If things don't work out, another dream can come from it

WATCHING Jodie Ounsley squaring up to competitors as Fury on Gladiators, it's hard to believe she's ever been anything but strong and confident.

- LIZZIE CATT learns more

Aged 24, she already has a remarkable rugby career under her belt. The first deaf female player to have appeared for a senior England side, she represented England and Great Britain at rugby sevens.

She has won Deaf Sports Personality of the Year, served as honorary president of UK Deaf Sport, and visits schools talking to children about her story. But behind the scenes, Jodie, from Thornhill, West Yorkshire, has overcome shyness and self-doubt. She's now sharing the lessons she's learned in her new children's book, Keep Smashing It.

Born seven weeks' premature and diagnosed with profound hearing loss, Jodie's parents Phil and Jo were told their daughter probably wouldn't speak and would find it hard to get an education or a job when she grew up.

"They didn't know any deaf people at the time. They went into this mindset of, 'well, what can we do?" says Jodie.

Phil and Jo took Jodie to sessions at the Elizabeth Foundation, an organisation supporting deaf children, when she was three months, focusing on body language, eye contact and the start of lip-reading.