Cumbria Cricket’s Nathan Waterston has learnt sign language to help develop his connection with pupils.
Nathan is the cricket development officer for Barrow and West Cumbria and has been delivering sessions in schools to impact lives on and off the cricket field.
The Chance to Shine programme saw Nathan visit Greengate Junior School in Barrow, which has a number of pupils with special needs.
In September last year, Nathan was told one of the pupils in his upcoming Year 5 Chance to Shine sessions was deaf and, while he enjoyed being in the lessons with his classmates, he needed one-to-one support in every lesson with the help of a sign language interpreter.
Nathan said: “I’m at Greengate quite a lot and it just cropped up in conversation with a member of staff about the pupil’s needs.
“She mentioned how this pupil was completely deaf and needs sign language to ensure he’s getting the most from his schooling. He obviously receives a lot of support from staff, but I thought it would be really nice to learn a few things so I can communicate with him.
“I felt I really wanted to be able to communicate with him directly, rather than me explaining the session to the other children and then asking the sign language interpreter to explain it to the pupil.
I’ve learned the whole alphabet so I can spell out the names of the pupils in the group and which group he’ll be in.
“For example, if there’s someone in the group called Tom who he’ll be pairing up with, I can sign ‘T’ and he’ll know where to go. We also use different colour cones and bibs, so I’ve learned the signs for the colours to ensure he knows where to be within the game.
“I’m not fluent in sign language, but it’s been amazing to be able to give more back to him.”
