Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Tomáš Bukovský:The idea was born a couple of years ago, as our way to say
thank you to those teams who had invited us to play at their tournaments.
So this year we finally got our ducks in a row, managed to put together the finances,
and I have to say that we never expected it would turn out to be such a big event.
Lukáš Másilko: It has been the first tournament of this type in the Czech Republic,
a first international blind football tournament ever organised in this country.
Jitka Graclíková: We thought it was getting a bit awkward, to be invited to tournaments all the time and not to organize one ourselves,
so we decided to finally do it.
Lukáš Másilko: I think it wasn’t even so difficult to get the teams interested, several teams were happy to participate.
Also, to get the money for the whole thing was quite difficult. We started to put it all together
in the spring of 2012, so a year before the tournament.
But it was not until September that we got the first confirmation that we would get some funding.
And then it all started to fall into place, we managed to get money from several other sources.
Some three months before the actual tournament we started to hold
regular meetings in a team of six or seven people.
Jitka Graclíková: The Brazil team, who won the London paralympics, originally was not supposed to come at all.
Originally, we invited a France team from Saint-Mandé.
We advertised the tournament on Facebook, and brazilian coach Gabriel Mayr noticed it,
got in touch and suggested the Brazil team could come as well,
because the France team came second in the paralympics, so it was interesting for Brazil
to play a team that is on a similar level.
So I said sure, you're welcome, but I did not really hope they would come.
So I sent out the invitations and everything...
A month before the tournament, the date of The European Championship was released, preventing the French from coming
same for the English, so the team that was here wasn't actually Worcester,
instead there were some players from West Bromwich.
Around the same time, the Brazil confirmed they were coming.
But two weeks before the tournament they still didn’t book their flights, I hardly slept at that time…
Lukáš Másilko: To bring the golden paralympic team from Brazil to Europe for this type of tournament, no one has ever done anything like this.
We realized that a thing like that would make the event very special.
To have a chance to see their players and coaches in action and to see that they really take it seriously,
that they did not come to just kick some ball,
but to actually win. And they played for real and that was great, it was really amazing to watch.
Petra Pakostová: I would never have believed that someone who cannot see
can actually run around the pitch, engage in combination play, pass the ball, change direction.
It looks as if the players could actually see, as if they had no impairment whatsoever, I really admire them.
Michaela Poláková: I wonder how they can do it. As a sighted person I cannot even imagine
being able to do the things they do on the pitch.
Lukáš Másilko: People often do not know the difference between football and futsal.
Futsal is played by four outfield players plus a goalkeeper, and the pitch is smaller.
Futsal for the blind, or blind football, is played by players who are totally blind
So the blind football is different in that there are four blind players in the field.
So if there are some players who are partially sighted, they must wear blindfolds so that
no player on the pitch has any visual orientation during the game.
Because the players cannot see each other, they must call out “voy!” when moving around the pitch
so that the player with the ball knows that there are players near him.
So if the players want to take the ball, if they are close to him, they have to call out "voy"
the player with the ball knows that there are players near him.
The goalkeepers are the only sighted players on the pitch, but they are confined.
to a small goal area (2 x 5 meters), and that is the only area they can use.
Apart from the players and the goalkeeper, each team has two navigators.
They help the players to find their way around the pitch.
One of them is a coach, who stands by the half-way line by the pitch and navigates the players in the middle third.
The attacking third is covered by the navigator behind the other team’s goal,
who navigates the footballers in the offensive third.
The defensive third is covered by the sighted goalkeeper.
So there are three sighted people who cooperate with the players during the game.
Jan Mrázek: I use the side-boards around the pitch or the navigators to move around.
The half-way line coach tells me where the ball is going from the goalkeeper and the other team’s players, so that I know which side-board to go to.
Or when I am attacking, the navigator behind the goal tells me where to go and when to shoot.
Jitka Graclíková: My job is to navigate the strikers to get them in the best scoring position.
I try to describe the situation on the pitch as clearly and concisely as possible.
If the player is in a position to score a goal, I say “shoot”, if they have moved past the shooting angle, I say “curve”,
which means they have to go back to get in the scoring position.
I say “You’re alone” if I see there are no defenders and there is a chance to score a goal.
I say “dodge” if there is a player right in front of him.
The most difficult thing for me was to switch the point of view in my head,
to see the situation on the pitch from the point of view of the players, to reverse left and right.
Bogdan Micu: I learnt from them how accurate you have to be when you coach disabled footballers during the game.
Every information has to be 100% accurate. The timing has to be set up properly.
In order for them to do their effective technique at the right time.
So you can score the goal, do the right decision to pass and so on and so on.
So being around on the pitch involves a lot of excitement. It’s hard because you have the desire to get in there and do the pass by yourself.
