um different, I guess, ah sponsors, which we're extremely grateful for and very lucky to have.
00:33:29
Speaker
So they've all just been like different charities and different people who've heard what we're doing and they've gone, oh, okay, I'll donate a little bit of money or I'll donate even something as small as $20 and it's helped us reach our target or close to reaching our target.
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah, so that's been a bit of a... challenge in terms of our preparation in getting over to Japan but um that adversity has been good for the team to build a bit of resilience but I think what we're trying to do now is build a relationship with Basketball Australia.
00:34:02
Speaker
We've knocked on their door left right and centre like um we had Sandy Bondello come to one of our camps and she took it back to them And we heard nothing from Basketball Australia.
00:34:13
Speaker
It's been hard to build a relationship with them in terms of us and our program. Debbie's a ah state coach for Victoria. She's like, she knows people from Basketball Australia. She's like reached all her contacts and we're just not getting anything back from them.
00:34:30
Speaker
in terms of like communication. So, and it's not like, all right, we need, we need um X amount of money to get us to Japan. It's something as simple as ah them posting, like maybe once a month on Instagram or once even saying, they have posted a little bit about us, but saying like, if you're hard of hearing or you're deaf or you're 55 decibels deaf in your bed, ya reach out to the geckos or the goennas, which is the men's team. like go play basketball with them and represent your country and then that way we're finding our unique people those who are hard of hearing those who are deaf and can play basketball and then we're building that elite program so yeah I think that's something that we're that's like our next step like we've
00:35:15
Speaker
achieved all these little steps and now our next step is just having that relationship with Bathville Australia be built but that's all part of something starting up and we've come so far in the past 18 months um we've ticked off so many little things so yeah but even like um our uniforms and stuff we're paying for our uniforms it's yeah a lot that goes into it uniforms then we've also like each training camp that we have we've got to find our own facilities for training camps currently been training a lot at Emerson School in Dandenong so shout out to them for looking after us but um yeah even trying to find basketball facilities if they have something on we need to go find our own facility that we can train at so lucky Deb has a lot of contacts to
00:36:01
Speaker
um stadiums or schools and things so she's managed to get us to those facilities but it's all that extra stuff that goes into it on top of like for her she's got she's already trying to manage that now what are we going to run or now but know now um on on our offense and defense so and And someone who coaches NBL1 or Youth League or a rep program, they're not having to find their own basketball facilities um every time they train. So, yeah, it's all that extra stuff that goes into it as well.
00:36:35
Speaker
And, again, like you said before, everyone's a volunteer. Everyone has to pay their own way. um and it's really disappointing to hear that our governing body um isn't supporting the Australian national teams going to a major event like the Deaflympics in any kind of way. So it's not really showing a lot of equity or equality across all of the national teams, which is really disappointing to hear. And this is also on top of everyone working full time.
00:37:01
Speaker
as well so like yourself you work full-time got other geckos like you said that are also in school so yeah there's all this kind of stuff that requires uh not just the financial backing but the administrative and organizational backing to help uh support the geckos just at least to have some training programs and training camps and facilities let alone going to the deaflympics speaking with deb like not long ago like something as small as like it's such it's such a big thing and Like I spoke before, um those like some of us taking out our hearing devices, it's a it's another big thing. And it's it's overwhelming, especially for those younger players. So the mental aspect comes into it as well. So having access to Basketball Australia another simple thing. Their resources they have online about well-being and well-being.
00:37:52
Speaker
what to do if you feel a bit overwhelmed and all it is is, like, here's a password, here's a... And you can get access to it. Like, it's little things like that that would hope massively and have a massive um improvement. And it's not like...
00:38:08
Speaker
Like we're not asking to have the whole whole program funded but just start to, you know, have those little things that we can get access to and help because, again, like we we'll go the Deaf Olympics in November but then it's it's been an exhausting year. Like you said, everyone's working full-time and exhausting but great year. Like everyone, we all love it. We love seeing each other monthly and it's awesome. but having a fundraise on top of it as well, that's exhausting. So I think the sustainability of the program is a bit worrying um in terms of like we've come so far in the past year, but it's, yeah, it's a bit worrying in terms of like what's going to happen in the future if we can't get fund funds for our program, if we can't get access to different resources,
00:39:02
Speaker
to different facilities that's what's going to start to break people and people will just throw the towel and go in it's not worth it type thing yeah it'd be really disappointing if it came to that considering all the hard work that's gone into getting the geckos up and running again after i think like you said a 15 plus year hiatus a lot of time and resources and love and hard work's gone into getting the geckos back up and running and ready for the Deaflympics. So it'd be really disappointing if it wasn't followed through. And I mean, BA, at least just repost a story.
00:39:35
Speaker
They reposted our one last week where we trained at, so we were lucky last weekend to train at, um, Hoop City Courtside in Melbourne, in Port Melbourne. So I think it's Josh Giddey and Dash Daniels own it.
