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With most of my end of year control tests set for my classes, and with @GarethWhittaker getting the ball rolling with @ShowmaxOnline to get subtitles for #ChasingTheSun 
up, I've finally started really getting stuck into the episodes.
Dammit, does it resonate with me. /1
up, I've finally started really getting stuck into the episodes. Dammit, does it resonate with me. /1
I earned my first cap for @SADeafRugby against @WalesDeafRugby back in 2015,but I've been involved almost since the start of resurrecting it. In 2011, after sitting on the bench at club level for a full season at my club,I started questioning why, despite being one of the most /2
dedicated players at the club (I trained 4x a week, since one of my mates was in the u20 side & I gave him a lift, figured I might as well stick around & train with them), I couldn't have bought game time. I asked the coach why I wasn't being selected, where I could improve. /3
No straight answer was forthcoming. It was then that I first wondered if it was because of my hearing, & started looking for others like me. I found @deafrugby first, who pointed me to @Stones_Enabled. It was like a homecoming. I started a Facebook group that's now 3000 strong /4
That Facebook group was where the first players were discovered.
That was the start of a journey that's taken me into a classroom at a school for the Deaf,where I'm seeing every single one of the challenges we face.
More than anything, I want to be @Makazole16 for the Deaf /5
That was the start of a journey that's taken me into a classroom at a school for the Deaf,where I'm seeing every single one of the challenges we face.
More than anything, I want to be @Makazole16 for the Deaf /5
To use my voice to speak for those in a similar journey to mine, who would otherwise be unheard.
As a wing in the same size category as @Cheslin_Kolbe11 (I think I've got like 1cm on you!), I've always got a ton to prove, physically - I wish I could make half the impact. /6
As a wing in the same size category as @Cheslin_Kolbe11 (I think I've got like 1cm on you!), I've always got a ton to prove, physically - I wish I could make half the impact. /6
To have the fearlessness of @fafdeklerk (Who I think I may have scarred for life on meeting him & @WarrenWhiteley in my guise as #TheRugbyBachelor when my best man dragged me to the Sharks vs Lions game in Durban in 2016 in full @BlueBullsRugby gear...). /7
To write a fairytale half as epic as that of #HerschelJantjies - Or, more likely, to help someone else do that. With 73% of Deaf & hard of hearing individuals unemployed, there's got to be one who can rise up. /8
My debut was made in the #6 jersey-auspicious? @SiyaKolisi_Bear is the example of the kind of leader I would want to be, on and off the field.
@SADeafRugby has meant a few opportunities for me, personally,from working with @TheSharksZA & the media team to learning web design /9
@SADeafRugby has meant a few opportunities for me, personally,from working with @TheSharksZA & the media team to learning web design /9
But I can't escape the fact that there should be more. I feel a weight of responsibility - I've come from an incredible degree of privilege compared to my Deaf teammates, & I feel it's MY job to be the bridge. That's my purpose.
I've endured some pretty personal attacks /10
I've endured some pretty personal attacks /10
Largely based off identity-see,I've always been "the deaf guy" growing up.But it's from the other side, too-because I went to mainstream school, didn't learn SASL until I was 20.Doesn't matter that I'm a teacher at a school for the Deaf or a Deaf player-I'm not "Proper Deaf" /11
Because I can speak orally. The politics have been disgusting at times, to the point that there's been more focus on who is in the committees than what's being done for the game. That BURNS. I am absolutely incensed by it - because it kills my dreams. /12
Ian Schwartz at SARU recently sent me a message in response to the latest political mess - because I was seriously looking at giving up my place on the field to try & take control of the politics. He reminded me that it's not all for me to carry. We need others. /13
We need others who are passionate about rugby, and passionate about using it to make a difference to our nation.
We might need you, if you're that kind of person.
We need a president, a secretary, an actual executive committee committed to making Deaf Rugby happen. /14
We might need you, if you're that kind of person.
We need a president, a secretary, an actual executive committee committed to making Deaf Rugby happen. /14
Not just because it's novel or because it's a charity case - no, it's about creating opportunities beyond the field.
Just as the @Springboks have proven.
We, too, are #ChasingTheSun.
Just as the @Springboks have proven.
We, too, are #ChasingTheSun
.
