Blind futsal seminars a success

The Ozero Krugloe (Lake Round) Training Centre near Moscow was the venue last week for the latest coaching and refereeing seminars in futsal for the blind and partially sighted, held as part of the UEFA-funded International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Futsal Development Project Europe.

72 participants
The seminars were held in partnership with the All Russia Association of the Blind (VOS) and All Russia Blind Sports Federation (BSF) and were a great success, with a total of 72 participants from five countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia) attending two days of theoretical and practical sessions in blind futsal. This figure makes the event the biggest of the five seminars held to date. Russia's B2/B3 (partially sighted) national team was on hand as part of its preparatory training for the IBSA B2/B3 World Championships in Argentina next month, and several totally blind (B1) players also took part in the sessions.

Solid grounding
Participants returned to their countries with a solid grounding in the coaching and refereeing skills required for blind futsal thanks to the experienced international IBSA coaches and referees who conducted the courses. It is hoped participants will go back to their clubs and organisations ready to offer the chance to play football to blind and partially sighted players in their countries. The final seminars of the year are scheduled to take place in Turkey in December, and Croatia is expected to host countries from the Balkan region in the first quarter of 2009.

For more information on blind futsal contact Futsal sub-committee chairman Carlos Campos at CAR.CAM@telefonica.net.

For more information on the IBSA Futsal Development Project Europe contact ibsa@ibsa.es.