Yusuf Huraira

Birmingham Goalball Club

How did you get involved with goalball?

My involvement with Goalball began towards the end of 2015 when I was looking to get involved with sport as a young person. During my secondary school days, I had been quite vaguely introduced to goalball so decided to get involved with my local club and have been playing with them since. Additionally, I volunteer at all tournaments that I’m not playing in, this provides another unique perspective on the sport that I love!

What do you do outside of goalball?

I’m currently completing an undergraduate degree in human resource management at Birmingham City University. This is with a view of specialising within the areas of either recruitment or in equality, inclusion, and diversity within the workplace which are key areas of passion that I have.

Outside of playing goalball I play blind cricket and most weekends I can be found on a train heading to play sport. When not traveling or playing sport, I quite often enjoy meeting up with people who I have not seen in ages over a cup of coffee (the simpler things in life).

What do you hope to do within the Youth Forum?

From the youth forum, I hope to promote the sport of goalball to allot more people especially the younger audience and allow them to have the opportunities that I once did.

Chelsea Hudson

Scarborough Goalball Club

How did you get involved with goalball?

Since I attended a have a go session of goalball at the age of six, I fell in love with the sport. However, I was a bit too young at the time to play. At nine years old I attended my first goalball competition. A year after, I started going to talent camps and then experienced my first international competition at the age of thirteen for the GB Woman Youth team in France.

What is your biggest achievement within goalball?

My greatest achievement was bronze at the World Youth Championships in Australia. This was a fantastic opportunity.

What do you hope to do within the Youth Forum?

By joining the goalball Youth Forum, I want to spread the word of goalball to give someone else the opportunities and enjoyment that I have got from goalball over the past ten years. The Youth Forum will give me new skills and I will make friends along the way.

What do you do outside of goalball?

Outside of goalball, I love to listen to audiobooks and play my flute.

I also enjoy walking my dog on a weekend and going adventuring in forests, beaches, waterfalls, and lakes with my family unsure of where we are going or where we will end up!

Harry Bainbridge

Nottinghamshire Sheriffs Goalball Club

How did you discover goalball?

Around five years ago, I attended a taster session which was organised by Sight Support Derbyshire and delivered by Goalball UK.

Jacob Hare

Croysutt Warriors Goalball Club

What club do you play for?

I am currently a member of the Croysutt Warriors goalball team in Croydon and have been playing for about a year.

Are there any other programmes you are involved with through Goalball UK?

I have recently been accepted onto the ‘#FindTheNext Goalball Academy’ and am hoping to continue working with Goalball UK in the future.

What do you do outside of goalball?

I also play VI cricket for Kent and have recently started playing VI football with Croysutt, I also take part in rock climbing and kayaking, all of which I really enjoy. As this may all suggest I am very outdoorsy and have been a member of the Scouts since I was 4, I am currently a young leader with our local Beaver and Cub sections.

Leo Johnson

South Yorkshire Goalball Club

How did you get involved with goalball?

I first became aware of goalball and blind and VI sports in 2017 when I went to a ‘have a go’ weekend at the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) in Hereford. However, it wasn’t until April 2019 that I discovered that there were places near me that I could play. I went to a Young Leader camp at RNC and met Kathryn who coaches for my area. She told me about a club that train in my area and I started going.

What do you do outside of goalball?

I am currently an A-level student studying Spanish, Maths, and English Literature. I haven’t fully decided what I want to do in the future yet however, I am determined and want to be able to achieve everything that a fully sighted person can and not let my visual impairment hold me back.

Outside of my education, I enjoy expressing my creativity through experimenting with applying and wearing makeup, which I have found accessible ways to do with my visual impairment. I also enjoy going for walks. I volunteer at a Cub Scout group as a Young Leader and I go on camps and hikes with them which are good fun.

What made you want to be involved with the Youth Forum?

I am passionate about making things accessible to people who are blind or partially sighted because I think that everyone should be able to achieve what they want, regardless of ability or disability.

