Bournemouth University (BU) hosted its first Sports Day for visually impaired (VI) children which took place on Talbot Campus on 1 May 2025.
16 VI children aged between 8 to 15 years old from across the Dorset area were invited to take part in a day of sporting activities including goalball and VI cricket.
The event was organised in collaboration with Dr Ben Powis, Senior Lecturer in Sport at BU and an expert in disability sport research and Vision Support Services, part of Dorset Council who work with children and young people with moderate to profound vision impairments.
BU Sport Management and Sport Coaching students were on hand to explain some of the rules of the games to the children who were using new sports equipment for the first time including a sound ball that contains bells which make a noise when the ball is in motion. This allows VI players to hear and track the ball’s movement. The event aims to inspire the next generation of VI sports enthusiasts to take up games like goalball and VI cricket, as Dr Powis explained: “Visually impaired people are twice as inactive as sighted people, so it’s really important to hold events like this and provide VI children with the opportunities to try sport early on in their sporting lives. It's also about making sport as accessible as possible not just for players but also for students studying sport here at BU to learn new techniques in coaching people with diverse abilities and to put those into practice on the field.”
Hayden, who is 14 and visually impaired tried out goalball for the first time at the event and said: “I play mixed ability football for my local team and I’ve just been accepted into the regional try out, which if I’m successful I might get to play for the England Paralympic football team in the future.”
Kerra, a Habilitation Specialist for Dorset Council’s Vision Support Services who invited the children to the day said: ”For some children they are the only ones in school with a vision impairment and so at events like this it’s important for them to take part in a sport that they can fully participate with other children on the same level, and to be included and feel part of a team.”
After the goalball session children were then invited to the sports hall where they could meet BU VI Cricket Scholar David Howells, a third year BSc (Hons) Sport Management student who is also the current Vice-Captain of the VI England Cricket team. David, who was on hand to pass on his cricket skills to the children said: “I started losing my sight at the age of ten and VI cricket was a chance to meet people like me who couldn’t see, which was game-changing because I learnt all of my skill from them and it built a great foundation and helped me to get where I am today.”
The future aim of the event is to run it annually and to introduce local VI children to different sports, as well as continuing to teach mixed-ability coaching in the degree programmes at BU.
For further information about the sport courses, including BSc Sport Coaching and BSc Sport Management courses, please visit the BU website.
