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IN TOUCH – The IBSA World Games

TX:Ìý 29.08.2023Ìý 2040-2100

PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý BETH HEMMINGS

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White

The IBSA World Blind Games is a big event in the sporting calendar of visually impaired sports lovers.Ìý The competition involves over 1100 athletes from 70 countries and also involving 10 sports, everything from cricket to chess with judo and archery in between and taking place in the UK for the first time ever, here on the campus of Birmingham University and a few other sites in the West Midlands.

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During this programme we’re going to be sampling a number of the sports involved, chatting to athletes, team officials and people who, as you can hear, have just come along to sample the fun.

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With me is Ian Isham, he is Head of Sports Development for British Blind Sport.Ìý Ian, I’ve given it the big build up but what is the true significance of these IBSA games?

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Isham

It’s really the pinnacle for some of these athletes and to be able to compete with people from all over the world is a great challenge for them but something that they’ve all been doing really well at.Ìý For the three Paralympic sports – so judo, goal ball and football – that’s Paralympic qualifiers ready for Paris next year.

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White

Now, of course, this isn’t just about the competitors, where we are here you’ve got a have-a-go area, where people can come along and try out sports.Ìý How important is that aspect of it?

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Isham

That’s been a huge element for us.Ìý The whole kind of legacy piece of the games has been really important.Ìý This is almost our legacy on the day, as it were.Ìý It’s about different participants being able to come down, try something new, we can then help support them to find a club that might be local to them.Ìý Our website, we have an activity finder, so people can put in their postcode and find what opportunities there are locally to them.Ìý And we run a series of Have-a-Go day events across the country.Ìý So, again, just trying to help remove any barriers and get them on to their sporting journey.

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White

That’s interesting because you mention, you know, perhaps trying to put people in contact with clubs, how difficult is it for blind people, particularly youngsters, to get introduction to sports, particularly now that so many children go to mainstream schools rather than the more traditional schools with special provision for blind and partially sighted children?

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Isham

It’s definitely a key area that we’re looking ourselves to try and help combat.Ìý So, you know, school is where many people will try sports for the first time and we hear stories of people in mainstream schools not necessarily having the right support.Ìý So, we’re working with PE teachers, school staff, coaches and running a series of workshops and online eLearnings to help support them in how to work with blind and partially sighted people.

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White

And have you had some blind and partially sighted kids actually having a go here over the last few days?

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Isham

We’ve had a real mix of people, some blind and partially sighted children and adults that are trying sports for the first time, as well as a mix of people that don’t have any sight loss that have been coming down and actually…

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White

That’s curiosity.

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Isham

…yeah, putting themselves in the shoes of these athletes, they’re maybe watching them for the first time taking part in some of these events and then being inspired to almost understand the challenges they’re facing and, yeah, that respect for kind of what they’re achieving goes up even more.

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White

Ian, thank you very much indeed.Ìý I shall carry on having a wander round and see what’s happening.

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Clip – Judo

Coming next on to mat three, in the blue judo gi from Kazakhstan Alfea Kelkabin [phon.].Ìý In the white judo gi from Ukraine [name].

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White

Today is going to be a dramatic day for two of the judo team – Chris Skelley and Jack Hodgson – friends right down the years.Ìý Chris, you fought this morning, can you just explain the significance of what’s happening today?

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Skelley

I beat the Cuban in the quarter finals and I just lost to the Iranian in the semi-finals, which means I’m fighting for bronze later this evening.

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White

I mean the point about these fights was I think only one of the two of you could qualify for the Paralympics, is that right?

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Skelley

Yeah, so out of me and Jack there’s only one can qualify.Ìý But there’s still lots of competitions to go, so we don’t know who’s going to qualify.Ìý It’s still anyone’s game.

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White

How were the fights this morning, from your point of view?

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Skelley

Very good, better performances than I’d fought in the last time, I actually got one back against the Cuban because he beat me for bronze in Rio.Ìý So, it was quite nice to get one back over him and then, obviously, fighting the Iranian a lot better, so, yeah, very happy.

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White

And who are you fighting against for the bronze?

