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Over the week of the 1st of April to the 7th, the 2019
Australian Athletics Championships took place at the Sydney Olympic
Park Athletic Centre. This championship hosted the combined Junior
and Open divisions for athletes of all abilities. This eight-day
annual Championship is the most preva-lent athletics event in
Australia and in the Oceania-Pacific Region, where over 3,500
hopeful track and field athletes of all ages come together to
compete. The competition was overflowing with as-piring athletes,
sport engagement, participation and celebration for all in
attendance. Three Blind Sports NSW athletes competed in the
championships, Layla Sharp, Courtney Webeck and Benjamin Said. All
mentioned athletes currently hold records in their own divisions.
Layla, age 11 (and the youngest in her division) competed in the
400m, 800m, and 1500m races in the under 16 division over the
duration of the championships. Over the course of the week, she
beat two Australian under-20 records; the 1500m with a time of 6:04
minutes taking the Bronze medal and 4th place in the 800m with a
time of 2:54 minutes. Layla got into Little Athletics when she was
8 years old for fun and seriously picked up the passion at age 10.
Her greatest accom-plishment in the sport was highlighted when she
competed in the 800m this week, cracking 3 minutes. She has broken
three records since turning 10 years old, the third being a
National record in Adelaide last year.
Breaking Records: 2019 Athletics Nationals
Edited by Murray Elbourn
April 2019 edition of
THE VISION BULLETIN Blind Sports NSW
Inside this issue:
Little Athletics 1
Vision Impaired Football
2
Vision Camp 3
Announce-ments
4
Calendar & YouTube
5
Contact Us 6
Sponsors & Podcast
6
Pictured (left) Layla Sharp proudly holding her Bronze medal
after completing her 1500m race and beating the record time.
Pictured (top right) Layla Sharp being presented her Bronze medal
among her peers at the 2019 Australi-an Athletics Champion-ships.
Athletics NSW (logo pic-tured bottom right) was represented among
states from AUS and NZ in the Junior and Open divi-sions.
Source:http://nswathletics.org.au/AAC2019
http://nswathletics.org.au/AAC2019http://nswathletics.org.au/AAC2019
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Australian Blind Football is providing National Training Camps
across the country this year. There will be 7 camps throughout NSW
in 2019, 4 located in Sydney and 3 in Newcastle. These camps are
open to all ages and all classifi-cations. Nick Haydar, the newly
appointed Sports Coordinator, has made the initiative to introduce
young and new participants to football and to identify players to
participate in additional pathways leading up to the national
squad. Australian Blind Football coaches run the training camps and
are assisted by players from the national squad. The coaches are
Nick Haydar himself, along with Pete Nowakowski who’s assisted by
national squad member Stephanie Taylor, and Team Manager Jason
Stubbs. All Sydney camps will be taking place at ACPE in Sydney
Olympic Park on 6/4, 18/5, 22/6 and 20/7 from 2-4pm. Newcastle
trainings are at Football Fives Lake Macquarie on 5/5, 26/5 and
20/7 from 10-12pm. The first hour of training camps are for
children ages 5 to 12 and the second hour for ages 13 and up.
Vision Impaired Football National Training Camps Begin
Page 2
THE VISION BULLETIN
Australian Blind Football logo Connect through Fa-cebook
@AusBlindFootball Or through the web-site.
Pictured (left) Austral-ian Vision Impaired Football squad
Pictured (right) BSNSW Visionary Athletes, Brodie Smith and Sean
Brown, at NSW Champions of Sport Awards
BSNSW Visionary Athlete — Sean Brown Blind Sports NSW has
selected Sean Brown as one of the two Visionary Athletes
representing the organisation, alongside Brodie Smith. This program
aims to highlight the opportunities given to athletes who have made
the most out of playing blind or low vision sports and create a
pres-ence in their community by representing NSW and Australia on
both the national and internation-al stages. Sean began his story
with BSNSW in 2012, playing goalball and representing NSW and
Australia on the youth team. Now, being a Visionary Athlete, he has
been provided funding and many opportunities to network and travel
through sport in ways that he never imagined being possible. Being
one of the first Visionary Athletes elected into position, Sean’s
dedication to spreading awareness of blind sports and representing
his state and country in three separate sports – fut-sal, goalball
and cricket, has not gone unnoticed. After playing cricket for six
years, Sean’s hard work paid off when he was selected as a member
of the Blind Cricket Australia squad. Sean also became a member of
the first ever national Australian Vision Impaired Futsal squad
last year, and is currently striving to qualify at the upcoming
international futsal competition in England. His goal as Visionary
Athlete is to spread awareness of blind sports and advocate for
those who want to get involved in blind sports to not only compete
at an elite level, but to participate and benefit in a social and
physical way, making new friends with a common interest in
sport.
https://www.facebook.com/ausblindfootball/https://www.facebook.com/ausblindfootball/http://www.ausblindfootball.com.auhttp://www.ausblindfootball.com.au
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What would have been the Blind Sports April Vision Camp in Myuna
Bay, has had to be rescheduled from its original dates and
locations. Myuna Bay Sport and Recreation Centre has provided
students and children a home to school holiday camps for dec-ades.