00:39:50
Speaker
And they were actually training there, like in the gym and different things whilst we were having our training camp. So we got like cool photo with them and everything. And so then Basketball Australia re-shared that reel. So even like that, like,
00:40:03
Speaker
perfect, keep going, keep sharing all our things, like just those little things. And it means the world to us because we know there's people out there that are play basketball and hard of hearing and they it might even just be they just need that little bit of extra encouragement from Basketball Australia to say, go do it.
00:40:22
Speaker
It's the best thing you ever do. but Yeah, or at least to know that it's actually an option because how many people out there that follow basketball in some way actually know that the geckos and the goannas is a legitimate pathway for young people that live with deafness or or issues with hearing.
00:40:41
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And that's it, right? it It sounds like a struggle, but it still sounds like for a good cause. And you've got a lot to look forward to in November. Did Gideon Daniels get to give you any words of wisdom or did they suit up during a training session down in Melbourne? Yeah.
00:40:57
Speaker
No, they were um very were good. they were They wished us good luck and all that type of stuff. We also had Chris Golding there. So, yeah, that was nice. Home blood, home city and, yeah, which was cool.
00:41:11
Speaker
And yeah, you have been hustling with the fundraising. ah One fundraising option you have available is a GoFundMe page. And on the day that we're recording today, you have reached 67% of your 25K target.
00:41:24
Speaker
But I think you've done some other events as well to help fundraise. Tell us a little bit about that. fundraising events that we've had earlier in the year some of the parents on the team are incredible and like have put together some amazing things but one of them that one of the things that they did was organize like a fundraiser ball earlier in the year um or fundraiser event and we managed to get some special guests there so like here we are like raising money and then we're there like oh my gosh all these people are here
00:41:55
Speaker
um But we had Megan Husweight. She came along and emceed our event. And then we were lucky to have Michelle Timms, Alice Kunek and Alison Tranquilli come along and be special guests for like a panel for the event.
00:42:10
Speaker
For them to do that for us just means, um like means the world to us. Yeah. So they offered up their they' night, Saturday night to come along and be part of it. And they were just so lovely and interested in what we were doing and,
00:42:24
Speaker
things like that so for us to like hear that from them it reminds us that we are we're playing for our country we're playing for australia um so yeah it was really awesome to have them along so that was one of our fundraising events that we had and we raised i can't remember how much money we raised from that but a fair bit of money for that and there was a lot of like silent auctions and uh things like that being held so a lot of people donated uh different products for the silent auction And so that's been a fundraising event we've done.
00:42:56
Speaker
But again, so much so much work went into organising that, like how often how often can we do that type thing. But another thing, all our practice games have been on the door, you pay $5, $10 entry fee to come watch us play and that like each game we might get $200, $300 from those games, but it adds up.
00:43:20
Speaker
So we've had seven of those games now. So all that money adds up um for our fundraising. So that's been another form of fundraising. And then... Just a lot of like reaching out to people and businesses and saying, would you like to sponsor us?
00:43:35
Speaker
This is what we're doing. This is what we're about. If you would like to sponsor us, reach out to us, like like that type of stuff. Yeah, so that's what it's been. a lot of our fundraising events have been couple of sausage sizzles.
00:43:49
Speaker
Yeah, things like that. Yeah, that sounds really good. Got to respect the hustle for all of the fundraising that you're doing in multiple different ways. But that panel that you held in Melbourne sounded like world-class panel. So well done for pulling that off. Yeah, it was incredible. It was, yeah, they were all so lovely.
00:44:11
Speaker
Megan, she's lovely. and then Michelle, Alice and Alison Tranquilli, all of them, they were just absolute legends and the way that they like even the way that they held themselves like it was like this also gives us people to look up to as well and go wow like they've all represented Australia and that's what we're about to do um again soon or one day and just the way that they talk about you know when you represent your country like it's just an absolute honor and hear that it makes you like ah who like gives you the shivers because like that's what we're about to do and
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, so when you hear that from others that have represented the country and what it feels like, yeah, it's pretty incredible. So very grateful for them for coming up and offering their time. but And then we've had Alison Tranquilli.
00:45:03
Speaker
She's come back and popped her head in and said a hello. So, yeah, very lucky. Yeah, that sounds really cool, really good. I'm glad that someone's ah sorting that out for you and that you're getting some star treatment from some former Australian players themselves.
00:45:18
Speaker
Just to finish off, we'll talk a bit about about the Deaflympics that is coming up in November, as we mentioned.
Qualifying for Deaflympics and Future Goals
00:45:24
Speaker
Tell us quickly about how you ah how the Geckos qualified for the Deaflympics. Is it a similar format to, you know, the Opals qualifying for the Olympics or, say, for the World Cup?
