Meet: James Galt, winner of the FA National Volunteer of the Year!

James Galt, winner of the Football Association National Volunteer of the year, was born profoundly deaf. He volunteers as a coach and also offers BSL support for players at Preston North End NW Disability Futsal Hub.

His prestigious award was presented by Sir Geoff Hurst at Wembley stadium earlier this year. I spoke to James after his Mum, Vicki contacted us about his great achievement.

Congratulations James! How did you feel when you won the award?

The first I knew about winning the award my Mum had just got off the phone and she took me to one side. She said that she and a couple of Mums at futsal had put me up for the local FA award of volunteer of the year. The phone call was from the FA in London stating that not only had I won the local award but I had won the national award as well!

43 other FAs had put their award winners up for the national award and I had won. Mum explained that people on the award panel included the likes of Sir Geoff Hurst and Stephanie Moore (Bobby Moore’s wife). I don’t really get excited, my Mum does that enough for both of us! So I didn’t really think about the awards until we were off to London.

Then there was the nervous anticipation of will I understand what is happening, will I hear my name when its called and will they ask my questions on the stage, which I may not know how to answer. However the interpreters and the ‘audiology crew’ were fantastic. I had a radio mic for the ceremony and 2 BSL interpreters.

Then when I had to go out to watch the match and walk onto the pitch I was given a different mic. This was great as I got running commentary through it for the whole match, so when a player went down injured everyone was asking me who it was as I had the answer in my ear! But the rest of the day I took in my stride and enjoyed. Ben Shepherd (compere) made sure he turned to me on the stage and I could lip read him, and Sir Geoff also, so I knew what was being said all day.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born in Sheffield and diagnosed deaf there. We moved to Bury St Edmunds when I was 2 and then my brother, Damian, came along when I was 3. He too is deaf. No other member of our family is deaf.
We then moved to Lancaster and then my sister, Madison, came along. She is hearing.

At primary school in Lancaster I had signed support in a mainstream class. I had a cochlear implant inserted when I was seven and I use a hearing aid in the other ear.

At secondary school it was felt, by services, that I didn’t need the signing so they stopped it. But my mum got school to allow me an hour a week of BSL from the local college. I passed my BSL level 1 at 13 and 6 months later I passed level 2 (with the highest ever score at the college – 2 marks off perfect) but ironically I still couldn’t have signing at school!

Prior to leaving secondary school I had a services assessment and it was deemed I should have accessed signing support in lessons as I would have understood more. However I still left school with 5 GCSEs.

At college I had a notetaker and BSL support which was great however when I started University I had so many issues with communication barriers and problems so I left and started working at the disability futsal hub (voluntarily) and then a few months later I did some work at PGL Wimarleigh, an activity centre.

What spurred your love for football?

I didn’t get into football until I was 12 as coaches didn’t communicate well with me. My mum ran a Deaf family group and she started doing some football for us and I loved doing it. I then heard that the FA also ran some disability sessions, so I started to go to those too.

It was then that the FA also started the disability talent hub, a pathway which could lead to being an England deaf player, and I was able to join that. The talent hub initially focused on futsal (a 5 a side indoor version of football with a heavier ball) which was really good. I could hear the coaches occasionally if they were talking, but they also had BSL support. And I made new friends who were also deaf, and others that had other disabilities, cerebral palsy, amputees and visual impaired players.

At 16 years old I couldn’t continue on the England playing pathway as I was too old, but the coaches let me come back to volunteer. There was no BSL support at that point, so I offered to help with communication, if they needed it.

At the same time I passed my GCSEs (which people didn’t think I could do) and I started college. I took a diploma in football studies, at Myerscough, Preston. I loved it as I had a notetaker and BSL support. Both were brilliant. As part of the course we did our FA level one coaching badge, so I came out with 2 awards. In the summer of 2017 I did my Futsal level one and my Disability coaching course.

The following year I started my FA level 2 and I completed my futsal level 2. I did this through the help of the coaches at the talent hub as they let me start to teach players. In April this year I completed my FA level 2 and it was great to know that I can be classed as a qualified level 2 coach.

