Agnė was born and up to 7 years old. grew up in Vilnius, in a children’s care home, and her condition was aggravated by the fact that she was deaf from an early age (her biological mother and one of the sessions were also deaf). Later, she was adopted by the people of Kaunas, who also have a hearing disability – Agnė now calls them “beloved parents”, her mother is also her best friend.
Agnė also communicates with her biological mother, forgave her for leaving her the only one of the 5 children she had in a foster care institution.
In the interviewee’s childhood, there were not as many services for the deaf as there are now, so it was not easy. We had to communicate with hearing neighbors in the yard by body language or by writing on the ground. Although she studied at a center for the deaf and hard of hearing, most of the teachers were hearing and she had to try to read their words from their lips – only later, by law, they had to learn sign language, and the students were relieved.
Agnė started playing sports as a child. “I went to the swimming pool, and also went to girls’ basketball practice, then I started playing basketball more seriously. My adoptive parents supported and encouraged me a lot because they were afraid that I, being very mobile and restless, could go down a bad path. The teachers also supported me, because I could guess everything and did well in my studies. I also organized holidays at the school, I was a member of its council – I was very active”, said Agnė.
So she has been playing basketball for 30 years. Back in 2002 with the Lithuanian deaf women’s basketball team participated in the first World Deaf Women’s Basketball Championship held in Greece, where they won silver.
True, Agnė had left this team for some time – she did it for 4 years. took a break and tried orienteering, but still felt that basketball was more dear to her heart. Then she tasted the bread of the basketball player Legionnaire – in 2009-2013. with a break, she went to Iceland and Sweden, where she successfully played for the teams of those countries.
After gaining useful experience abroad and returning to Lithuania, the woman again joined the Lithuanian deaf women’s team.
True, although she has been playing for this team for a very long time, there are two women who have been playing for even longer.
in 2011 Agnė had also become the team captain for a year, when the then leader went on childcare leave. A year ago, A. Valkūnienė was elected team captain for the second time.
“The duties are not easy, you need to dedicate yourself to your team, support it and unite it. But our team is great, we have improved recently, and I believe in its success,” said the captain.
The team is doing well at the moment, playing in the Capital Women’s Basketball League (SKL) and currently leading the table, and is ranked seventh in the Women’s B League, although they compete here with non-disabled athletes.
However, the most memorable achievement of Agnei and her team is when in 2019 In the Deaf Women’s World Championship held in Poland, she had to play against the USA basketball players in the semi-finals and defeated them, and then became the runner-up. They took second place several times in other championships.
Of course, victories are very gratifying, but the process itself is also gratifying – according to the interviewee, she feels better when she does sports, she has more energy. “When I overcome the difficulties of sports, I also overcome the difficulties of life. And my wish for others is to never give up, you have to try and eventually you will succeed. Desire always overcomes obstacles, and then it becomes the most interesting and best experience,” said Agnė.
The requirements are the same
Andrius Vaicekauskas, the coach of the Lithuanian deaf women’s basketball team, is an experienced specialist who has been working as a coach for 18 years. Currently, in addition to the deaf team, he also works with the men’s team of Vyčio-VDU in Šakias, the girls’ team of “Žalgiris” school and the women’s team of “Aisčiau”. In the past, he worked only with men’s teams, about five years ago he started coaching women and girls, and three seasons ago he also started coaching women with hearing disabilities.
“The specifics of work differ minimally, after all, women’s, men’s, deaf and hearing basketball is the same, well, only the speed and physical data are slightly different when playing. I’m very interested in trying a somewhat different job specifics, I think that’s how I improve as a coach,” said A. Vaicekauskas.
And he added that he believes that it is necessary to raise the level of women’s basketball as much as possible and is trying to do so.
The coach has already taught sign language as much as it is needed in basketball. In addition, sign language interpreters usually participate in competitions.
“I told the women of the team right away that they are the same people to me as everyone else, and I will demand the same, I will give the same as everyone else,” smiled the coach.
And added that it took time for the players to get used to him, get used to his system, but now their game is pleasing to the eye. And I heard praise from the judges and the secretariat that the women have really improved in the last year and are now playing beautiful basketball.
“It seems to me that great merit goes to the president of the Lithuanian Deaf Sports Committee, Edvins Kriūnas, who, after assuming this position, began to take great care of deaf sports, changed the established order, coaches. You can really see the results – the men’s basketball players showed them right away, the girls haven’t done that much yet, but if they play the kind of basketball they’re playing now, we can definitely achieve at this European Deaf Women’s Basketball Championship (June 21-29 in Málaga, Spain) good results”, hoped A. Vaicekauskas.
The coach wants to praise all the players. Gražina Jočytė, Ramunė Eskertaitė, Deimantė Navikaitė, Rugilė Vosyliūtė are particularly strong, in his opinion.
Maybe when working with women, and still with hearing disabilities, the coach is gentler than when working with men? “I’m quite a strict, demanding coach, sometimes, and I give a damn. However, over time I realized that sometimes it is better not to be angry, but to clarify what is wrong. But if you try to explain something very gently, probably the hearing women won’t hear you, won’t listen. Some girls themselves say that they need to be yelled at to start playing better,” said A. Vaicekauskas.
Hopes to cheer with medals
Team captain Agnė, when asked if the new coach is not too strict, answered: “Personally, I can’t imagine a very gentle coach – in my sports career, almost everyone was strict, and that motivated me and gave me better results.”
And she added that she herself thought a couple of years ago, maybe it’s time for her to retire from professional basketball and play sports just for fun, after all, female athletes of her age are already considered “pre-retirement” age. However, when the new coach arrived, she saw that he was a top-level specialist who used exceptional training methods, and decided to stay. According to Agnes, the new manager explains much more clearly what he expects from the team, what the defense system should be, etc., and then the results are better.
“With this coach, we have not yet won major victories, but I really hope that we will be able to make the coach happy with medals at the European Deaf Women’s Basketball Championship to be held in June, for which we are seriously preparing and trying,” hoped A. Valkūnienė.
Tags: girl Kaunas grew orphanage discovered favorite activity hope coach happy medals
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