Nine-year-old Javis is extraordinary in many respects. His interest in the sport of motocross makes him really special. The reason – the primary school pupil from Osnabrück in Lower Saxony has been hard of hearing since birth, but that does not restrict him in any way as a sportsman. On the contrary, his handicap makes him concentrate more on his other senses. Javis: “Being able to hear is relatively unimportant. What matters is that I can see and feel the machine.”
Javis has been interested in motorcycles for years and has ridden pillion with his father, Kit, quite a few times. The young MX talent would never stop talking to his parents about his interest in riding until they finally got him a place at the MSC Mölln ADAC MX Academy for the hearing-impaired. “We’d already been wondering how we could get Javis into the regular ADAC MX Academy when we found out about the special taster courses on a website for the deaf (www.taubenschlag.de). That got us really interested, because it was just right for Javis,” said his mum, Diana, as Javis chimed in: “I was very happy, because I could finally ride by myself. I had a smile on my face the rest of the day. Being able to ride fast gives you a real sense of freedom.”
The ten trainees at the ADAC MX Academy for the hearing-impaired each had a trainer and some sign-language specialists to help them. “He would give me special hand signals when I was riding, telling me whether to stop or continue. A sign-language interpreter would then stand next to the trainer while he was explaining things or during discussions and translate everything for us via signing,” said Javis, who got his own bike straight after having his first experience of motocross at Mölln. Javis told us proudly: “I scraped together my birthday and Christmas money and bought a second-hand 2001 KTM SX65. My parents also chipped in, and some relatives bought me a new pair of MX boots.”
He always goes training with his dad, who sometimes lets him ride in the grounds of his motorbike club, and they practise together at weekends. “My dad is also my role model, because he also rides despite being deaf and does all his own repairs,” said the nine-year-old. The way Javis feels makes his mum very proud: “They’ve actually grown closer together. His dad is particularly pleased that he can take him to motorbike meetings with other deaf riders and he can ride his KTM there. Javis is very proud, highly motivated and forgets the time while riding. When he’s out of fuel, he simply pushes his bike back to the start and gets straight back on after filling up.”
The MSC Mölln eV has run the ADAC MX Academy powered by KTM and the associated academy for the hearing-impaired on behalf of the ADAC since 2015. The North German club offers weekly youth training courses organised by licensed coaches for those children who want to continue their training after the taster session. Ralf Kohn: “We’re very keen in our club to work with young people and make a big effort to provide the best possible platform to make it possible for them to develop further. That’s why we give all academy participants interested the unique opportunity of being able to come to youth training after the taster course so that they can decide whether they want to buy their own motorcycle and gear needed and regularly take part in the future.”
The ADAC MX Academy for the hearing-impaired is the only one of its kind anywhere in the world. Entry for children aged between 7 and 12 is therefore not limited just to North Germany but is open to youngsters from all over the country.