The talent hub, over the last 2 years, has had assistant coach Sam Yates and head coach Steve Daley at the helm. Sam is an able bodied coach who has just finished his UEFA B award and can take over the hub now Steve is leaving for higher duties. Steve is a fantastic role model and has helped both me and my family with advice and support. He was visually impaired as a teenager and has captained the England visual impaired futsal squad for over 25 years. He too dropped out of University but then went back later to do his coaching qualifications.

Were there any initial challenges about accessing football training, due to your deafness?

When I was little getting coaches to tell me what they wanted to do, or getting them to remember they were wearing a radio mic, so keeping me in their group and not swapping me to another group, without changing the radio mic over was difficult.

I never got the offer to play in the first team at matches and I got upset. I had difficulty lip reading as I was too far away from the coach when playing, and too far to use hearing devices, and no one signed.

My mum ran a deaf family group and so she started to do some deaf football sessions at the local football club. We could be signed to, by my mum, whilst the coach showed us alongside explanations. After a couple of years I took over doing the signing for the coach (as I got my BSL level 2 at age 14) and so I started to assist the coaches at training. I found it easier with practical displays of skills so I knew to do the same for the players.

How did you manage any communication barriers when you moved into coaching?

Well, coaching players who you know is easy as they understand you and you understand them. You know the best way to get the best out of them and you know their personalities too.

However I went back to my old primary school to help run some football sessions and to gain confidence working with others. Most of the players that started my sessions had never played before, and half the players were girls. Not knowing them meant it was hard being able to talk to them and not knowing what they knew and how they could play was difficult.

But I started with some basics and as I got to know them the sessions grew in numbers and the players enjoyed it more. At a review at the end of term it was picked as one of the best things the kids had done!

Coaching in the rain is difficult. I’m lucky as nearly all my sessions are indoors, but when I was at college most of the sessions were outside. I either take my devices off and rely on BSL support or I use something like an aqua pack on my implant.

Unfortunately both my brother and I haven’t found a useful device for the hearing aid yet. I used covers to protect it but they only stop small splashes of water and not a mass of sweat or a deluge of rain.

What are you most proud of, so far?

I suppose it was when I played for Man City pan ability then the deaf squad in the ability counts league. The main year I was there we won the championship league and was promoted to the premier league, and we also won the peoples cup in Manchester so we received 2 trophies at the presentation night!

Do you do other volunteering with the deaf community aside from in football?

I finished volunteering at the hub at the end of April and it is due to start again in the next few weeks. The head coach has left so I have been asked to be the assistant coach, and not the volunteer! I can still sign to players and support access but also coach more. My brother has attended the hub the last few years and is now going to volunteer like I did. Maybe one day the two of us could be running the hub. 😊

I don’t just volunteer for coaching football. I have supported a football coach in the community, helping him to communicate with students at a deaf school and give him pointers on using bibs instead of whistles and using the floor as vibration to alert if needed. I offered ways to make adaptations as for example, in futsal there is a five second rule for goalkeepers or kick ins to release the ball. If you’re using a wooden school floor you can stomp your foot on the floor and the players can feel it, or hear the low frequency noise rather than blow a whistle.

I have also been helping at the ear foundation in Nottingham with their residential weeks. These are fun weeks where I don’t just do football, I get to do a huge range of activities and get to meet others of different ages and from different European countries such as Estonia, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Netherlands and Czech Republic. Everyone gets to know each other and has fun.

This year we took over 50 european deaf people to Headingley to watch a typical English game of cricket (a T20 blast match) and I had to help them understand the game of cricket. It was fun and it didn’t rain! But as most were around my own age I felt like I was having some fun too and not working as a volunteer.

What would you like to achieve next?

I have had the honour of working with and being friends with a legendary England player (Steve Daly – albeit VI futsal) who is brilliant for advice and encouragement. If I can keep the same attitude as him when working with others I hope I can encourage and inspire lots more players into deaf and disability football and futsal.

Many congratulations to James on his award from all at The Limping Chicken! You can check out the FA video filmed to show James in his volunteering role for the FA awards in Wembley:
https://youtu.be/uHEXPspynsw