Due to my involvement with the Royal National Institute of Blind #RNIB, I was contacted about taking part in a Have A Go Day in Manchester. What is this? was one of my first questions before signing up. Blind British Sport, The RNIB and The Lancashire Lions came together to help organise taster sessions of lots of different sports for people with a visual impairment VI. I have to admit at school I wasn`t especially gifted at sport, although I took part in the mandatory PE lessons that I hoped would be over as soon as they started. There was athletics, part running part walking when the teacher couldn't see us and cricket with a tennis ball that was too small.
No, I have never excelled in the World Of Sport but then I have never played Vi sports before until now. I never thought all it would take was a change in the size of the ball to help improve my game.
The Adaptations for the sport
As someone who is partially sighted and can`t really see a tennis ball coming through the air until it has hit me on the head. I was interested in the adaptations made to help people with visual problems. In canister (which is like bowls) there were balls that you could feel the weight of. In football, there was a ball that you could hear when it was moving. While in Cricket the ball was less minuscule than in my old PE class, this time you could really see what you were hitting and catching.
I can`t tell you how much seeing the ball really helps improve your game. Not that I thought I had a game, to begin with.
Getting an insight in the sight Issues
There were lots of different people there with different sight loss conditions. It was good to meet them and hear their stories. Sometimes having sight loss you feel like you are the only one going through it.
I felt that more than most going to a mainstream school with only one other person in the #school that suffered sight loss. That didn't necessarily mean that we were going to be best mates just because we shared this common problem and we weren't.
Thank God for The RNIB
The RNIB were the first people to introduce me to others with sight loss.
Here they were doing it all over again with the help of a little sport thrown in. This event also introduced me to British Blind Sport. This charity has set out a vision that they will have a greater impact on the world of sport for visually impaired people. The idea that the world Para-Olympics, indeed, the world of sport as a whole, is getting more coverage is really having an impact on the sport on the ground. Meaning that the general public that consists of you and me are getting these great opportunities to try out sports that are played at Olympic level.