But you have to get yourself together, focus and offer the best information for the players
so that they can do it because they are the only ones who have the power to do something in a game.
Mark Evans: Yeah, I've been in the team for about 5 years now, playing goal as the only sighted player on the team,
so there is a lot of pressure on me with the communication with people like Mark, playing at the back.
Lukáš Másilko: The goal area is quite small, just two metres to the front of the goal,
so if an attacking player gets three or four metres in front of the goalkeeper,
he doesn’t have a chance to stop the incoming shot, even though he is sighted. The goal is three meters wide
and the shooter uses a toe kick technique, which means that the shot is unpredictable
and it is pretty hard, so unless the ball hits the goalkeeper, it usually ends up in the goal.
Tomáš Bukovský: I have to follow the ball till the very last second, and not get distracted by the foot movement, because it can be deceiving.
I have to focus exclusively on the ball.
My job is to navigate the defence in the defensive third, which is usually marked.
I tell my players which direction the opposition’s attackers are coming from,
which of my defenders should follow which striker etc.
Also, I often have to tell them what my position is so that they know where the goal is.
Russel Wheldon: It’s just how they approach the game. So some coaches might go into the
fiery temper or they might be upbeat, rather, some coaches might be calm.
Martin Jelínek: So it all depends on how they motivate their players to perform to their best.
One of the most important things is that the players know me and my communication style.
It is crucial to be concise, to use as few words as possible, so clear and effective instructions are key.
Often the players use the goalkeeper and the coach to get their bearings on the pitch, to know which side they are facing... .
So I try to give them this information,
and some basic instructions how to play, what to do in the following seconds.
But not too much information, I try not to use whole sentences,
just simple trained situations that require a standard procedure.
Like when they can’t find the ball, I try to explain where the ball is - if it is somewhere near them.
And then some basic cues. For example, when I say “switch”,
they know they have to move the ball from one side-board to the other, because the other side has fewer opposition’s players.
With just this one word I give them information that can lead to scoring a goal.
or to transfering the game and relieving the other player.
So there are some default situations which can be triggered
by a simple instruction which we have agreed on before.
Jan Mrázek: For me, the most difficult thing is to get my bearings on the pitch,
to know whether I am standing two or six meters from some other player,
if I can move closer and then dodge, or whether I have to dodge right now,
or if the other player is close enough to take the ball.
Or if the other two players are standing too close for me
to go between them with the ball.
That is probably the hardest thing for me.
The pitch is 800m2, so a pretty large ground to cover, and it is easy to lose one’s way,
so it took me some time to learn to know my position
at any given point in the game, but it is getting better now.
Aleš Moravec: My job as a midfielder is to help both the defenders and the strikers,
which means a lot of running to manage both.
Of course it gets a bit dangerous at times, but we should be able to prevent collisions by shouting “voy”.
So in theory we should be able to avoid each other.
Sometimes it doesn’t work out and there is a clash, but that is part of the game.
You can never be scared. If you are scared, then you shouldn’t be on the pitch, basically.
You've got to take the rough with the smooth. I think it sort of is in your character. It comes with confidence.
If you're willing to go into the tackle. And you've got to take those bruises. You know, it is a rough sport in the end.
Andrew Bryant: Basically we just need to keep talking. Let everybody else on the pitch know exactly where you are.
Because if you don't, then you're gonna get accidents. You know.
So you get people crashing into each other and then you're just wandering around the pitch,
not even knowing who you are, you know... It's ridiculous.
So yeah, you just need to be really careful and talk all the time because then you can actually get some strategy going.
Martin Jelínek: For me it is important that the game is nice to look at, it is not just about the result,
but about playing dynamically in the attacking third,
about playing the kind of football that people enjoy watching.
It should be fun for the players and the audience as well. I’d like for people to understand that it is a really interesting game.
Of course the result is important for us and we want to win, but it is not just about winning.
David Mycock: I come from a long way, a little northern town in England.
Playing with people who are exceptional footballers, and then playing with people who can't even control and travel.
So the emotion that runs through being able to help these people, have a great opportunity to come here, it's phenomenal.
So for me, it's to keep in control of myself, to try and help others, to give something to them that they wouldn't necessarily have.
And not to try and spoil that in any way, by being a d**k about it.
I play to win, I play to love it and I enjoy it.
And I try to get that camaraderie between everybody you know?
Russel Wheldon: Yeah you can observe the players, and observe their movements.
But when you think you've observed them, they come up with something new.
So it is very good to observe and you can learn from other coaches as well.
So the German coaches, from the Czech coaches, you can learn so much from them. And we saw it with Brazil in that last game.
Their coach, he went in, he got them motivated through not having a go,
but raising his voice, really motivating his team and they really played well that last game.
