Skeptics tried to tamp down championship expectations, but the Riverside Cubs in California wouldn’t hear it. They couldn’t.

All the players and their coaches were deaf, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

The team knew it had something incredibly special — and some key advantages over their hearing counterparts. That first became obvious back in 2021 when the Cubs broke through every obstacle, into the national spotlight.

That year, the high school team was undefeated all season then lost the state championship in their division, in a heartbreaker. But the Cubs won the title in 2022, and again in 2023, silencing the skeptics.

What makes the story even more inspiring is that the team from Riverside’s California School for the Deaf had endured 51 losing seasons and lost every single game in almost a dozen of those years. Then something dramatically different happened three years ago.

The players unlocked the secret of true teamwork and translated a perceived disability into a huge advantage.

For starters, the kids were tough and courageous in the face of obstacles, refusing to give up or give in. One player broke his leg during a game but found a brace on Amazon so he could rejoin the team. Another fractured his ankle but finished the game.

And a third insisted on playing despite walking pneumonia.

But perseverance wasn’t........

© Sarnia Observer