In August, over 1,250 blind and partially sighted athletes from 70 countries will travel to the UK to compete across 10 different sports at the IBSA World Games, including qualifying tournaments for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
"At school P.E. was tricky. Following the London 2012 Paralympic Games I decided to give Para-sport a go for the first time and immediately fell in love with goalball."
Meet Dr Sarah Leiter, 32, from Cambridge. Sarah was born with Albinism; a condition which reduces the amount of melanin, or no melanin at all, affecting colouring and vision. Sarah plays goalball for Cambridge Dons goalball club and is part of the Goalball UK Great Britain women's squad. Below she shares her journey into sport:
"I grew up in a family that was always active and outdoors, so I learnt to ski, swim, and cycle whilst I was young. My love for being active (I rarely sit still!) was combined with my extrovert nature when I discovered goalball.
Initially, I was just looking for something casual to keep me fit but found myself on the Great Britain development team a mere nine months after my first training session. I have now represented Great Britain for nearly 10 years.
I love being part of a team, but ball games are very hard, and at times demoralising, when you can't catch a ball. So, discovering goalball was a real change as I was finally able to participate in a team sport. I could not imagine life without goalball now!
Like many visually impaired people I had poor balance growing up, but this has improved so much since I started going to the gym and training regularly.
Goalball has enabled me to travel to so many places and meet some incredible people. Highlights include carrying the Union Jack at the IBSA 2015 World Games in Seoul, South Korea, winning the European B Championships in 2016 and most recently finishing 7th at the Goalball World Championships in 2022. We are now all focused on qualifying for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
BBShas supported my local club, Cambridge Dons through funding and hosting local Have a Go Days which have allowed us to grow our participants.
I still love outdoor sports and go skiing and climbing whenever I visit my family in Austria. I also have a guide runner and we enjoy running casually together.
My advice is simply to try out different sports – we don't all enjoy the same things but there will be an activity out there for you. I never thought of myself as an athlete until I came across goalball and fell in love."
With just weeks to go until the start of the 2023 IBSA World Games, Sarah says:
"It will be incredible to compete in front of a home crowd when the World Games come to Birmingham. I can't wait to invite friends and family to come and watch our team play. Many of them have never had the chance to see goalball live so this will be a unique opportunity.
I hope that the World Games will raise awareness of Para-sport and goalball. Maybe someone comes to watch it and then decides to give it a go and discovers their talent and joy just like I did back in 2012."
To find out more about goalball, visit:https://britishblindsport.org.uk/membership/bbs-sports/goalball/
For more information about the IBSA World Games and to book tickets, visit:https://www.ibsagames2023.co.uk
