Referee Jeff Holmes (left) shouts instructions to player Peter Field about his distance from the wall. Participants gathered at Glashan Public School recently for an inaugural practice. Heather Botham, Centretown News Ottawa’s fledgling blind soccer program saw its first three members come together Nov. 8 for the team’s first contact practice session.
The sessions, held at the Glashan Public School gymnasium on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is run by Rozalia Cervenan, a long-time soccer coach and referee. In the inaugural practice, Cervenan — who will also be the team’s goalkeeper — explained the basics of shooting, passing and navigating the playing court.
Blind soccer is just beginning in Ottawa, but with the support of the Ontario Blind Sports Association and the Ontario Soccer Association, the sport is now also being offered in Sudbury, Kitchener and Toronto.
Blind soccer is played indoors with five players and a goaltender on each team. Blindfolds are worn by all the players with the exception of the goalkeeper, who is sighted.
Plastic chips inside the wall of the ball clatter against each other and make a rattling sound as it rolls along the gymnasium’s wood floor. When a passed ball hits your foot, you feel the extra weight of the plastic, which prevents the ball from bouncing too much, making it easier to dribble.
Because of the low turnout, this reporter was invited to put on a blindfold and join the game. The key challenge was trying to find the ball if you fail to receive a pass. But the longer you play the better you get at using sound to predict where the ball goes
Learning to pass and shoot is only part of the initiation. The first session is meant to orient participants to the playing area and to stress communication so players don’t run into any walls or each other.
Peter Field, the only visually impaired player that showed up to the first practice, is an accomplished blind athlete but is new to blind soccer. The Ottawa man said he likes the fact that the game is fast and there is a risk of accidents like running into someone. Field said that with other sports adapted for athletes with disabilities, emphasis is put on making it safe for the participants.
“This is one sport that seems to be working on the premise that we’re going to kind of throw that out the window,” Field said. “We’re going to encourage communication — and if accidents happen, they happen.”
Good communication plays a key role in overcoming the players lack of vision. Cervenan explained that players must yell out a code word — “Voy, voy, voy” — if they want to approach an opposing player and take the ball away. This helps to prevent collisions between players.
For Jeff Holmes, the team’s sideline coach, part of his job is to give directions to the players on the field when passing and shooting. When his team is in the attacking zone, he stands behind the opposing team’s net and shouts to his players to help them hit the net with their shots.
Cervenan said she tried starting blind soccer programs in the past in Ottawa but was unsuccessful due to lack of interest.
The goal for the blind soccer initiative in the province is to have the teams compete in the upcoming Ontario Para Sport Games, held in Brantford in February. The Ottawa program will need to attract than the three people to realize the goal.
Cervenan also noted that it is not just a sport for the legally blind. It can be played by those with moderate visual impairments and fully sighted people since the blindfolds even the playing field for the athletes.
She encourages people of all abilities to come out and give it the sport a try.
“Even if they come for a few sessions and find that it’s not for them, that’s fine, too,” said Cervenan. “Everyone is welcome to come out.”