An England Footballer (Esther Maycock)
My hearing parents were wondering what is wrong with me when I was 8 months old, as they noticed that I stopped responding to them when they walked in a room and made a noise. I didn’t look up, just carried on playing with my toys.
At that point, they knew that I am profoundly deaf, and the confirmation result came through a brain scan at hospital, when I was 20 months old. The doctors and my parents didn’t know how I became deaf, but they think that my nerve had been damaged due to a high temperature.
One moment that I remember quite well was when I was five years old and my two brothers were playing football in the garden - I was so keen to play football and also other sports. I once dreamt that I want to become a PE teacher or professional football player…have my dreams come true?
My parents are Christians and as I grew up, they told me about Jesus and I went to Church with them. Although I went to Church with my parents every Sunday, I didn’t really feel God’s love and I didn’t know how to communicate with God. When I was about 13 years old it all changed, when my parents encouraged me to go on a Christian holiday with hearing people in Barnstaple, Devon.
I wasn’t keen on this idea as I didn’t know how I would fit or communicate with hearing people, but my parents had an idea to ask a hearing friend called Becky who had known me when I was a little girl, to come along with me. In the middle of the week, I was upset and lonely because I found it hard to make friends and I felt that nobody cared about me. So I decided I’d had enough and wanted to go home. I told Becky about it, but she encouraged me to stay for one more meeting, see how it went and then go home the next day if I still wasn’t happy. I agreed and went along, but the meeting really changed my life.
At that meeting, I learnt about Jesus, how He died for my sins and how much He loves me. By at the end of the talk, they offered everyone the opportunity to follow Jesus and I decided to follow Him. I was expecting her to pray with me, but instead I was taken to another room with the leaders to pray for me. I felt quite nervous, wasn’t sure whether I would be able to lip-read them all while they are praying. There was a deafened person there and I asked if I would have to lip-read everyone’s prayers, but this person just told me to focus my heart on God and He would speak to me.
For years, I had been going to Church and never realised God could communicate to our hearts. I decided to close my eyes while they were praying and had a vision of someone coming towards me, saying;
“Don’t worry, I am always with you wherever you go, I love you so much.” Then He gave me a hug - I felt a sense of warmth and love in my heart.
Jesus made a big difference to me and gave me His strength, love and faith. During the rest of the holiday, I made new friends. I was so happy that I had met Jesus as I learnt to be happy and try my best to manage those difficult times with God’s help.
When I was 15 years old, I saw an interesting leaflet called ‘Fit for Life’. It was about doing Sports with God. Because I loved playing sports at that time, I was so keen and wrote for more information. They gave me a magazine and I keenly read the whole magazine until the last page which mentioned Christians in Sport (CIS) Camp in the summer. I decided to go the following year, although my parents were a bit concerned about me going there because there was nobody I knew and it was full of hearing people. I told them that there is no need to worry about me because I know that God is with me.
When I was sixteen, I went to CIS Camp - really enjoyed it very much, the best ever Christian camp with hearing people. There were two team leaders who were willing to write notes during meetings and it helped me to understand what was going on. One evening, I was able to share my testimony for the first time to my bedroom group and I felt that God helped me to communicate to them. So I went again in 1997, the director of the CIS said that I would be able to be a Team Leader the next year, but I thought ‘Impossible! I can’t do that because I have to communicate harder with those children!’ But he said that I had done it in the past two years and I could do it still! So I became a leader for the next three years. During that time I met a person called Heidi who could sign. It was a great relief for me and I was so happy to have someone to sign fully with me.
In the year 2000, for the first time ever, Heidi came with me for the full weekend and interpreted all the meetings. It was also my first time being on the stage to share my testimony to hearing people and it was a great feeling even when speaking with my voice to those people because I knew that God was with me and helping me to get the message across to them.
I look back to when I first went to CIS Camp, not knowing anybody. God gave me good things at the end, after my patience and hard work in a hearing world. It is amazing to see God’s plans and know that I am never alone because God is with me wherever I go. All those experiences at CIS Camp have really helped me now in leading and involving Deaf Youth 4 Christ team under another organisation called Go!Sign. In the last two years, myself and the team have been travelling around UK, setting up 3 events per year and it is still on-going.
I played football from when I was young up to the year 2000, with Chelsea Ladies Football Club but I had a problem with my knee for few years, from a disaster tackle from an opponent, who kicked behind me knee on purpose while I was about to score a goal. At that point, I know that I had to see the doctor and agreed to have a key-hole operation in Summer 2001 to sort out the cartilage.
After the operation, I was expecting to go back and play football again, but the doctor found out that my ligaments have been damaged quite badly and it impacted me knowing that I had to stop playing football. I quit playing for Chelsea and the Great Britain Deaf Team, and I was bit angry and upset with God, asking Him why it was happening to me.
Eventually, I had a major operation one year later and it was successful, although the doctor said I had two main choices - 1.Going back to football, but there will be a very high risk of getting injured again and possibly not being able to play other sports for the rest of your life or 2. Doing different sports with no contacts with people, which would allow me to play sport for a long time. It hit me hard knowing that my football career had ended.
God surprised me in 2004 because He called me to go back to playing football again, although I did have doubts and worries about getting injured again. But God showed me a couple of verses that encouraged me to go for it: “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 40:10), and on the day I had to make the decision whether I should play for GB, in the Deaflympics 2005: “Let the whole world know what He has done.” (Psalm 105:1).
I have trained very hard over the last six months and I thank God that he has protected me from injury and given me so many opportunities to witness to other people about Jesus - and fulfilled my dreams with a bronze medal at the Deaflympics in Melbourne, Australia. It was a wonderful experience playing for my country and also for God.
Looking back at when I was injured and recovering, I really thank God for that opportunity because it helped me to focus on God more and put Him first. It really helped me to rely on Him, even putting God before football although I liked to score goals for Jesus.
So now, still playing football for GB and England, and Fulham Deaf Ladies FC - I wasn’t expecting that at all, but I thank God for all His plans and for fulfilling my dream when I was younger. I have a Futsal tournament coming up in November for England, and also the next Deaflympics coming up in 2009 for GB, so things are getting crazier!
Apart from football, my job is presenting and signing on programmes in the corner of the TV screen and it has almost been a year - funnily enough that is something I wasn’t expecting at all! To be honest, I have been avoiding it, but God planned me to go there and it’s full of challenges - so different from my old job of being a graphic designer.
Overall…during all those 27 years, there were ups and downs through many things in my life, but at the same time God has been with me all the way - what an exciting journey of my life…
