Group photo taken at the 2015 Albinism Fellowship ConferenceEach week we are digging through the Goalball UK archives to look back at some of our favourite memories from the sport from years gone by.

Last Saturday, a number of members of the #GoalballFamily attended the virtual Albinism Fellowship Conference. Ordinarily, the conference is held over a weekend, in Derbyshire, with a wide range of activities for all age groups.

In October 2015, in response to feedback collated from previous conferences about wanting to know more about sporting opportunities, British Blind Sport and Goalball UK were invited to attend. Kathryn Fielding (Goalball UK) and Sarah Leiter (GB Women and Cambridge Dons Goalball Club) therefore went along. They delivered a presentation, with the opportunity for Q&A’s, followed by a number of taster sessions.

Everyone who participated really enjoyed themselves so subsequently Goalball UK were invited to attend again in October 2017. This time Chris Davies (Goalball UK) went along with Sarah plus Aure Aflalo (Cambridge Dons Goalball Club) and Charlie Woodhead (Scarborough Panthers Goalball Club). As all 3 players have Albinism, they were great role models.

Group photo taken at the Albinism Fellowship Conference in 2017

In October 2019, Goalball UK were yet again invited to attend. Providing the goalball knowledge and skills this time were Robin Faulkner and Tommy Britton (Croysutt Warriors Goalball Club). They delivered a presentation plus 3 taster sessions. Adam Knott (Winchester Goalball Club) was also there but he was delivering a session based around his other passion – music.

The Albinism Fellowship Conference has been running for over 20 years now and feedback regarding goalball has always been positive. For example:

Parent: My son has found a sport that he is instantly better than me at……I’m never going to hear the end of it!

Young Person: It’s a top game. Different from games we play at school and so much better! Although it is hard to be quiet sometimes!

There are already many players with Albinism at clubs around the UK but, hopefully, Goalball UK will be back at the conference again in the near future to show and tell those who aren’t yet playing goalball just what they are missing out on!