Canadian Deaflympic athletes face $100,000 shortfall, jeopardizing upcoming competition

Globe and Mail

30-05-2025

In between shuttling her two sons back and forth to rep hockey and working two jobs, Kimberly Summers somehow finds the time to train for her own sport, as a decorated player on the Canada deaf women's volleyball team. But with the quadrennial Summer Deaflympics fast approaching in November, Summers now has something else to worry about: funding.
The Canadian Deaf Sports Association (CDSA) is hoping to send a delegation of 48 athletes to the event, which is being held in Tokyo, but this week announced that it needs to raise $100,000 by October to be able to do so.
With the CDSA having committed to pay for 50 per cent of each athlete's costs for travel and accommodation, it's on each competitor to make up the shortfall.
'It's very stressful, not only mentally, emotionally, obviously financially,' Summers said through an interpreter. 'I have to spend money out of my own pocket for training, for team fees, for equipment.
'Seventy-five per cent of my travel I'm paying for, it's like, 'Why am I paying out of pocket to compete at this level and represent my country?''
Summers, who was born deaf, is originally from Waterford, Ont., and is set to compete at her fifth Deaflympics. The 43-year-old works at a Sportchek store and as a student support councillor at a deaf school in Milton, Ont. However, she recognizes that a lot of her fellow Canadian competitors have to borrow money from family and friends to make it out to these big international events, which also include world championships and Pan Am Games for the Deaf.
'I've been involved since 2001 and we have to fundraise every event that we go to,' Summers said. 'It's a real struggle.'
Despite the financial burden – which has seen a few competitors drop out of this year's Deaflympics – Summers said the experiences that she has had playing volleyball have been vital to her self-esteem, allowing her to show that she can do whatever nondeaf people can do. She has played on both hearing and deaf teams since she started playing as a teenager, but has found that communication has been a problem on hearing teams.
'I struggled in life, being deaf, with isolation, being the only deaf person in a hearing world,' she said. 'So volleyball, playing on a team, was my way to socialize and feel like I'm a part of something.'
Her career highlight at the Deaflympics was undoubtedly 2017 in Samsun, Turkey, when Summers was selected as Canada's flag bearer for the opening ceremony.
'Something about 2017 and being the flag bearer, it had such an impact on me,' she said. 'And I felt like we were getting equal recognition at the Olympic level as hearing athletes do.'
There are multiple reasons for the funding shortfall. The fact that Canada is sending its largest delegation in at least 20 years is one, as is the high cost of living in Tokyo, with hotel rooms running between $500 and $700 per night.
Donald Prong, the president of the board of directors of the CDSA, said that there are some federal grants that provide funding, but they make up only a very small portion of what is required.
One of the biggest problems, he said, is a lack of awareness in this country, particularly in contrast to a quadrennial event like the Paralympics.
'The Paralympics, they get a lot of funding,' he said through an interpreter. 'The media is always supporting them. So there is a bit of opportunity that we miss there that people aren't aware of the Deaflympics as much as the Paralympics.'
Another hurdle that deaf people have to overcome, he said, is the belief that they should simply hold their events at the Paralympics. However, not only does the Deaflympics predate the Paralympics – it started in 1924 while the first Paralympics was held in 1960 – but Prong added that the Paralympics are for people that require adaptations.
If a deaf person were to compete in the Paralympics, they would only qualify for two events with the adaptations that are involved. In comparison, Canada will compete in nine events in Tokyo this year.
'The Deaflympics, it's a deaf space,' he said. 'So there's language fluency, culture, socialization – even the officials are all deaf.'
Both Summers and Prong are hoping that corporate Canada can step up and help get its athletes over to Tokyo to represent the country.
'We have the skill set that hearing volleyball players have,' Summers said. 'We deserve this opportunity to experience the inclusivity of Deaflympics or deaf competing events. We are at that same level as hearing athletes.'