RSBC Unseen

RSBC Unseen Podcast | How Nailah got started with Blind Football | S.04 E.09

• Royal Society For Blind Children • Season 4 • Episode 9

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We sat down with Nailah and asked her everything we didn’t know about blind football – which was a lot! She talked to us about how she got into it, some of the history of the sport and where she hopes to take it in the future.

Nailah’s Socials:
@ablurredperspective on TikTok
@a_blurred_perspective on Instagram
@Ablurredperspective on YouTube

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Juliette Parfitt:

Hello and welcome to the RSBC unseen podcast. My name is Juliette and I work here at RSBC and today I'm joined by Nailah

Nailah:

Hi, I'm Nyla. I'm 16 and I play for Bloomsbury. I play blind football for them.

Juliette Parfitt:

Cracking. so Nailah is going to be chatting to us all about vi football today. So without further ado, let's just dive straight in. Nailah, what is blind football? You know, How's it adapted? And how do people play it?

Nailah:

Blind football is a sport which is a para sport adapted for the blind and VI community. It's played as a five a side game where all outfield players are blindfolded. Each team has a guide and a goalkeeper that is either sighted or partially sighted. Those balls are used as an audio ball, ball which has sound in it, so they are able to identify where the ball is. All players without the ball can have say the word voi, which identifies, as you know, when someone's about to come and attack you. So there's no a lot of injuries.

Juliette Parfitt:

Can you describe the ball to us like, when you say audible ball? Like, some people will know what that means, but some people won't. So can you tell me a little bit more about that?

Nailah:

So it's a football and the football has these bells, metal plates in it, so every time you kick it, you can hear it. So imagine, just like you're walking and you've got like, little bells in your key change, you can hear it every step you take. So every time the ball moves, there's bells in it and you can hear it and locate where it is. In, when you train, you can hear it a lot, but in a match, I will think that it's very hard to hear, so you have to focus on it a lot.

Juliette Parfitt:

In a like blind football match, do any of the spectators like, do they have to be really quiet?

Nailah:

Yeah, spectators cannot make a noise because it will be harder for the players.

Juliette Parfitt:

That must be like, quite a different atmosphere.

Nailah:

Yeah, I've actually never gone to a blind football match. I would love to go to one so and experience like, how it is to be a spectator

Juliette Parfitt:

hmm, So tell me, then, how was blind football created? Like, what's the history behind it?

Nailah:

The men's, I think, started a while ago. But, for example, England's women's only got developed in 2022 so it's very new. And men's can have a partially sighted team. Women's don't have a partially sighted team and I feel like that's a bit unfair, because, you know, one of some people want to play partially sighted futsal, but gotta just all play blind.

Juliette Parfitt:

Can you tell me a little bit about the difference between blind football and partially sighted football?

Nailah:

Blind football is played on an outside pitch and everyone's blindfolded and there's a sound ball. Futsal for partially sided is indoors and I don't think they have a sound ball. I've never tried, I don't think I've tried partially sided futsal before and it's indoors, and it's a bit played in futsal ruling, yeah.

Juliette Parfitt:

So it's quite different. They're quite different in nature.

Nailah:

Yes.

Juliette Parfitt:

Interesting. How did you get into playing blind football? And how long have you been doing it for?

Nailah:

Actually, everybody been playing it for just over a year now. I got into it. So I did. I stopped playing sports for a bit, and then I wanted to get back into it. I was trying to find a sport, and I was actually about to go into goalball, yeah, because I didn't know about blind football. It did. I didn't find any teens. Didn't know a lot about it. And then around July, I signed up for the RSBC times Bloomsbury session, and I went in August, and I think that's when I fell in love the sport. And I went to another one in September. Then in October, I started going to the weekly Monday blind football sessions at Bloomsbury. And when I say I fell in love with the sport, I just it was just everything to me, and I just really enjoyed it. Around November, I went to an England paratalent day, and that's where my whole starting of my like goals to play for England came from.

Juliette Parfitt:

Oh, that's amazing. So then, how do you train and progress in blind football then?

Nailah:

I train every Monday with Bloomsbury. And then once a month, on a Saturday, RSBC hold a session, and we do training there as well. And then every day, I do a bit of ball work on my own in my room, because I own my own sound ball. And you just got to do learn different techniques. It's a lot about having control over the ball

Juliette Parfitt:

So i never really thought about it like you would practice by yourself. But actually, that's really cool that you can do that as well.

Nailah:

Yeah.

Juliette Parfitt:

So outside of blind football training, what other kind of fitness activities do you do?

