VICTA Sport's blind football session airs on Newsround!

VICTA Sport’s blind football session airs on Newsround!

Sports fans young and old dream of being like the stars they watch on the telly. And for a morning in Manchester, that became true for a group of VICTA young footballers who showed off their skills in front of the BBC Newsround cameras.

It was a busy day at Sugden Sports Centre – as well as the presence of the legendary children’s television programme, our young sports stars were put through their paces by not one but five of the England partially sighted team, including captain John McDougall.

Instead of freezing in the spotlight of a tv crew, the group thrived in the session, demonstrating that vision loss is no barrier to taking part in our national game. The Newsround team were keen to show through their recording how sport is for everyone, and that there is a developing pathway between coming along to a VICTA Sport taster day all the way through to international honours.

Coaches talk to the children as a camera man films

A boy in a football bub smiles to the camera. He is in a sports hall with a football goal behind him

Newsround is infamous for giving its young audience a voice and this was no different. As excited to speak into a microphone as they were to take to the pitch, the presenter was in no short supply of willing volunteers to talk about their experience in football, and sport more generally.

We hope other young people with a vision impairment will watch this and believe that sport is for them, and who knows, one day find themselves being the next John McDougall and playing for England.