Speak to any top coach and they'll stress the importance of 'vision' for world-class footballers. But for nearly fifty blind and vision-impaired children, today provided the opportunity to prove that sight is no barrier to participation in the World Game.
As part of their Australian tour, coaches from Liverpool FC, alongside former great, Ian Rush, joined with the Fred Hollows Foundation in Melbourne to conduct a very special training session.
Using balls with rattles, and specially tailored drills, the children aged six to 18, jumped at the chance to learn from the very best.
With participation in sport amongst blind or visually impaired children at critically low levels, Blind Sports Victoria and Insight Education Centre are keen to see clinics such as today occurring more regularly.
As Alan Lachman from Insight points out: “The youngest children need to experience sport, have fun and understand what it means first hand so that they and their parents are motivated to become more actively involved.”
For Liverpool the club, it's a chance to remind people that in this age of global brands and markets, football clubs remain at their core about communities.
“What a lot of people normally just see is Liverpool playing at Anfield, but we don't want to just visit a country and leave, we want to leave a lasting legacy,” Rush said.
For 30 special children, that journey began today.
LISTEN: Melbourne Victory v Liverpool at the MCG
7:30 AEST Wednesday 24 July, SBS Digital Radio 3
7:30 AEST Wednesday 24 July, SBS Digital Radio 3
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