The fact that she has been deaf since birth doesn’t stop Vaiva from managing things. But she never felt bad about it – maybe because both her parents and brother are deaf, and she went to a school for the deaf, so she was constantly surrounded by people with whom she spoke sign language and did not feel special.
She had to be among the hearing people more after school, when she enrolled to study pedagogy. However, according to Vaiva, the course mates were friendly, also flirtatious, and interested in sign language. After graduating, the girl started working in a kindergarten for deaf children, and currently works in a group with two- and three-year-old children.
Vaiva’s daughter Hania will soon turn four. She goes to a regular kindergarten. It was a big surprise not only for Vaiva and her husband, who also has a hearing disability, but also for the doctors that the girl was born with good hearing – such a case is atypical. Now the girl communicates with her parents in sign language, and with her peers normally.
In addition to work and family, sport – badminton – has been close to Vaiva’s life for many years. In addition, she has worked as a model and won an international deaf beauty contest.
The interviewee discovered badminton at the age of eight. Her older brother took part in orienteering, and her parents took him to camps in the summer, and they took Vaiva along with them. Someone offered her to play badminton there – she picked up a racket for the first time and immediately felt that she liked this sport very much. Soon after, her parents took her to practice.
“In the past, they wanted to let me go to orienteering, like my brother, but I wasn’t impressed – there you have to run around the woods, no matter how bad the weather is. Well, you can play badminton calmly in the hall”, smiled Vaiva, telling her story through a sign language interpreter.
Training gives good emotions
V. Žymantė has been playing badminton for ten years. For a while, she even moved from Vilnius to Klaipėda because of him, where Donatas Narvilas, the coach working there, noticed her and invited her. Now she plays sports in Vilnius, but belongs to the Lithuanian deaf national team led by the aforementioned coach.
The interviewer not only waves her racket at herself, but also has solid achievements: just recently, on April 16, she took second place among women at the Lithuanian Deaf Badminton Championship held in Vilnius.
in 2023 At the World Deaf Badminton Championship held in Brazil, V. Žymantė became the runner-up in the mixed doubles event together with his colleague Kazimierus Dauskurt.
in 2022 she also performed well at the European Championships, where she finished first in the mixed group and third in singles.
“In competitions, not only good physical preparation, constant training, but also psychological preparation is very important. If you feel that you worked really well, self-confidence and belief that you will succeed naturally comes,” Vaiva remarked.
The husband is very supportive
Usually, even if she goes to training after a hard day’s work, she seems to have no energy, she gets distracted and recharges herself with good emotions. Not the last place for a charming woman is the fact that training helps to maintain beautiful body lines.
Her husband David is not active in sports, but he is very supportive.
As already mentioned, V. Žymantė also has other achievements – in 2014 she won the “Miss and Mister Deaf Stars” international deaf beauty contest held in Berlin. According to the interviewee, she participated in the beauty contest simply for the sake of interest and a new experience, and was very surprised when she managed to win.
I ask Vaiva, is the feeling of victory when a beauty crown is placed on your head and when a medal for winning the badminton championship is hung around your neck basically the same? “Not really, the feelings are very different. It can be said that participating in a beauty contest is simpler – you dress nicely, do your hair, walk down the catwalk, smile – and if you’re lucky, you become the winner. And in sports, you need to constantly train, prepare, keep in shape – and then, if you manage to win, you know that it happened thanks to your personal efforts. So you are much more proud of such a victory,” Vaiva remarked.
Preparation for the Deaf Games in Japan
We also talked about the work and victories of V. Žymantė and other Lithuanian badminton players with the head coach of the Lithuanian deaf badminton national team, Donats Narvilas. He himself played badminton from the age of six, encouraged by his father Antanas Narvil, who was a badminton coach and worked not only with the hearing, but also with the deaf.
When he grew up, D.Narvilas became the champion of Lithuania twice – by the way, he won this title while playing in mixed doubles together with the deaf athlete Kristina Dovydaityta.
After finishing his sports career, D. Narvilas followed in his father’s footsteps and works as a coach. He says that he does not feel any difference between deaf and hearing badminton players and does not make concessions for those who have a hearing disability in training.
According to the coach, the Lithuanian deaf badminton team is currently strong enough – the athletes are striving for victories in international championships, and in Lithuania they also compete with the hearing. In 2023, as already mentioned, at the World Deaf Badminton Championship in Brazil, V. Žymantė became the runner-up together with her colleague K. Dauskurt. Also, K. Dauskurtas and Ignas Reznikas became vice-champions in the men’s doubles groups, and in the youth under-19 group. Vaidas Voroneckis and Aurelija Ramaneckaitė won the bronze of the championship in the mixed pairs competition.
“Perhaps the biggest, but at the same time, the most painful victory of our team was last year in Brazil – we didn’t really believe that our men could win against the Koreans, but we came very close to the Olympic gold, and still came second. Most of the teams from Asian countries took part in the championship – badminton is very popular in Asia – so second place was a great achievement for the Lithuanians,” said Donatas Narvilas.
Now he and the national team are already starting to prepare for next year’s deaf games (deaflympics) in Japan – the Lithuanian team got into them when they became European vice-champions.
As currently the strongest male athletes, the coach would name K. Dauskurtas and I. Reznikas, while the situation among women is constantly changing, young athletes are climbing on the heels of the old ones. In general, badminton is gradually becoming more popular in Lithuania, besides, deaf badminton players receive the support and support of the Lithuanian Deaf Sports Committee, so it is likely that they will continue to please with their achievements.
And what would the coach say about Vaiva, the heroine of this article? “Vaiva is a real team player, she is very dedicated to this sport, responsible and dutiful. She also successfully competes with healthy athletes,” said D. Narvilas.
When asked what kind of coach he is and whether he often scolds Vaivas and other members of the national team, D. Narvilas answered: “I can be strict when I see that someone relaxes, works worse, but I also know how to praise when needed.” It seems to me that the atmosphere in our team is sufficiently friendly and benevolent.”
Tags: girl Vilnius wins beauty contests sports competitions Feelings
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