Paralympics - Para Sport Pop Up - Blind Football Experience 

 

Paralympics New Zealand launched a new and innovative initiative, the Para Sport Pop Up to mark 1 year to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

 

The launch, which went live at the Viaduct, Auckland, saw year 5 and 6 school children join their Paralympic heroes to be the first in New Zealand to experience the Para Sport Pop Up.

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The blind football VR experience has been developed in consultation with optometrists and Blind Sport New Zealand, to enable the public to experience a variety of visual impairments all while trying to score a football goal. It challenges the players senses as they don their eyeshades, experience complete blindness, listen for the bell in the ball and are guided by the goalie to shoot a goal. Blind football is also known as Football 5-a-side, a Para sport on the competition schedule for Tokyo 2020.

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Fiona Allan (Chief Executive, PNZ) said: “We are proud to launch the Para Sport Pop Up today as it signifies a key milestone in the build up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The Pop Up will travel to many cities around New Zealand over the coming 12 months allowing more Kiwis to learn about the incredible legacy of the Paralympic Movement, understand more about the Para sports that our Paralympians will be competing in next year in Tokyo and provide information and resources on local Para sport opportunities.”

She continued: “Development of the virtual reality experience provides a great opportunity for us to engage further Kiwis in Para sport. It was great to have Shooting Para sport athlete Neelam O’Neill take up a new role as the voice over artist in the experience.”

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