Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2020

31 www.sheffieldcricketlovers.org.uk at the crease SPEAKERS 2018-19 BY ROGER ALLUM Playing sport at any level is a challenge for a sighted person, let alone someone who has sight loss. During the course of the evening we learnt at first hand how visually impaired people adapt to their disability in the pursuance of sporting enjoyment and success. We began with an overview by Jane Peach of the work and scope of the Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind, one of the city’s oldest independent charities, which celebrates its 160th anniversary in 2020. Jane was followed by Martin Wilson , a volunteer and client of SRSB, who is visually impaired as a result of Stargardt disease. Martin talked with great enthusiasm, and no little humour, about the 10 days he spent as a coach for the UK Women’s and Girls’ Visually Impaired Cricket Team on their first international tour to play against a West Indies team in Barbados. After three days’ training the squad, whose ages ranged from 15 to 74, were ready for their first match – which they lost. This was to be their only defeat, however, and they went on to win the remaining four games. Martin’s success with the UK team led to an invitation to return to Barbados and coach the West Indies side! Displaying the white plastic ball (the size of a small football) that was used in Barbados, Martin explained that the rattling sound it makes is an essential tracking aid for visually impaired cricketers, whether batsmen or fielders. It is bowled underarm and the main scoring stroke is the sweep or reverse sweep, with Martin encouraging his players to execute the shot on bended knee. Depth perception is difficult for visually impaired cricketers, making it hard to drive the ball. When they are fielding, totally blind cricketers stand close to the bat, while players who are less visually impaired are positioned in the outfield. Martin stressed the importance of communication in blind cricket. The bowler shouts “play” when releasing the ball and fielders shout “I’m throwing it” when returning the ball to the stumps, giving other fielders the chance to duck. Our second speaker, Simon Wheatcroft , who is an Ambassador for SRSB, lost his sight as a result of retinitis pigmentosa. At the heart of his remarkable story is a determination to overcome his visual disability, by first learning how to run alone and then entering long and challenging races. He started off modestly, on a local football pitch and with a basic audio app (Runkeeper), but was thwarted by dog-walkers oblivious to his blindness. Moving on to tarmac, he built up his confidence by running on a decommissioned road close to his home, using the raised double yellow lines (sensed through his trainers) to guide him. Before long he was running next to a dual carriageway and learning how to cope with its associated obstacles, such as traffic lights, trees and cones. A mere six months after he took up running, Simon was on the starting line of the Cotswold What blind faith can achieve 18 March 2019 Martin Wilson & Simon Wheatcroft Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind From the reaction on the night it seems fair to say that this presentation - by three people - had members almost transfixed from beginning to end. It was interesting, illuminating and inspiring to hear just what has, and continues to be, achieved by people with impaired vision or even total sight loss. Too interesting to be limited to one page, this report continues on p33.