Blind cricket - Nz vs Aussie

Hello!

I wanted to share a bit of my experiance with sport and how I ended up playing blind cricket.

Like a lot of kiwi girls I played Saturday netball. Starting at primary school and playing through college until I had to give up due to frequent eye operations. I missed being part of a team and the atmosphere of the courts on a saturday.

P.E was hit and miss, usually I got a hit to the face or missed the action completely. Tennis, hockey, sighted cricket, and soccer were too fast for me to keep up with visually. Rugby wasnt my cup of tea - not that there was much encouragement to play.

Most of my college P.E was spent watching my classmates play. It wasnt fun.

Outside of school there wasnt anything available to me in Nelson. My only experiance with a blind or low vison friendly sport was goalball at national camps for blind and low vision kids.

Skip forward a few sports barren years to 2017.

Blindsport Nz hosted a have-A-Go day offering blind cricket, blind rugby, goalball and blind soccer. I had so much fun trying out these sports that I hadnt known exsisted.

Until then, I had never played cricket.

Now I get involved as often as I can.

Last year I took on the role of secretary for Canterbury Blind Sports. Through the club I want to help make sure sports are accessible to all members of the blind and low vision community in New Zealand.

On top of cricket training I play goalball reguarly with Canterbury Blind Sports Club.

Being selected to play against Australia has been a major goal for me this year. Its motivated me to join a gym and run with Achilles to continue training. Its the first big step to achieving my next dream - being selected to play for New Zealand as a BLINDCAPS player.