Get your facts right!

Soccer Sight is part of RNIB's National Leisure Service (NLS). We have resently updated a series of informative fact sheets.

You can access those factsheets via this link:

http:www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_leisurepublications.hcsp

These are very helpful and can provide you with useful information especially if you know someone with a sight problem.

UK Vision

On Wednesday 23 April the Guardian newspaper featured a special supplement, commissioned by RNIB on behalf of the UK Vision Strategy, to mark the launch of the ground-breaking strategy.

The 8-page supplement highlighted the issues tackled by the UK Vision Strategy - from improving the eye health of the nation, through to making the UK a better place to live if you are blind or partially sighted.

One of the initiatives mentioned was Soccer Sight. If you want to read the supplement you can follow this link:

http://society.guardian.co.uk/visionofthefuture

More Fun Days - Plymouth

Another great day of football in Plymouth took place on Saturday 26th April. Soccer Sight hosted the second 'Football Fun Day' in the south east. The aim of the day was to give blind and partially sighted children and young people the opportunity to come along and have fun playing football and meeting new people.

As in Exeter we work closely with British Blind Sport, Devon FA and in this case the disability coach from Plymouth Argyle Football in the community, Graham Eyles.

The day began at 11am with two hours of coaching and then off to the nearby park for a picnic in the spring sunshine. The day finished off perfectly with tickets to see Plymouth's last home game against Blackpool. The game which Plymouth won 3 -0 was filled with excitement and the commentary from Adam and David was superb.

Thank you to all involved in making the day a great success. Especially thank you to Barry Hardman from Plymouth Argyle for his support in getting Soccer Sight off the ground!

Exeter Football Fun Day - a great success!

On Saturday 12th April together with Exeter City's football in the community, Devon FA and British Blind Sport, Soccer Sight hosted the launch of our football team for blind and partially sighted boys and girls.

The day was attended by 10 young boys and girls who enjoyed the opportunity to have fun with a football and making new friends. Tim Flint is the Soccer Sight volunteer coach and this was his first attempt at coaching blind and partially sighted kids. He and the other coaches did a great job, in fact all of the 10 children were loud and clear in saying that they wanted to come back. We are now looking to establish the club in Exeter and facilitate coaching sessions once a week. Watch this space for more details.

After the coaching session Exeter City football in the community hosted a pizza lunch for us all followed by tickets to watch the home game against Northwich listening to Matt's commentary of the game...........which Exeter won 2-1!

Winning start for The Grecians

29th March 2008, this was a very wet and windy Saturday and time had come for Matt Cotton to debut as commentator at Exeter City FC. Club officials were nervous as the previous week the referee had cancelled the match due to severe weather conditions. Luckily the game against Halifax wasn't cancelled and Matt finally got in front of the microphone after a 4 month long wait since his training.

At 15 years old, Matt is our youngest commentator and the only one at Exeter, so I felt rather apprehensive and concerned that we might have put too much pressure on this young mans shoulders. I didn't have to worry, Matt was brilliant and pulled off a great performance . His commentary is lively and colourful. Furthermore Matt had done his homework and showed good knowledge of not just the home team but also the Halifax players and their form. The match ended 1 - 0 to Exeter and after the game Matt met some of his listeners who greeted him with applause in the club shop.






Well done Matt and keep up the good work.

Soccer Sight Manager, Sue Neale demonstrates how to use the listening equipment to partially sighted supporter Alex Burfoot.

Alex listening to Matt's commentary........and braving the wet weather!

Plymouth Argyle welcomes Soccer Sight and our three new commentators in the South West

On a wet and windy Saturday afternoon in early March our latest recruits took to their seats in the press box at Home Park-Plymouth Argyle. The match was against Sheffield United who didn't waste the long journey to the far South Western corner of the UK and went home with 3 points in the bag after winning 1-0.

Obviously we like our commentators to report on home team goals but when these are forthcoming then I guess any goal will do? Any comments form you guys?

Unfortunately we don't have any photos from the launch yet but I will make sure to post them once we do.

The commentators at Home Park are: Andrew Willis, David Wilks and Omar Siddiqui all of whom are working hard to deliver on the ball commentary from.

Canaries off to flying start

On 1st March the time had come for the 5 man strong commentary team at Norwich City to debut and show off their knowledge and skills. In fact we had cheated a little by starting the service unofficially back in January to give all the guys a chance to practice and develop their skills.

Clink here to read about this on the clubs own website: http://www.canaries.premiumtv.co.uk/page/AbilityCounts/0,,10355~1218468,00.html

On launch day the lucky commentators who got to report on a 2 -1 defeat against Blackpool was David Davenport and James Shelton who both did a good job. Afterwards they both got plenty of constructive and positive feedback from some of the many blind and partially sighted Norwich fans who was there that day.

Norwich FC had linked the Soccer Sight launch with the culmination of its 'Ability Counts' week. You can read more about this by following this link: http://www.canaries.premiumtv.co.uk/page/AbilityCounts/0,,10355~1246867,00.html

The 5 Norwich commentators are: Adam Bishop, David Davenport, James Shelton, Kevin Farrell and Sam Jermy

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Notts County Launch

Notts County commentator Stuart Howells talks about his commentary debut.

Walking to Meadow Lane on a cold and dark February evening I was nervous ahead of my first day as a commentator for the RNIB on Notts County v Darlington in League Two.
I had to be confident and professional and knowledgeable as people were going to depend on what I said to enjoy the game.
After the nerves had settled some what, and the game had kicked off, the words seemed to flow and the training seemed to kick in.
The tremendous thrill of being given the chance by Soccer Sight to watch football, something which is a huge passion of mine, and at the same time use my skills to make the game more pleasurable for others, makes volunteering really satisfying and rewarding.
I just hope that the fans who listen in, feel the same about the commentary that we provide for them and it is as much a pleasure to listen to as it is to commentate for.
Being given this chance by Soccer Sight is a fantastic opportunity as it gives me first hand experience of what life is like as a professional commentator - a career I hope to pursue in the future.
Even if we only get one fan that uses the scheme, but we provide assistance to them during the match that they enjoy and find useful, it makes it all worth while and a pleasure volunteering.

Below are a few photos from the Notts County launch.

Notts County fans Keith and

Steve listening to the commentary

Official 'handover' of Soccer Sight equipment

Notts County commentators

Haider and Stuart

Commentary Launches

Since I joining Soccer Sight in September 2007 as the Volunteer Development Officer I have attended a number of Soccer Sight Commentary launches across England.

Here and in the next couple of posts I will share some of the photos form the various launches.

IPSWICH TOWN - Soccer Sight launches Saturday 12th January 2008

Eleanor and Barry training the stewards at Ipswich Town FC

Eleanor being interviewed by local ITV

Commentator Sam Morter interviewed by local radio station.

Commentator Sid Wigg, not singing by the way!

Here we go!

Here we go, my first step into the world of blogging.

I'm not a great writer and it certainly doesn't come very naturally to me, so why go to all this trouble you may ask. It is my hope that this blog will become a forum for those of you out there who volunteer your time and skills to the Soccer Sight project.

I'll make a start but hope that you will contribute your stories and pictures form across the country's Soccer Sight clubs. What's your season been like so far, where is your club going next season, are you having problems with the commentary equipment, have you had any feedback from your listeners etc etc. Start writing and share your volunteering experiences.