Nailah:

I go to the gym, and I want to try and get into athletics, but I can't really, there's not really, like a lot you could do outside of blind football because of accessibility and finding a team that isn't too far

Juliette Parfitt:

It is hard to find stuff you either have to travel or you're kind of at the mercy of, if people can be wanting to do accessible stuff.

Nailah:

Yeah.

Juliette Parfitt:

So outside of, like, general kind of football related, like skills around, like, controlling the ball and things. Like that, that you mentioned with your other activities, do you have to, like, build up your general fitness, like your tone and stuff like that. Like, is it like, do you want to become more athletic generally? Does that help with the football skills?

Nailah:

I think so. I think, it also help your mindset in feeling healthy, so then you feel good when you're playing your sport, and it helps. Like, sometimes I feel like having like going to the gym and like getting your muscles, like helps when you're playing the sport.

Juliette Parfitt:

How do you think blind football and other VI sports generally challenge sighted people's perceptions of our capabilities?

Nailah:

I think it's a lot of a stereotype that people think we can't do stuff that we can do, and I think there's no like awareness or no sharing anywhere that there's accessible sports for us as a community of blind people, it's very hard to find resources media, like there is influencers who share their experience in Blind Sports, but sometimes you just can't find them. And it takes a lot of research to find all of this. I think it challenges people, because, like, when they find out you're doing this, they have so many questions. And, like, you know, they're very ,they they're very shocked that there's this type of stuff that we can do.

Juliette Parfitt:

Yeah, I think you're right. I think it kind of confounds them a little bit sometimes. Is there anything about playing blind football? You think would surprise sighted people?

Nailah:

That we can play the sport blindfolded

Juliette Parfitt:

You think people will think like, oh my God, how is that even possible?

Nailah:

Yeah, I feel like I've said it to people, and they're like, but how do you see the ball, like the sound and like, We're blindfolded.

Juliette Parfitt:

Are there any skills you develop by playing blind football that have been useful in the rest of your life?

Nailah:

Yes, it's my sense of direction I have, like I'm able to understand, sometimes my sense of direction now, and I feel like it did, a lot come from blind football, like learning my left and right, like just a lot of following directions have helped me a lot from football, choosing my day

Juliette Parfitt:

it's like, a little bit easier. Yeah, that's to day life awesome. I never really Yeah. Was your sense of direction a bit like

Nailah:

Yeah, I don't know my left and right before, yeah, now I found tips to support me with knowing my left and right. Oh, how did you learn? Like, what tips did you get for learning your left and right? I think there's a lot about following my directions, and now I always have one bracelet or hairband on my right hand, and I always have a watch on my left hand.

Juliette Parfitt:

Oh, that's a really good shout. What do you enjoy most about playing blind football?

Nailah:

I think playing blind football doesn't make me feel out of the norm, because I feel like everyone around me will get it, and it's a lot about my reality. It's a lot about something that I very much enjoy and very much passionate about.

Juliette Parfitt:

Where do you hope to take it in the future?

Nailah:

to play for England, England's women's blind football team, and I that is like my biggest dream to do. And I want to make blind football a job I can do, like through presenting. I want to present about blind football. I want to present about sports. And that is like my biggest ambition, to take my small sport that I'm doing right now into something really big. Playing for England, playing in matches, is just my biggest dream.

Juliette Parfitt:

Oh, that sounds amazing. Because, like you said, there's not a women's blind football team yet, is there? There's not a women there's a women's blind football team. There's not a women's partially sighted team. Ah, okay, so, yeah, well watch this space to see you on the blind football team later. Yeah, awesome. Thank you. Nailah! so Naila, you've got an Instagram, haven't you, and other socials. Do you want to plug? Oh, very nice. We will put links to everything you've got up and running in our show notes, if people want to

Nailah:

Yes, on Tiktok, my link is ablurredperspective and on Instagram, it's also ablurredperspective and my Instagram has just started up, so I've only just started posting on my Instagram and my Tiktok have been posting for over a year, but I have only recently started making my content about me as a person who's blind, so yes, and I have a YouTube link, which I will one day start posting on, which is also ablurredperspective. come and follow you and check out what you're doing. Yes, thanks for joining us. That's all we've got for today. Nailah, we've got a part two coming up at some point, haven't we? You want to tell us about it? Yes. So we have got a Bloomsbury coach coming on, who also is England's blinds men's goalkeeper, and we have also got one of the activity officers who's coming in and does the blind football sessions on Saturdays with us.

Juliette Parfitt:

So keep an eye out for that coming your way at some point soon, and we'll see you in the next one, thanks, Nailah!

Nailah:

thank you.

Juliette Parfitt:

Bye, all.

Nailah:

Bye.