The football season is not over yet! Here at Guide Dogs we are excited to announce to all you footie fans that the 2010 IBSA Blind Football Championship is being held in the UK for the first time in the competition’s history at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford this summer.
This thrilling event will showcase the very best blind and visually impaired footballers from across the globe as they compete to be the winning team. It is held every two years, with the European Championships and World Games also held on a two year cycle. The team is also eligible to compete in the Paralympics every four years, subject to qualification.
Blind football is generally played indoors on a solid surface with a football containing bearings so that it makes a noise when it moves. Each team will have five players. Goalkeepers are sighted, but cannot leave their area. In blind football, there are no offside rules!
This year the organisers have announced that they will be offering blind and visually impaired visitors the opportunity to use an audio commentary system to follow the games.
The event will also act as a direct qualifier for the Paralympics in London 2012. England’s first match kicks off on the 14th August.
Guide Dogs has paired up with the GB Rowing Team Adaptive Squad to help encourage visually impaired athletes to try rowing as a potential sport.
Louise Kingsley, Team Manager of the GB Rowing Team Adaptive Squad, said “We are looking forward to working with Guide Dogs to develop more VI rowers and help to ensure that the GB Rowing Team Adaptive Squad retains its position as one of the strongest nations in Paralympic rowing.”
The Siemens sponsored GB Rowing Team’s Legs, Trunks and Arms Mixed Coxed Four event (LTAMix4+) are the reigning World champions, having won gold at the World Championships in Poznan in 2009. Guide Dogs will provide support for the development of visually impaired rowers within the team as the competing crew can include up to two visually impaired members.
The current LTAMix4+ has two visually impaired rowers; Naomi Riches and James Roe. Naomi has been part of the crew since 2004 and has won four World Championships and a bronze medal in the Paralympic Games in 2008. James who joined the GB Rowing Team Adaptive Squad last year was a member of the gold medal winning LTAMix4+ crew at the World Championships in Poznan.
Tom Pey, Guide Dogs Director of External Affairs, comments “We are very proud to be supporting the development of visually impaired athletes and are thrilled with the partnership that has developed between us and the GB Rowing Team.”
Guide Dogs is a working name of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (291646) and a charity registered in England and Wales (209617) and Scotland (SC038979).
The football season is not over yet! Here at Guide Dogs we are excited to announce to all you footie fans that the 2010 IBSA Blind Football Championship is being held in the UK for the first time in the competition’s history at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford this summer.
