A TEENAGER has told of his pride on receiving a national call up and how his deafness is no barrier to achieving his dreams.
Logan Reay, from Darlington, has been called up to the Team GB squad, a testament to his promising rise as a young athlete.
The 17-year-old is registered deaf, but he hasn’t let it hinder his success despite revealing the everyday struggles his deafness poses.
He plays wearing hearing aids and on the occasions he doesn’t, due to the rain, he has become so accustomed to the game that he can read the game in front of him without having to rely on the frantic appeals of teammates.
Logan said: “In terms of all the shouting and the contact, I spend a lot of time studying the game so I can manage it.
“Once I know what I’m doing and I’m in the zone everything is fluent. I can see someone shouting and know what they’re after.
“I often forget half the time I’m deaf.”
The former pupil at St Francis Xavier School, in Richmond, launched his career by playing in Gateshead before relocating to Bristol for college.
He is currently studying a level 3 sports coaching course alongside his American Football activities. A keen rugby and football player as well as a golfer, Logan says playing at a high level has absorbed his everyday life.
“It takes up every day of my life,” he said. “If we’re not out on the field training we’re in the gym or studying footage of us and identifying where we can improve. There’s always something that we’re working on.
“With an ambition to study and play in America he’s currently living the dream thanks to his recent GB call up.
Logan added: “There’s so many amazing things going for me at the minute. I’ve always liked the idea of representing GB and I can’t think of anything better to do.!
His family have told of their immense pride in seeing the teenager thrive at such a high level after helping him along his American Football journey. His mother would drive dozens of miles to take him to training and games while granddad Tony worked as his coach and trainer to help him acclimatise to the sport.
Granddad Tony Reay said he was ‘heartbroken’ when Logan relocated to Bristol but is delighted to see him thrive. He said: “Once people saw the level of training he was working at, that turned a few people’s heads and began to realise how good he was.”
Logan is due to travel to Denmark with Team GB in May and hopes of further opportunities in the future.
“People didn’t expect me to be where I am today. Especially as a kid with a hearing aid, I thought when I got older there would be issues but I’ve took on every barrier so far and everyone is really proud of me for that.
“Without having the support around me I’d never be able to dream about what I want to do. Without my family I wouldn’t have been able to travel or had any of the training I’ve had.”
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