“Voj, voj” echoed through the hall. I always wanted to capture this sport on camera, but somehow there were always scheduling conflicts. Today it finally worked out: blind football.
This weekend, the "Keep your mind wide open" indoor tournament will take place in the sports hall of the business high school on Budapester Strasse. Teams from Brno, Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Chemnitz, Würzburg, Dortmund and of course St. Pauli will play against each other at the end of the season. Entry is free and visitors are welcome. Players without a ball announce their movement to the other players with "Voj".
I was really fascinated by being able to experience this fast-paced sport. Thrilling duels, hot dribbling, precise passing, precise shots on goal – all of which are no strangers to blind football. It's absolutely crazy how the athletes find their way around the field thanks to the rattle in the ball and shouting behind the goal. You really have to experience it to believe it.
Added to this is the sporty, friendly atmosphere. Across teams, we celebrate goals scored and games won together. Blind football should really receive more attention.
I was lucky enough to see the game between FC St. Pauli and PSV Köln, which was narrowly won 1-0. Parallels to first team from St. Pauli were clearly visible. They gained a superiority, but things didn't really work in front of the opponent's goal. In the end, the equalizer was in the air and the team had to fight against it with fighting spirit in order to keep the lead over time. But: this is football...
By the way, the goal for the 1-0 success was scored by Serdal Celebi a small multimedia documentation can be seen. It was created as part of the highly recommended Freelen's workshops for storytelling, which I have also visited before.
After the game I happened to run into the goal scorer. I congratulated him on his remarkable goal and he immediately wanted to hear from me how it fell. I would have liked to show him my picture of his shot on goal on my camera display. But sometimes life isn't that easy...
I saw what it looked like on YouTube - it's remarkable what they do with the ball!
Are only people with real visual impairments playing, or is basically anyone allowed to play (with the appropriate opaque glasses)?
In principle, anyone can play, but sighted people have serious orientation difficulties 😉