Max Mackenzie

Birmingham Goalball Club

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I play for Birmingham Goalball Club and have been involved in goalball since March 2019. I got into goalball as I was looking for sport to get into since my diagnosis of my genetical condition BBS -Bardet Biedl Syndrome and had initially played rugby for a long time. Sport has been a big part of my life, from goalball I have gained important principles through the core values of rugby: respect, teamwork, enjoyment, and sportsmanship which I hope to bring to the forum.

I am a person of respect and discipline and hard work, giving one hundred percent effort. I am very passionate about goalball, in my short presence in the sport I have developed and grown as a person! I want to give back and be a positive role model to both new and existing players through the Youth Forum. I am excited to hear everyone’s opinions and ideas including my own as someone who is quiet thinker and problem solver.

What do you do outside of goalball?

I am currently at college where I am studying Design Technology, English Language and Biology at A-level.

In my spare time away from this and goalball I have many interests, one of them is that I am a huge Burton Albion fan and would be spotted on match day at the Pirelli Stadium and I am also an aspiring author.

What is something that inspires you?

One of my favourite quotes from one person that I do admire is the great Ayrton Senna `if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver`. You can interpret it how you wish but for me it is to show desire and ambition and that you have to take risks and make the most of the opportunities that arise.

Samantha Gough

York St John Goalball Club

Tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi, my name is Samantha and I am from Scotland, anyone who knows me, knows I love cats! I have always loved sport and being active, growing up being visual impaired didn’t impact on my ability to have fun being active. My love for sport and being active has continued as my eyesight has reduced, even though my confidence plummeted, and I was excluded from PE at school. I found the best sporting opportunities came from being involved in disability sport.

How did you get into goalball?

I had the opportunity to try goalball for the first time at a ‘have a go’ session in Dundee in 2019 and fell in love with the sport. From there I attended a leadership course at The Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford with British Blind Sports, here I found how welcoming the VI community could be and new friendships were made.

What are you main hobbies and interests?

My hobbies are goalball, swimming, horse riding, dancing, and tandem cycling. My interests are music, painting and arts/crafts, and coaching goalball.

What is your biggest goal in life?

My goal is to be as good as I can be and hopefully compete in the Paralympics one day for swimming or goalball, or both!

Stuart Hudson

RNC Goalball Club

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I have played goalball since I was 9 years old. I started playing goalball after attending a have a go session at actionnaires in Hull. I then got older and started to get invited to talent camps with Goalball UK. I was given the opportunity to become part of the GB youth team, then one thing led to another and I was competing in the European Para Youth Games where we got a bronze medal. After this I was then offered a place in the GB men’s senior team where I still am and am loving been part of the GB men’s team it is like a big second family.

What do you do outside of goalball?

I am a massive football fan and a season ticket holder for Nottingham forest. I go to as many games as I can, well when the stadium is open. I also have a passion for baking and cooking, although I do not like the cleaning up because flour can get everywhere!

What are you most excited for now that you are part of the Youth Forum?

Now that I am a member of the Youth Forum, I am excited for the opportunities that it is going to provide me and the new people I will get to meet along the way.

Terrelle Iziren

Croysutt Warriors Goalball Club

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into goalball?

I work for Groundwork London, supporting young people with social action projects to help them engage more within their local communities. Two years ago, an optician recommended goalball to me two months after I finished at Goldsmiths University, where I studied Politics and International Relations (BA). Having always viewed sport as a great way to keep fit outside of work, I thought goalball was a good option to try for the first-time. Since then, I haven’t looked back, completing my first tournament in February last year at intermediate level.

Why did you want to get involved with the Youth Forum?

Having represented my university as a student ambassador for two years and volunteered for my local youth magazine (Limelight Magazine) as sports editor for six years, I look forward to ensuring young people’s voices in goalball are heard.

How do you think the Youth Forum could be used to help young voices in goalball be heard?

This could be done through organising events, writing social media posts or blogs for Goalball UK to make young people aware that goalball is an accessible sport for all.