Independence Day is a significant day in India’s history and it is also an occasion that reflects the nation’s unity and progress. Alongside this spirit of independence, another inspiring facet of India’s progress is the Indian Blind Football Association (IBFF). This organisation dedicated to empowering visually impaired people through sports showcases its commitment to inclusivity and gender equality.
The IBFF’s women's blind football team qualified for the IBSA World Championship, which will be held in Birmingham, UK, from August 14 to 21. This will be the first time ever, India will field a football team as well as a para-women’s team for the World Cup, which epitomises the empowerment of both women and the differently abled. The head coach, Sunil J Mathew talked to Asian Voice about Para athletes, paralympic and world championship.
How to build a strong and dynamic team?
“Blind football is a group effort. It's more like physical exercise in terms of concentration, hearing skills, and orientation. We use these sideboards along the two long sides of the ground. The ground size is 40 m X 20 m. And there are these runner boards on the two long sides, which act as barriers. So as the blind person runs along the side the ball rebounds along the board, which gives them orientation. So these are the boards that you bang against, and you don't fall out, so there is no kick-in or throw-in like in regular football. The blind person uses the ball again, hits against the boards, finds the angle of the ball, and then moves according to the sound given by the coaches on the sides. We have nearly 15 million blind people in India, which is massive and growing, so it's a huge problem. On the other side, we have more players to come through and then get rehabilitated and hopefully the government or the local organisations will identify them and get them employment or scholarships.”
How to improve players spatial orientation, ball control and position on the field
As we move on the ground totally blindfolded, we lose orientation. You don't know which side you're going to run to. So the first thing that a coach usually does is identify or give at least some points of reference to different parts of the ground where he or she needs to run. Yhat gives them kind of an idea or a spatial orientation of their surroundings. Consider yourself in an open swimming pool with some sound coming from somewhere; dolphins, which are blind, also employ this technique. Therefore, it's similar to sonar, and you usually locate the ball or a player in proximity to a reference point. As a result, your ears and brain are always sharper since you prioritise different areas. Coaches impart a basic sense of orientation by running and finding out where each person is. The coaches who teach the blind need to adapt themselves or at least relearn how to actually work with the individual players.
Raising awareness about blind football
He said, “there are no other sports other than Cricket, Kabaddi or Hockey that are popular and get attention. We must persuade the government to prioritise other sports more for that each and every person has the ability to reach out, follow, tweet, and raise awareness. That's one way. We are currently one of the 18 paralympic team that the government has identified for the future. So we are hoping that the women's team can go on from here and make it to LA 2028. That's a vision that we have. The only para medalists and players who go through are individuals, not as a team. So we're hoping that we'll become the first team that qualifies.”
Exposure to top-tier competition
He emphasised, “Coming to the World Championships and playing at the highest level will give them immense confidence and will give them a huge experience boost by playing on different levels, which can be at the Paralympics or local level. We are hoping to set a pattern where some players stay. In India, playing sports is not considered a job; therefore, if you don't get money from it, you have to fight every day just to survive. Para Athletes have a different perception in India, but we're working hard to change that. We believe that if we can succeed, most people will be able to rely on this, and the government and businesses will continue to assist them.”
“Whether a person is blind or not, competing in the World Championships is among the top dreams that anyone may have. We are hoping that India places in the top three because we need the support of the government. Because we completely funded this ourselves. We want to make sure that this work doesn't go in vain by raising the full amount of money, coming here, performing well, and demonstrating to the rest of the globe that, hey, we made it,” he added.