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

Juliette 00:05 

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  00:13 

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

Juliette 00:19 

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  00:32 

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 a lot of injuries. 

Juliette 01:01 

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  01:10 

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 keychain, 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 01:38 

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

Nailah  01:43 

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

Juliette 01:50 

That must be like, quite a different atmosphere. 

Nailah  01:55 

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 02:00 

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

Nailah  02:07 

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 02:29 

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

Nailah  02:35 

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 foot ball before and it's indoors, and it's a bit played in football ruling, yeah. 

Juliette 02:57 

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

Nailah  03:00 

Yes.  

Juliette 03:00 

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

Nailah  03:05 

Actually, I’ve only 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 with 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 para-talent day, and that's where my whole starting of my like goals to play for England came from.  

Juliette 03:57 

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

Nailah  04:02 

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 04:23 

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  04:28 

Yeah.  

Juliette 04:28 

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

Nailah  04:34 

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 04:45 

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  04:52 

Yeah. 

Juliette 04:54 

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  05:13 

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 05:29 

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

Nailah  05:36 

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 06:17 

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  06:26 

That we can play the sport blindfolded 

Juliette 06:29 

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

Nailah  06:32 

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 06:40 

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

Nailah  06:45 

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 to day life 

Juliette 07:02 

Ah, so like, navigating around on that, it's like, a little bit easier. Yeah, that's awesome. I never really Yeah. Was your sense of direction a bit like 

Nailah  07:10 

Yeah, I don't know my left and right before, yeah, now I found tips to support me with knowing my left and right. 

Nailah  07:16 

Oh, how did you learn? Like, what tips did you get for learning your left and right?  

Nailah  07:24 

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 07:27 

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

Nailah  07:32 

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 07:49 

Where do you hope to take it in the future? 

Nailah  07:51 

I want 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 08:21 

Oh, that sounds amazing. Because, like you said, there's not a women's blind football team yet, is there?  

Juliette 08:26 

There's not a women there's a women's blind football team. There's not a women's partially sighted team. 

Juliette 08:36 

Ah, okay, so, yeah, well watch this space to see you on the blind football team later. Yeah, awesome. Thank you. Nailah! So Nailah, you've got an Instagram, haven't you, and other socials. Do you want to plug? 

Juliette 08:40 

Oh, very nice. We will put links to everything you've got up and running in our show notes, if people want to 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?  

Nailah  08:40 

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. 

Nailah  09:26 

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 09:35 

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  09:41 

Thank you.  

Juliette Parfitt  09:42 

Bye, all. 

Nailah  09:42 

Bye.