Earlier this year, Gary Gold described Mat Gilbert as an inspiration.
As the country's only deaf professional sportsperson it is hard not to agree with the Bath Rugby head coach's assessment. The man himself, however, is a bit more humble.
When you see Gilbert on the rugby pitch it is impossible to tell him apart from the other 29 men on the field. Only when the flanker removes his head guard to reveal a hearing aid in each ear is there any noticeable difference.
"More attention comes with the hearing loss and being a professional sportsman and people do ask questions but, ultimately, I want to just be known as the guy who played in the back row for Bath rather than the deaf guy who played in the back row for Bath," said 27-year-old Gilbert, who was first diagnosed as deaf at the age of five.
"I just see myself as one of the guys and that's how they see me as well, that's the important thing.
"If people are interested then I am happy to be a role model and if I can inspire young kids with hearing loss to play sport then brilliant."
There are obvious difficulties which come with Gilbert's disability, which occasionally have left him stranded on the pitch unable to hear a thing.
Buckling in the face of adversity, however, would not have got him where he is today.
"It doesn't really make it any harder and all the lads have been really good and the coaches give me a bit of extra time with the video analysis and clarify anything I am not sure of," said Gilbert.
"I have to wear my hearing aids under the head guard because if I didn't wear them I wouldn't hear anything.
"I do lip read a lot and the opportunity to do that in a game is less but wearing my hearing aids give me some degree of hearing, so it's essential.
"I can't remember which game it was but one game my aids went with about ten minutes to go because they just got too wet.
"I had no confidence in what was going around me as I couldn't hear, so it was panic, panic, panic for ten minutes but you just have to get through it."
Having first arrived from Scarlets last November on a short-team deal until the end of the season, Gilbert has hit the ground running at Bath.
He had to wait two months to make his debut but has impressed all at The Rec ever since, so much so that head coach Gold tied him down to a permanent deal for next season.
"It was a frustrating 12 weeks when I first came in but Gary was open with me and said he wouldn't be playing me for a while and wanted me to learn all the roles within the team," said Gilbert.
"He gave me that time and then a few games in the LV= Cup and from there I pushed on and have had a few Premiership games.
"That was the aim when I came in November – to do enough to prove myself and prove to the coaches that I was good enough to get a renewal.
"I've done that and hopefully in the next few years it can bring a lot of reward."