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Skelley

Not sure yet, it’ll be either Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan.Ìý I want to try and stay world number one, so hopefully if I can get a medal here, it’ll keep me in contention for staying up there.

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White

We’ll be back to see how you get on, good luck.

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Clip

[Chanting – England] Well done Helen.

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White

Well, this is music to my ears because I’ve played versions of blind cricket all my life, to not a very high standard but enormously enjoyed it, so hearing it in the background is good.Ìý We’re at King Edward’s school in Birmingham, which is where this semi-final match between England and India is being played.Ìý With me is Jane Powell, who’s the Performance Manager for Disability Cricket.

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Jane, first of all, most important of all, what’s the score?

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Powell

So, the score is 217 for five to the Indian women’s team, who have just finished their innings, so it’s a chase for the England girls now.Ìý They’ve managed to cut it down by 50 runs from the first time they played them.Ìý We’re still in with an outside possibility of getting to the final.

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White

What’s the state of the women’s game in England at the moment, would you say?

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Powell

So, the women’s VI game is at very much at the start of a journey, I would suggest, because although some of their women play in the county competition, that’s with a large ball, with a size three football, so when it came to small ball – international style blind cricket – we only had 23 girls who were up for selection.Ìý So, one of my main aims from this tournament is to raise the profile and then have, at least, double if not triple that number by this time next year so that we can start having a real selection.

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White

And for people who know their cricket but don’t know much about VI cricket that will sound rather puzzling because they’ll wonder – well, why do we have, you know, almost two types of games with a different size ball.

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Powell

Yeah and I think it’s not dissimilar to women’s cricket in the country where we have now softball competitions and we have hard ball competitions in the mainstream cricket.Ìý The larger ball is a little bit softer, so, I think, when people were setting it up, they wanted to keep it safe for people with a visual impairment.Ìý And now the visually impaired are saying – look, we want to be recognised as cricketers – so they want to play with a hard ball because everybody else plays with a hard ball.

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White

I’ve actually got the cricket ball which they use now and this is nothing like the ball that I used to play with because the ball I played with for years was more like a football really, although it rattled.Ìý I suppose, to be fair, this feels more like a proper bona fide cricket ball with a sort of ridge round the edge and it still rattles.

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Jane, for the first time really, women’s sport really is on the crest of a wave, you know, there’s an enormous amount of interest.Ìý Is that happening in the VI sphere as well?

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Powell

I absolutely think it is.Ìý Every county now has a disability cricket officer.Ìý And my challenge to them, moving on from this tournament, will be if every county could find me two visually impaired females who wanted to play cricket, suddenly we’ll have over a hundred girls.Ìý We can help develop them.Ìý There will be girls out there who want to play who probably don’t even know that we run an England Women’s VI Blind team and hopefully, they’ll start to go – you know, I’d like to play that – and they’ll contact their county boards and find out where they can play and then we’ll start picking them up.

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Clip - commentary

…in a game, this one’s all the way along the floor, only as far as the wicket keeper.Ìý A lot of shouting but both of the batsmen just standing comfortably in their ground, ignoring it all.

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White

I’m also joined by Minerva Ainsworth, one of the England players.Ìý Not in this game but I think you have played already, how’s it been going for you so far?

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Ainsworth

It’s been going amazingly.Ìý We’ve learnt what we need to improve on.Ìý I prefer bowling with the international ball than the domestic ball.Ìý You’re basically using the same skills, you may not be moving as much.

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White

Something seems to have happened over there, I don’t know if that’s a wicket.

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Ainsworth

Someone’s out.

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White

It sounds like it, doesn’t it?

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Ainsworth

Someone’s out.

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White

Oh dear.Ìý You prefer the international ball…

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Ainsworth

Yes.

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White

… is that because you can get your fingers round it a bit better?

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Ainsworth

Yes.Ìý It’s a lot easier to bowl.Ìý For me I struggle keeping the domestic ball straight, while the international ball, it’s much more easier to throw.Ìý And it’s on the ground, so it’s easier to track.

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White

Now India seem very strong, don’t they?Ìý What do you think it would take to get the England side to that standard?

