Vision Impairment Sports Activity Day

This event run by the SENSS VI team was a great success. We were lucky to be supported by Active Oxfordshire and The White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre who provided the venue.

The SENSS VI team work closely with S&CS VI team and staff from both teams helped support the young people throughout the day, in addition to those that came with teaching assistant support. Some parents also came to offer support and observe their children get involved.

The invitation was sent out to our young people in mainstream schools and in all we had 18 attending, ranging from 7-17 years of age. They came from far and wide across the county including Banbury, Chinnor, Woodstock and Witney.

We had expert coaching from volunteers from Goalball Oxfordshire and Abingdon Judo club. The young people were lucky to experience VI tennis and have much fun in the swimming pool.

There were many smiles all day, and the young people had the chance to socialise throughout the day and over lunchtime. One young person had not met anyone with his eye condition before and was thrilled to be introduced to a peer and they chatted about their experiences. At the end of the day several of the young people exchanged phone numbers with each other.

A couple of siblings had never been in a pool before and with great support, by the end of the session, they were both confident to swim on both their front and backs with floats. ‘I love swimming!’ said one of the sisters with a broad smile.

Another student was reluctant to try Judo, but after the session, with excellent description of movements needed provided from the instructor, came away saying it was ‘fantastic!’

A parent sent an email of thanks, telling us how her daughter came away from the day ‘buzzing’ and was talking about it all evening, feeling a great sense of achievement.

We are hoping to run another event like this in the future!