Your P.E. Kit: A Guide on Sports and Physical Activities at Secondary School

At secondary school you will have the chance to try new sports and activities you didn’t do at primary school. It is an exciting time if you are ready to get sporty!

This guide is about how you can make the most of the fun opportunities outside the classroom. It does not matter how much sight you have or how good you are at sports. With the right support you can get your game on!

How Can Sports Help Me?

We all know that sports and exercise is supposed to be good for you, but did you know that it can give you even more than just fitness?

Here are some great reasons why you should give sport a go:

• Positive mental health: Playing sports can make you feel confident in yourself and what you can do.
• Brainpower: Sports can make you think fast and creatively about how to reach a goal or overcome a challenge.
• Making friends: You can find other students who might not be blind or partially sighted but enjoy playing the same sports as you.
• Important skills: Sports can give you skills for life like communication, teamwork and independence.
• Your future: Fun fact! The skills you get from sports at school can help you go on to further education and finding jobs in the future!

“Living with severe visual impairment, I know the profound impact sports can have on mental health, physical wellbeing, and community” – Tom, Young Voices Volunteer (Breaking barriers in sport: A Young Voices project).

How to Get Started?

P.E. classes are a safe space to try out new activities and your favourite hobbies with the help of the professionals supporting you.

Your school will already be thinking about how to make sports accessible. We have a few ideas you can use to decide what you need to get involved.

Sports Equipment

There is a whole world of accessible sports equipment for blind and partially sighted people. Here are a few examples:

• Sound Balls: Balls which make a noise to tell you where they are. They are made softer and with a lower bounce than other balls.
• Running tethers: A piece of fabric you can hold or tie to your wrist when walking or running with a sighted guide.
• Field and track markers: Coloured tape or tactile lines which are easy to see or feel on the ground to mark out a pitch, court, track or goal.
• Padded head protection: Padding to keep you safe in sports like football and rugby.
• Beepers: devices which make a noise which can help you aim at something.

To find this kind of equipment, ask the professionals supporting you to check out RNIB, and Goalfix shops online. You can also use this equipment with friends outside the classroom so share this with your family!

Making the game accessible

You will know best what you can and cannot see so talk with the professionals supporting you about what they should do to get you involved.

The professionals supporting you can put reasonable adjustments in place. Reasonable adjustments are the steps a P.E. teacher, or school club can take to make sports accessible to you. Here are some examples:

• Make sure everyone uses clear, descriptive and direction-based instructions.
• Ask that in team sports other students say your name or bounce the ball before passing to you.
• Put you closer to demonstrations or to the teacher to hear instructions. Ask for demonstrations and game rules to be broken down into steps.
• Use brightly coloured and high contrast balls with a colour you can see when on the ground.
• Have a buddy support you in team games or as a sighted guide when running.
• Teachers to use activity cards to help design accessible P.E. sessions. See Activity Alliance’s activity cards for examples.
• And many more! What will help you get involved?

All sports and activities will have specific ways to make them accessible. If there is a specific sport you would like more information on, check out British Blind Sport’s A-Z of sport or get in touch with our Student Support Service.

Getting teachers on the ball

There are many resources available online through organisations such as Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT), British Blind Sport, Activity Alliance, and UK Coaching, for teachers and the professionals supporting you on how to make sports accessible. These take the form of online guides, factsheets, activity cards, toolkits, e-learning courses and more.

V I Sports

V I (Visual impairment) sports are sports made for blind and partially sighted people to play. They can be sports everyone knows like football, tennis or running but with adaptions or accessible equipment. They can also be sports specifically designed for blind and partially sighted people like Goalball or Showdown.

Our Young Voices volunteers tell us that V I sports outside of school helped them enjoy playing sports.

“I went to mainstream college and studied sports. At college, my tutors brought in Goalball to lessons. They brought it in within the mainstream sector as a result of my interest and involvement with the sport outside of college which was cool” – Alex, Young Voices volunteer.

“I started swimming in school, and I had a teacher who really encouraged me to pursue it outside of school as they thought I showed potential and was talented so they really supported me. As a result, I joined my local swimming club who were able to support my VI needs as a swimmer” – Selvi, Young Voices volunteer.

The easiest way to start your own V I sports journey is by joining a local group or team. Use British Blind Sport and RNIB’s, See Sport Differently online quiz to match you with your different sport options. You can then find a local group or team using British Blind Sport’s Activity finder and or Everybody Moves’ Activities Finder.

If you enjoy a V I sport and feel confident enough, speak with the professionals supporting you at school about introducing the sport at school and making the non-V I sports more accessible using the tips we have given you in this guide. For example, Goalball UK’s National Schools Programme has guidance for professionals on how to introduce goalball at a school level into classes. Check it out!

Sighted people can join in with V I sports too so there’s fun for everyone!

Over to You!

Sports at Secondary school can feel like a big jump, but you aren’t alone. Share this guide with your teachers and support staff. Working together you can find a way to make the most of sports at school.

Further Resources and Support

Our Student Support Service is here to support blind and partially sighted students aged 11+ to get the most out of their secondary, college and university education.

If you have any questions about accessing sports at school, please reach out to us by visiting our Student Support Service homepage.

British Blind Sport aim to ensure that sport and leisure facilities are accessible to every blind or partially sighted person in the UK. If you would like to learn more about V I and accessible sports visit British Blind Sport’s website or contact them using the form on their website.

Check out RNIB’s See Sport Differently Campaign to hear stories from other blind and partially sighted people getting sporty, and find examples of home workouts, and other accessible activities.