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Ainsworth

We need… we need to make international teams all over the country but with the international ball, so that we can hone in our skills because we do play against sighted teams but they wear sim specs, so not as accurate.

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White

And I suppose really for it to be a real kind of genuine contest you want to play…

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Ainsworth

Against other Vis.

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White

…blind team on VI teams?

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Ainsworth

Yeah.

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White

Yeah.

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Clip

Right the next to game then is Team Amy on my left, Team Connor on my right.

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Away.

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Got it.

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Got it.

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Goal.

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One-nil.

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White

This isn’t just all about competitors because we mentioned this whole idea of a have-a-go day, so there are people doing all sorts of things around here and I’m just wandering over to find out about a game that I didn’t actually know about called Showdown.Ìý Something is being hit by something else.Ìý I need to get more information about this.

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Can we talk to mum, first?

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Mum

Yeah, that’s me.

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White

I’m just interested that you’re here really and what you’re doing because your two children have been playing with a goal ball. haven’t they?

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Mum

Yes

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White

What brought you here?

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Mum

Well, I saw on LinkedIn that this was going on and it sounded really interesting and it’s the school holidays, so, I thought I’d bring the boys along to find out what these sports are like.

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White

Have you ever seen goal ball played before?

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Mum

I’ve never heard of it, I’ve never seen it but we’re going to go and have a look on YouTube when we get home because apparently it gets very fast.Ìý So, I think the one that we were playing with, today, was kind of a practice ball, a bit lighter, but the other one was heavy, wasn’t it?Ìý Have you enjoyed it?

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Child

Yeah.

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White

Have you played this other game – Showdown?Ìý Are you going to have a go at that?

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Child

I’ve already had a go.

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White

You had a go!Ìý I don’t understand that game, can you explain it to me?

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Child

So, there’s this ball that rattles and you have a bat each and you have to try and hit it into each other’s goal.

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White

How well did you do?

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Child

Quite good.

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Mum

So, they started off being able to see and use their eyes and then they put the masks on afterwards and yeah, had a go, without being able to see.

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White

Right.

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Mum

Yeah and I had a go at goal ball as well, it’s very difficult.

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White

Well back with the saga of Chris Skelley and Chris certainly doesn’t lack support because I’m now with Louise Hunt-Skelley, his wife.Ìý Louise, this is a pretty tight atmosphere, isn’t it?

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Hunt-Skelley

My goodness me, the tension is pretty big but that’s kind of what you want, it’s the point of sport, right, it’s nice that it’s exciting and I just can’t wait to watch his final fight.Ìý Obviously, he came here for gold but there’s still a medal on the table and he’s going to do everything he can to get it.

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White

And what about the significance, as far as the Paralympics are concerned?

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Hunt-Skelley

Yeah, no, this is a really big important event.Ìý So, for all the athletes here there’s points on the table to go towards their qualifications and their ranking to qualify for Paris.Ìý For Chris, he obviously still officially needs to qualify but he really wants to regain that number one in the world spot, so every point he can get is crucial to staying at that top level.

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White

You’ll obviously know about the sort of saga with him and Jack Hodgson.Ìý I saw Jack, this morning, and he looked a little bit down.Ìý It really is a situation where it is Chris or him, isn’t it?

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Hunt-Skelley

Yeah, it’s something that’s like actually a real shame.Ìý So, with that change in the weight categories it’s meant that Chris and Jack, for this Paralympic cycle, have ended up in the same category.Ìý The reason it’s a shame is because only one can go from each country.Ìý They’ve been to all their Paralympics together and it makes me really sad that it’s like literally impossible for them both to compete at the next one.

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White

What sort of a spectator are you, Louise?

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Hunt-Skelley

An absolute nervous wreck.Ìý So, I was an athlete myself, that’s how Chris and I met and, my goodness me, it’s so much easier being the athlete, it’s the worst thing being in the crowd.Ìý I think it’s when you love somebody though, you feel everything that they feel and more, don’t you, it’s almost worse when you’re watching the person you love.Ìý It’s quite hard to find opportunities to actually be at events with Chris, so, it’s just lovely to be here.Ìý We’re out in full force ready to cheer him on.