00:45:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. These are similar sort of type qualifications. So um last year we had the Asia-Pacific tournament, which was held in Melbourne, and that was for the Asian countries that were qualifying – oh, sorry, the Asia region countries qualifying who wanted to qualify for the Deaflympics this year.
00:45:58
Speaker
So we had the women's ah comp, we just had ourselves, Australia, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. And then the men's had about eight eight countries.
00:46:11
Speaker
um So it was just us three for the women's. And for us to be able to qualify for the Olympics, we just needed to finish top two out of the three teams. So way um we played Japan in our first game. And keep in mind,
00:46:26
Speaker
First time in 15 years, the geckos back up and running. We lost to Japan. So we lost to them by about 50. And then I think all of us were like, oh, no, I don't know how we're going to go for qualifying now.
00:46:39
Speaker
So we're stressed. And then we play against Chinese Taipei. We beat them by 50. So we're like, oh, we might be all right now. So we got to play Japan and Chinese Taipei again and our second game to um Japan. We lost to them by about a hundred in that second game because um our, some of our basketball has started to get injured and went down.
00:47:03
Speaker
um so we lost to Japan by a hundred. and so then we again, like, Oh no how our chances looking. And then we verse Chinese Taipei again, and then we beat them by a reasonable amount again. yeah,
00:47:16
Speaker
That was like the round games. And then we versed, it just went straight into a gold medal match. We versed um Japan, obviously. we all just went in ah in the mindset like, let's just leave anything we can on the court. We have absolutely nothing to lose.
00:47:30
Speaker
We've qualified. We made that gold medal match. We've qualified for the Def Olympics. Let's just give it our best shot. We ended up only losing to Japan by about 18 in that gold medal match.
00:47:40
Speaker
It was neck and neck the whole way. Everyone just brought something out in them that they didn't know they had. And second game against Chinese Taipei, that was like we needed to win that through our ticket to Japan. And we when we won that, everyone was stoked.
00:47:54
Speaker
And then we were like, all right, let's just see how we go in the gold medal match. And we did really well. So from the top of my head, there is 11 teams eleven taes 11 countries in the women's Deaf Olympics for basketball.
00:48:10
Speaker
And the men's have 12. So the max is 12 teams from the top of my head. It's either – yeah, I think it's 12. um And then each region within the world, like, qualifies a certain amount. So Europe were able to send four countries. So they had their well um European championships, maybe, like they might have had theirs last year.
00:48:34
Speaker
to send their four teams through and so forth. So that's like how the qualifications work. The seeding of the top four teams. So ah top four teams from the World Championships two years ago were America or USA, Ukraine, Greece and Italy.
00:48:53
Speaker
And they finished, I think, in that order at the World Championships two years ago. so they were the ones that ended up in that higher pool for seeding. um but we've ended up with Italy in our pool. So they Italy finished fourth at those that World Championship. So we're hoping that's like – we'll see how we go. But, um yeah, we've got them, Lithuania and Kenya in our pool for the Deflympics. So we'll play each of them and then hopefully we get good results and then can progress through to finals and things. So, yeah, I think I've gone a bit off track there, but that's sort of how the qualifications work a bit.
00:49:33
Speaker
but No, that was great. That was perfect. Thank you. i honestly appreciate the detail. I'm personally and a detail orientated person and I love to learn all of the new like information and finer details of these things. So your answer was very much appreciated. And I can tell that That you play Kenya first on the 16th of November and then you go on to play Lithuania the next day on the 17th and then you play Italy on the 18th it looks like.
00:50:08
Speaker
Are we able to watch the Deaflympics online at all? Do you know? ah think they're going to do a via like a YouTube live link, like for the whole Deaflympics. So once that comes out and gets sent through, I'll definitely, I'll send it through to you and yeah, be able watch and see how we go.
00:50:25
Speaker
I'll definitely be keen to watch the Deaflympics online, Sally, and we'll be encouraging all of the front row hustlers to be watching as well. Sally, thank you so much for your time today and especially thank you so much for putting us in the shoes of the Australian Geckos team, especially as you are preparing.
00:50:44
Speaker
for the 2025 Summer Deaf Olympics held in Tokyo in November. Truly respect the hustle of you as the captain and the whole Geckos program, and we all wish you the best of luck.
00:50:56
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you, Jacinta, for having me on and being a form of awareness for us. so really appreciate it and appreciate you giving me this opportunity. So thank you. And that is time on our exclusive interview with the Geckos captain, Sally Fairman.
00:51:13
Speaker
You can find the geckos on all of your social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. So go give them a follow. And while you're there, make sure you check out their GoFundMe page and help them raise enough money to have a successful Deaflympics for 2025.
00:51:30
Speaker
That's all we've got time for today. Thank you so much for listening to Front Row Hustle. You can also find us on Instagram and your preferred streaming platforms.
00:51:41
Speaker
So together, let's keep women's basketball front row and center and respect the hustle.