South Yorkshire Local Peer Support Group
This Local Peer Support Group provides a welcoming, safe and friendly opportunity for people with inherited sight loss to meet up to share experiences, tips and information.
We are pleased to invite you to join Retina UK's James Clarke for our first online South Yorkshire local peer support group meeting where we are delighted to welcome our guest speaker Kathryn Fielding, Senior Development Officer at Goalball UK.
Goalball is an exciting Paralympic, indoor, 3-aside team sport, of attack and defend – with a unique twist! The sport was originally devised in 1946 to help rehabilitate soldiers who had lost their sight during the war. It has been played throughout the world ever since by people who are blind or partially sighted. The idea of the game is to score goals by bowling the ball along the floor, past the opposing team.
Goalball UK are proud to be a registered charity, where their mission is to develop and promote the sport, creating opportunities for people with visual impairments to participate and compete at all levels. They also provide support and guidance to players, coaches, officials, and clubs across the country, with a focus on promoting inclusivity and equality in sport.
As a sport, goalball offers a unique and exciting experience for players and spectators alike. With its emphasis on teamwork, communication, and skill, goalball is a sport that is accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, or background.
Kathryn has been actively involved in goalball since 2003 so pre-date Goalball UK! Previously she has worked at Leeds City College, Disability Sport Yorkshire and the RNIB.
She enjoys all sports but her favourite is definitely football which she played competitively for 15 seasons for clubs in Yorkshire and Merseyside but now just occasionally plays for fun. Kathryn has also coached at a number of disability clubs.
We hope you can join us to hear from Kathryn and find out more about this fantastic charity and how you could get involved, or if you play Goalball for a local club such as the Bradford Giants, West Yorkshire (Leeds), South Yorkshire (Sheffield) or York St. John then please come along and share your experiences.
Any questions and answers will be followed by a social catch up with the group where you are welcome to share any ideas you may have for future meetings throughout the year.
We hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you there!
Venue
This meeting will be held online via Zoom.