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White

Archery has got a particularly interesting background as a sport for blind people because it’s very much got a military background.Ìý It was St Dunstan’s the organisation for ex-blind servicemen, who really started the whole thing off.Ìý We’re featuring today, Clive Jones, who any minute now is going to be competing for the possibility of maybe even a gold medal.Ìý So, we’re just going to wander over to where he’s shooting.

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Clip

And the judge has given us the result there – Clive Jones. [Cheering] …Clive Jones for shooting… in the gold medal match tomorrow.

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White

Clive, Peter White from In Touch.

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Jones

Hello, Peter White from In Touch, how are you my friend?

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White

I’m very good.Ìý Well, you must be feeling fantastic about that?

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Jones

Yeah. [Laughter]

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White

You had to think about…

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Jones

When it sinks in, yeah I will.

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White

So, you compete now for the…

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Jones

For gold.

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White

…gold tomorrow?

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Jones

Yeah.

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White

I’m just wondering how that ranks with other performances you’ve done, is this one of your best days?

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Jones

Internationally, it’s the best, it is the best day.Ìý And here’s me thinking I was bronze.Ìý I didn’t realise I was… silver.

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White

So, a rather overwhelmed Clive Jones there.Ìý But the following day he did in fact win the silver in his class and he joins me now back in the studio.

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Clive, I suppose maybe a bit disappointed but still you’ve got to rate that as a really good performance?

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Jones

Disappointed Peter?Ìý Absolutely not.Ìý I’m still overwhelmed by the fact that I got silver in the first place.Ìý To be honest with you, I was up against the former world champion, the world record holder, the current European champion in Ruben Vanhollebeke from Belgium.Ìý So, to even, you know, be on the same podium as him is, in my opinion, just wonderful.

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White

And one of the reasons we wanted to talk to you a bit more, Clive, is because your personal story is a very special one.Ìý Just explain how you lost your sight and how it led, eventually, into archery.

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Jones

Well, I’m a former soldier and I served in the army from 1991-2003.Ìý Sadly, it was in 2000 that I was actually a victim of a savage and unprovoked assault.Ìý It was that assault that left me totally blind.Ìý I was then picked up by a rehabilitation centre called St. Dunstan’s, which now is called Blind Veterans UK.Ìý They actually taught me how to shoot a bow and arrow.Ìý And, as you can appreciate, a blind man with a bow and arrow, it’s quite strange and quite funny.

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White

Just for those who don’t know, explain how a totally blind person actually does shoot an arrow successfully.

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Jones

We work with a set of foot markers, a sort of loose horseshoe kind of shape.Ìý Now that is attached to a T piece, in which sits three legs of a camera tripod.Ìý Now on top of that camera tripod there is a two-centimetre-long sight which touches, literally, the back of your hand.Ìý With the aid of a spotter, who tells you where your arrow has gone, whether it be three o’clock red, four o’clock blue, and then you adjust accordingly by moving the sight – left, right – or with the tripod, the elevation shaft up and down.Ìý And the spotter is there purely just to tell you where the arrow’s gone and just to give you some direction or instruction once you finish shooting because you can’t give instruction whilst you’re shooting.Ìý It’s quite simple but extremely therapeutic.

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White

Clive Jones, thanks so much for joining us.

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But in sport, whether or not you’re visually impaired, it’s always a narrow line between success and failure.Ìý So, back one last time to the judo hall.

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Clip

…in the blue judo gi representing Great Britain Chris Skelley.Ìý [Cheering] In the right judo gi…

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We love you Skelley.

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…to the winner and bronze medallist from Uzbekistan [name].

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White

So, after a gruelling day no medal for Chris and no confirmed place in next year’s Paralympics.Ìý Although there are still points he could pick up in future competitions to make it to Paris next year.

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And just a final catch up on the women’s cricket team that we covered, sadly they lost their semi-final to India but clearly there are big plans to boost women’s cricket here for the future.

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And that’s it for today from Birmingham.Ìý From me, Peter White, producer Beth Hemmings and studio managers Phil Booth and Nat Stokes, goodbye.

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