Struble Heads Women’s USA Deaf Soccer Team

Aug. 12, 2011

On April 21 of this year, Carnegie Mellon University Head Women’s Soccer Coach, Yon Struble, was named the head coach of the women’s United States Deaf National Team.  Struble was chosen after the USA Deaf Soccer Association went through months of searching.

“I am honored to have been selected for this position,” said Struble. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to coach an amazing group of athletes on the international stage.  The players that represent this team come from all over the country and have all played at high levels collegiately and professionally.  The opportunity to coach a team that represents the United States at international events is both exciting and humbling.” 

The national team won the gold medal at the last two Deaflympics, most recently was 2009 in Taipei when they beat Germany in the final.

“My goal is to continue to bring home the gold when we compete in the next Deaflympics in 2013,” Struble said.

Struble held a camp July 14-17 in Pittsburgh on the campus of Carnegie Mellon.  The camp’s main focus was to allow Struble to meet the veterans and begin the process of introducing new talent to the pool of players.

The first camp for Struble consisted of a mix of players that were part of the gold medal team along with many new players trying to be part of the team that will compete in international events.  It was a tryout period to see where the team was and where it needs to go to be ready for the World Deaf Football Championships (Deaf World Cup) in Ankara, Turkey, July of 2012.

“In the four days of camp that I worked with the athletes, I learned and gained a tremendous respect for what they have to do to compete as a deaf athlete.  It seems with all my hearing teams, the issue of communicating – actually talking to each other while they play, is a constant battle. With this team the issue is not that they do not want to verbally communicate, but that it is their greatest challenge.”

When the Deaf Team competes in international competitions, they cannot wear or use any type of hearing aid.  So when they step on the field, much of their communication is non-verbal.  In order to prepare for this, Struble and his staff made the players leave their hearing devices in their rooms during training and scrimmages. 

“For some of them, this was a whole new world because they had never played without hearing devices so it took some getting used to.  For the coaching staff it was a challenge because we had to really think well in advance about what our coaching points would be, when to stop, how to address the team and the need to be concise and brief in our communication,” Struble added.

Struble feels that training the team during the four days of camp really helped him reflect upon how he can be a better communicator for his team at Carnegie Mellon.

“I am incredibly excited about getting back together with this team.  I know what our focus will be this April when we train in Ohio and play a friendly game in Columbus Crew Stadium.  It’s going to be fun getting all of the veterans back as well as seeing the improvement of the new players,” Struble said.

Under international criteria, to be eligible to compete in deaf soccer competitions, players must have an average hearing loss of 55 decibels or more in the best ear. All players competing in deaf matches must remove all hearing aids before playing which creates another obstacle to overcome, balance - another important advantage for a hearing player.  The players are not permitted to wear any hearing aids or devices during competition.  Because of this, no whistles are used, only flags and a common courtesy with the opponent.