Blind soccer, part 1 of 1
Goalkeeper for a blind soccer team
A ball that rattles, and a team that plays by listening.
When I go back to Korea for the summer, I play goalkeeper for a blind soccer team. It’s one of the parts of the year I look forward to most.
How the game works
Blind soccer, usually called blind football, is played five a side on a small pitch. The outfield players wear eyeshades, so everyone plays with the same lack of sight whatever their level of vision. The ball has something inside it that rattles, so players can hear where it is. When a defender moves toward the ball, they have to call out “voy,” Spanish for “I’m going,” so nobody runs into anyone blind.
The goalkeeper is different. The goalkeeper is allowed to see, and has to stay in a small area in front of goal.
Defensive third
- the goalkeeper, who can see
Middle third
- a guide at the side of the pitch, usually the coach
Attacking third
- a guide standing behind the other team’s goal
What the job is
On most teams, a goalkeeper mostly reacts. Here, a large part of the job is talking. I can see the whole play and my teammates can’t, so I’m turning what I see into words they can act on: where the ball is, where the opponent is, when to step. It has to be short, clear and fast, because by the time a long sentence is finished, the play has moved.
It still takes focus and reflexes in the usual sense. But the communication is what makes it different from any other team I’ve played on.
What I learned
Teamwork here doesn’t come from everyone having the same information. It comes from the person who has it making it useful to everyone else, quickly, in a form they can use.