Sixteen-year-old Mikaylah has never been overseas. But all that’s about to change, as she is heading to Japan to represent Australia at the Deaflympics in November.

The southern Sydney teenager has been playing soccer since she was five, and says for her family, it’s ‘all we do.’ So, when she was selected for the Deaf Football Australia’s national women’s team last year, she was over the moon. And even more so when she learned she’ll be playing at the Deaflympics, the world’s second-oldest international multi-sporting event in which athletes who are deaf compete at an elite level.

A mutation in the connexin 26 gene caused Mikaylah’s hearing loss, which progressed through her early childhood. By kindergarten, she was profoundly deaf and had received two cochlear implants to help her access sound.

Mikaylah—who is the only one in her family with hearing loss—attended our Preschool and then our School for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or have low vision until Year 2. Her mum Sue says this, along with early intervention support such as speech therapy, equipped her for the mainstream classroom environment.

Sue says that soccer has always been part of Mikaylah’s life, despite some advice to the contrary. “We were always told she probably wouldn't be very good at sport because hearing can affect your balance. But the opposite has been true. She's always loved soccer,” she says.

Mikaylah says that she has Sue (and social media) to thank for connecting her with the deaf soccer world, after Sue came across the Deaf Football Australia (DFA) page while browsing Facebook one day and encouraged Mikaylah to try it out. And she says she’s felt included from the moment she joined the DFA team. “It’s nice to have an organisation that welcomes people who have hearing aids or cochlear implants or use sign. They can all just come and do what they love to do,” she says.

To ensure there is a level playing field, players are required to have a hearing loss of at least 55 decibels in their better ear, confirmed by a series of hearing tests. These tests looked at how Mikaylah hears with and without her cochlear implants and checked her auditory pathway. Mikaylah’s audiologist Natali conducted her testing and was excited to play a small part in her journey.

Players are also required to remove hearing aids and cochlear implants while playing, which Mikaylah found challenging initially.

“I had never taken off my cochlear [implants] before when playing a game, so it was definitely a big change because I had to keep my head up and read people's lips,” says Mikaylah.

The team has also spent time learning signs for using on the field, like passing or making a run down the side of the field, which Mikaylah says was very helpful for communicating with each other.

Mikaylah’s parents Sue and Corry can’t wait to watch Mikaylah compete in Tokyo, even if she’s travelling separately to her. “She’ll be ditching her parents and going with the team,” says Sue, laughing.

Mikaylah has been researching Japan and is looking forward to exploring the country and connecting with other players with hearing loss.