Zimbabwe is the latest country in Africa to join the international blind football family! An exciting blind football workshop was conducted by the Zimbabwe National Paralympic Committee (ZNPC) on Tuesday 10 April 2018 at the University of Zimbabwe in the capital city – Harare.

The workshop was facilitated by IBSA and IPC Volunteer Keon Richardson, who provided an educative and interactive workshop for over twenty-five coaches, special school teachers and players, some of whom travelled from Bulawayo, Mutare and Murewa to Harare to improve their knowledge about blind football.

Caption: players pose for a photo with their eyeshades and blind footballs. 

The workshop began with a presentation which focused on the history of the game, rules, guiding a person who is blind, orientation and mobility and ball control. Following the presentation, the coaches and players took to the field in great anticipation of learning about training exercises for blind football. The practical started off with the coaches orientating the players around the field and then completing static and dynamic stretches coupled with movement exercises to improve players’ body awareness and ability to move in different directions.

The workshop then moved into passing and receiving the ball, which looked at effective communication, accurate passing, varying distances and locating the ball. The trainees all had an opportunity of working with the blind footballers individually or in pairs and give them feedback on their performance. After lunch, the workshop then concluded with dribbling and shooting from open play and the six-metre penalty spot.

Every trainee and player received a certificate as a form of appreciation for their participation in the maiden blind football workshop in the country. The workshop is a major step forward for the development of B1 Blind Football in Zimbabwe. In addition to training coaches and players in blind football workshop since the ZNPC’s inception in 2010, the ZNPC plan to establish a partnership with the University of Zimbabwe to formulate a blind football programme for blind students at the University.

Did you know that Blind Football is called Bhora Revasingaoni in Shona (Zimbabwe’s main language)?

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Caption: IBSA/IPC volunteer Keon gives feedback to a player on body position to take a penalty kick.