Bogdan Micu: It is a great match, man, you’re never gonna be there. Don't expect yourselves, go out there and there are Brazilians,
you just touch the ball and that’s it. You’ve had the ball. They’re gonna be tough, they’re gonna be hard. What is the question,
are you better than them, are you trying better than them?
Cos, even if you lose, forget it, if you show me that you guys put the effort in, I’ ll say, you know, respect for you cos you really tried.
I don’t wanna see sad faces, I don’t wanna see messing around on the pitch, I wanna see players encouraging, working as a team.
Talk to each other, basic stuff that you guys learnt, basic stuff that you guys do
in your practice for like a decade, this is the time to show up.
Matěj Plch: What I like best about blind football is that it is a regular team sport.
Most of the sports for the visually impaired are individual sports, e.g. swimming, cycling.
I don’t know any other team sport for the blind, apart from goalball and blind football.
So for me the best thing about blind football is that I can be a part of a team, I can cooperate
with other people. I also like that it involves a lot of running around,
which helps me improve my sense of orientation,
you learn how to find your bearings in space, use information coming from various sources, and deal with a lot of situations.
So I think all these things help you improve in many ways.
Martin Jelínek: I think blind football helps enhance the emotional aspect of one’s personality
the joy of victory, the game and movement in general.
The other aspect is not strictly sport-related: it helps improve every-day life skills,
like communication, fitness and physical activity.
It can compensate for some of the deficiencies caused by the impairment.
David Mycock: Some blind people never really leave their local region or vicinity.
But I've had to accept that players that are not necessarily technically gifted or the novices, they just want to play sometime.
So to give them the opportunity to come and travel, to play different games. Travel even around England, or even around their city.
Vedat Sarikaya: To play blind futsal, I think is an art in a way, and I think it is a piece of freedom for all the people that play it.
What I’m saying is we can show the world that it is possible to play football and score goals...
and well: it‘s not as easy as it might look. I think sighted people should try it once, or they should watch us.
When we have the chance to do it, why not do it?
We might be blind, but we are not entirely dependent on things that we are not supposed to do.
If we can do it - we do it! And we can.
Rasmus Narjes:Well, when a blind person wants to play football, this shows that a blind person is able to play football.
And I personally feel really FREE of everything when I play, and that‘s the motivation, too, I guess...
Jeferson Gonçalves: Brazilian children dream of playing football, we always watch
our national football team (seleção), ours is a country crazy about football.
We have won 5 world cups in sighted football, so from the beginning we dream of becoming football players.
At first, the disability prevents us from playing, but as soon as we grow up and acquire skills,
we have the five-a-side football, and the opportunity to fulfill our dream.
It is how things happened for me, I had had this dream since I was a kid, and got the
opportunity to become part of the national team, win cups with my club.
It has been a wonderful experience, and I hope to stay in this world of five-a-side football for a long time.
Simon Hill: I've been lucky enough to play in different tournaments all over the world,
and I was very impressed with the organization, the treatment of the teams.
There was a whole lot of games to be played in a short space of time, but everything ran smoothly
and it just meant that as players and coaches we could just concentrate simply on playing
our games rather than worry about everything else that was going on.
And I think generally it was a good standard. All teams here were putting on a really good
show and performance and in the end it was very close to full contest.
Lee Greatbatch: Everything had been thought of, so very thoughtful. And those are my thoughts about the country ,
and I would love to come back again with my wife and with my little boy
to see more of the country. It is a very vibrant country.
Dave, my coach, he is very descriptive in his coaching role. He was also descriptive about the country. Such vibrant, colourful buildings.
Russell Wheldon: The organization of the tournament has been absolutely fantastic.
It's been unbelievable, one of the best tournaments I've been to.
And I've been to an awful lot of tournaments.
It’s been great how they managed to get the tournament run so well, so smooth. It’s run really nicely.
Serdal Celebi: Good organization, ideal organization, they thought it all through,
they even thought of towels for showering here in the changing room.
It was really nice of Brno to give us their changing room. I think there was no more changing room,
so they had to change clothes in the hallway, that is really ideal friendly hosting.
David Mycock: Jitka and Lukáš Másilko, they came to England just to try and get blind football going,
I don't know, four, five years ago, on the back of nothing basically.
Just came over and just took a chance. They didn't even have any footballs, not really blindfolds, didn't know much about the game.
And to be honest, I didn't know that much more than them.
But a bit of enthusiasm, nice friendships, honesty, trust, building good relationships with people.
That’s what carried blind football forwards in England and the Czech Republic.
Simon Hill: I've seen that the Czech Republic has already found a good group of young players.
If they keep working with them and building their confidence and ability, then certainly in a couple of years there is no reason
why they wouldn't be competing at the European championships.
Jan Mrázek: I would very much like to invite everyone who wants to try it out, just come and give it a go, it’s really fun!