Africa-Press – South-Sudan. South Sudan Blind Football Federation is organizinga match today at Dr. Biar Complex Sports as a courtesy of visitors from Germanyscheduled to witness the game.
The visitors from Germany would be attending thematch on Saturday evening hours around 2:00 to 3:00 pm. South Sudan BlindFootball Federation is to officiate the match as well as organizing thecovering of the event that deemed to bring people living with disability onboard as spectators of the match.
Simon MadolAkol,the Coach for the Blind Football team confirmed to Juba Monitor Newspaperthat, they are going to organize the match today for the very important visitorfrom Germany who reported for people with disability.
“We are organizing this match, especially for ourvisitor from Germany who is the communication officer and also coordinating oursporting activities to international arena,” he said. Madol admitted that they have conducted the similarmatch on 15th October and optimistic to play another big match inDecember.
“We have played similar game in 15thOctober and we are expecting the very big match on 15th Decemberthis year. This will promote and raise awareness on inclusive sports in theCountry,” he added. Last month, Light the World organized the BlindMatch geared toward inclusivity sports in the schools at Buluk B PrimarySchool.
Many sports have been adapted toinclude people with disabilities such as swimming and football. South SudanAssociation of Visual Impairment (SSAVI) for the first time in the history ofthe country formed South Sudan Blind Football Team in February 2020 withsupport from Light for theWorld. An organization that raised awareness on physical,social, cultural and communication barriers that prevent persons withdisabilities from participating in society. The team is currently composed of 10visually impaired players, 2 goal keepers, coach, assistant coach andinternational instructor from Germany.
“The team held its first friendlymatch on 3rd December 2020 at the basketball stadium.
The team wasdivided into team A and B where team A won the match which was conducted inform of penalty shootout” said Coach Simon Madol and team captainLadu Martine.
The National Olympics Committeegranting permission for the team to use the national stadium playground was asign of recognition and support for the team to progress. The team was hoped tobe the nuclear for South Sudan Blind Football National team and represent thecountry in international competitions in the near future.
What amazed most fans was thespeed of movement, pace and intensity of the game similar to one played bysighted team. Players also have shown the same passion, skills and commitmentto physical fitness.
Major modification from the mainstreamfootball was the blindfolds thatwere designed to balance the playing ground forplayers with different level of visual impairment. Instead of 11 players, 5players made up a blind football team of which 4 were blind players and asighted goal keeper.
The rattling ball allowed the playersto locate it as they moved around the field yelling to clarify their position.Meanwhile, a sighted goalkeeper and an off-field guide directed the playerstowards the ball. Passes cover a short distance and players controlled the ballnot to move more than a few inches from their feet.
“Communication is the key among theplayers and command of the ball. Compared to sighted game, players do a lotmore of dribbling and close control,” coach Simon Madol stated.
Another striking feature of blindfootball was how the fans must watch the game in silence, unless the ball wentoff side they shout or howl. Otherwise, they would interfere with messagesbeing shouted between the players in the field.
Mubarak aged 21 was a player in thenew team who used to play at school and local residential level before becomingblind in 2016. “Now I am delighted to regain the passion of playing football a hope thatwas lost,” said Mubarak.
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