At the entrance to the pavilion of Escola Básica Fernando Caldeira, in Águeda, the noise, even if muffled by the partitions, of balls bouncing and shaking against walls, echoes outside. Training has already started. After the warm-up, there are countless ball throw-ins, rehearsed over and over again, until the movements are perfectly synchronized. Diogo Teixeira, the trainer, taps his foot on the ground whenever he wants to repeat the exercise. Or throw up your hands, and everything goes back to where it started. Communication that breaks the sound barrier. Did I forget to mention? This is a team made up entirely of deaf players, but competing against hearing opponents. And so another barrier is broken: that of integration. From a successful team in the national Deaf Championship, the Associação Cultural dos Surdos de Águeda, which has been competing in futsal competitions for 25 years, wanted to become competitive against opponents with whom they did not share their physical limitations. This is how he discovered the Census League, an amateur championship in the district of Aveiro, promoted within the scope of recreation and leisure that is recognized by the Portuguese Football Federation. «We've been thinking about this for some time now», admits Diogo Teixeira, with the team captain, David Lourenço, rejoicing at «finally being able to play against listeners». Ideas are transmitted in Sign Language with the help of an interpreter. No matter how much you want, communication remains a key point here. And during games, things get a little complicated. «Sometimes, the referee signals a foul and we want to understand why, but it's not easy to do so. Often, we just have to accept it», says Diogo. And there are cases in which this difficulty increases. «In a game with Salreu, a player on our team fell and injured his leg, but the opponent started saying it was nothing. Our player said he had been injured, but in sign language, and the opponent insisted that he had not. It was a breakdown in communication, no one understood each other», he says. To mitigate these difficulties, referees began to signal fouls by waving their arms or using tissues. «There were even two referees, already of some age, who brought large flags to make it visually easier for us. It was perfect», points out captain David Lourenço. This shows that «the League tried to adapt» to the team's natural needs, praises Diogo Teixeira. Adjustments that began even before the idea became reality. «When we received the registration request, I questioned the other teams and was completely surprised by the proactivity of all of them. They gave their approval and were willing to help. This is visible when teams face deaf teams, the coexistence is improved to tell them that they are part of the championship», praises Armando Tavares, for organizing the event. AC Surdos de Águeda has also done its part to integrate into the League in the best way possible. «We were quite calm, but we felt that the listening teams have twice the energy and motivation», notes coach Diogo Teixeira, which forced his players to raise their competitive level and «respond with pressure». «We are very touchy, but we try not to touch (the opponents) so much to avoid fouls. Furthermore, we have to use many more tactics. We are growing in this part», adds a coach with a low profile during the games, an important quality to avoid creating distractions for his athletes. This is because «deaf people need to be very concentrated on what they are doing», so any visual information is potentially distracting, which leads them to «wait for the interval to give the most significant instructions». Break prejudice So many adjustments and precautions create an impact on those who, until now, might not have even imagined them. For Diogo Teixeira, this is natural. He understands that, «for hearing people, suddenly receiving a deaf team puts them in a difficult position». In fact, «in the first game, they seemed afraid to play with us, they didn't want to hurt us». Basically, “it’s a different reality”, with all that that implies. It's also true for AC Deaf de Águeda players, don't forget. The team is made up of athletes between 21 and 50 years old, some from Viseu, Lousã or Coimbra, who meet once a week in Águeda to train. The games are the most visible facet of the project. «The debut in the Census League was a great challenge for all of us», recalls the coach. The reasons were many. «It was the beginning of the game, trying to understand the dynamics of the listening team, also that of the referee and why we had to communicate. We were quite anxious and apprehensive, but we tried to remain calm», he says. David Lourenço has personally suffered from these differences. Born in Viseu, he says that the love for the ball is in his blood, so much so that, in his youth, he risked training in a futsal team with hearing players. But not everything went as expected. «When I joined that club, when they realized I was deaf, they physically showed that they didn't want (him to be there). Before, when I played informally, I had never had this problem, but the communication barrier ended up being too heavy and I started playing with deaf people", he says. Today, he works in a clothing store and plays as a universal player at AC Surdos de Águeda. He has his idol in Ricardinho and sees “creating friendships” with other players as one of the main added values of the experience in the Census League. «We taught the Veiros players how to say beer in Sign Language and the club published a story on social media about it. It was funny,” he says, between smiles. «It is very important to share and exchange experiences. We took the opportunity to explain our language, our culture and identity», adds Diogo Teixeira, who missed a meeting promoted by the Juv Futsal Team, from São João da Madeira, because he became a father for the second time. «The feedback was very positive, the players said they liked it. They took the opportunity to get to know each other better», he says. Despite not having yet won any game in the Census League (with the relevance that this will have), AC Surdos de Águeda hopes to be able to repeat the experience in the future. It is necessary to understand whether the support is enough for this, because on the field the team shows clear improvements. «We adapted, we felt more confident and from the second or third game onwards we started to establish some type of communication, through mimicry, essentially. In the first game we lost 17-0, it was very confusing for us, but in the last game we played better and it was 4-0", explains Diogo Teixeira. It is an evolutionary process, as with everything in life. The important thing is that they can live it. «Anyone who watches them play thinks the joy they have in games, despite the results, is excellent. It's a very organized team, that knows how to play and has incredible fair play. It is an added value for the League”, praises Armando Tavares, for organizing the Liga Census, for whom “AC Surdos de Águeda brought a different way of looking at competitions”. And how enriching the difference is. Or should be. Unconditionally.