In Portland, sixteen-year-old Lily Ben-Ami runs across the field, calls for the ball with a wave of her hand and scores. Her teammates hug her and celebrate loudly. Lily cannot hear their cheers. She has been deaf since birth, but on the soccer field, she says, she feels completely at home.
Lily started playing when she was seven, with her older brothers in the park near their house. 'They never treated me differently,' she remembers. When she was ten, she joined a local girls' team. It was the first real team she had played for, and every other player on it could hear.
At the beginning, there were problems. In soccer, players often shout to each other: 'Pass!', 'Behind you!', 'Watch out!' Lily missed all of these warnings. The referee's whistle was another difficulty. Several times she continued running with the ball after the game had stopped, and the other players thought she was ignoring the rules.
Her coach, Rhonda, decided that the team would adapt instead of asking Lily to change. She taught all the players a few simple signs, such as a raised fist for 'stop' and two fingers pointing for 'pass to the left'. She also began holding up a bright yellow flag whenever she blew the whistle. 'Very soon, the signs helped everyone,' Rhonda explains. 'In a noisy stadium, even players who hear perfectly can't hear each other. Signs work in any noise.'
Lily believes that being deaf has also made her a better player. 'I can't depend on sounds, so I watch all the time,' she says. 'I see where people are looking and where they are going to move.'
Today Lily dreams of playing for a national team. Her advice to other young people with disabilities is simple: 'Don't wait for the world to be perfect. Find people who are ready to meet you halfway.'