Located near Lake Macquarie just South of Newcastle, this location
provided activities such as kayaking, fly fox and ropes courses,
attracting over 20,000 children each year. On Friday 29 March 2019,
NSW Office of Sport closed the campus as a safety precaution in the
event of an earthquake due to the closeness to the ash dam of
Eraring Power Station to the camp. (read more here) In this new
discovery, BSNSW has moved the camp to take place in lovely
Narrabeen of the Northern Beaches from Friday 7 June to Monday 10
June. Campers will arrive to Sydney Academy of Sport and
Recreation, Narrabeen for dinner on Friday night and stay through
lunch that Monday afternoon. This Vision Camp will be focused
highly on the state sporting teams of Cricket, Basketball, Futsal
and Goalball. A new element to this camp will be how the duration
of the long-weekend will run. Players from these state sporting
teams will also stay and participate in the camp, and the sport
sessions will ele-vate camper’s existing skills. The beginning of
camp will provide training sessions of each sport, allowing
participants to establish a foundation in the sport which will be
tested in tournament style sessions during the final days of the
camp. Be sure to register your spot in the camp through the BSNSW
site.
Myuna Bay Sport & Rec. Closure Affects April Vision Camp
Page 3
Pictured above: Amy Ridley and Makayla Reilly at a previ-ous
vision camp. These camps are a great way for kids to gain
confi-dence and become included into new friendship circles.
Pictured above: Myuna Bay thanks staff and clients for decades
of support. (source)
Blind Sports NSW 2019 Annual General Meeting The Blind Sports
NSW Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 18th May at
ACPE (10 Parkview Drive, Sydney Olympic Park), commencing at
1:00pm. Anyone is welcome to attend the AGM and members are
encouraged to sit in on the meeting to hear plans of the upcoming
year. Members who are ages 18 and older have the right and ability
to vote during the meeting on motions put forward. There will not
be any elections this year as the 2019 meeting is the second of a
two-year term. Notice of motions must be sent in by members to
Sophie no later than Friday the 19th of April. Please send these
motions into [email protected].
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-01/anger-over-myuna-bay-sport-rec-centre-closure/10958254https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-01/anger-over-myuna-bay-sport-rec-centre-closure/10958254mailto:[email protected]
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The Achilles International Running Club is aimed at providing
runners of all abilities and vol-
unteers the opportunity to train, by walking, jogging or
running, in an hour-long session ex-
ploring cities all over Australia. There is currently a
Sydney-based program in NSW and Achil-
les is excited to announce their expansion into Newcastle in the
upcoming month.
In partnership with Parkrun, Achilles has provided athletes who
either used to be heavily in-
volved in athletics and sport, or who are wanting to get
involved the opportunity to do so in a
casual and social setting. Although the exact start date is not
yet determined, Newcastle run-
ners can look forward to starting in May of this year.
Contact [email protected] for any additional
information or enquiries.
NSW Goalball is on the search for those who want to
volunteer
their time at the IBSA Youth World Championships in Penrith.
The competition takes place at the Penrith Valley Regional
Sports Centre from August 2-9 and there will be volunteer
op-
portunities across the board.
Students are invited to come as a class to spectate for
FREE.
Register through the “IBSA Youth WCs” tab on
goalball.com.au.
Achilles Newcastle Running Club
THE VISION BULLETIN
Calling All Volunteers and Spectators: IBSA Youth World
Championships 2019
Achilles International logo (above). Visit their Australia
website for news and up-dates on programs nationwide. Pictured
(left) a member of Achilles Aus-tralia with running guide. Pictured
(below) the official 2019 IBSA Youth World Championships logo.
Page 4
mailto:[email protected]://www.achillesaustralia.org.au/
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APRIL/MAY CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Page 5
1st EDITION of the BLINDSPORTSNSW PODCAST
Fri-Thurs 28—4
Mar –April All Day
IBSA World Games Test Event (Belles) Fort Wayne, Indiana USA
Fri & Sat 5 & 6 April All Day
South West Sydney Disability Expo
Whitlam Leisure Centre, Liverpool
Satur-day 6 April
10:30am-1:30pm Sydney HUB Training
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Satur-day 6 April 2pm—4pm
Aus. Vision Impaired Futsal Training Camp (Sydney)
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Sun-day 7 April
9:30am—3:30pm
Youth Training / Sydney City Cup (Round 2)
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Fri– Sun 12-14 April All Day
QLD State Championships & Storm Camp Cairns, Queensland
Satur-day 13 April
10:30am-1:30pm Sydney HUB Training
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Fri—Sun 26-28 April All Day
GA Youth Boys and Girls Selec-tion Camp PVRSC, Penrith
Satur-day 4 May
10:30am-1:30pm Sydney HUB Training
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Sun-day 5 May 10am-12pm
Aus. Vision Impaired Futsal Training Camp (Newcastle)
Football Fives, Lake Mac-quarie
Satur-day
11 & 18 May
10:30am-1:30pm Sydney HUB Training
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Satur-day 18 May 2pm-4pm
Aus. Vision Impaired Futsal Training Camp (Sydney)
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Tues-day 21 May
6:30pm-8:30pm
Knowledge Exchange Inclusion (KEI) - Orange Orange PCYC
Fri-day 24 May 10am-2pm
G4S Regional Champion-ships—Wollongong (TBC*) Uni. Of
Wollongong
Sat & Sun
25 & 26 May All Day Belles Camp
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
Sun-day 26 May
9:30am-3:30pm
Youth Training / Sydney City Cup (Round 3)
ACPE / Sydney Olympic Park
*Calendar dates, times and locations subject to change. Please
check Blind Sports NSW, NSW Goalball and associated organisation
websites for up-to-date calendar of events.
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CONTACT US & Affiliated Blind Sports:
Blind Sports NSW: Murray: 0427186734 / Sophie: 0414767724
Email: [email protected]
Address: PO Box W292, Parramatta NSW 2150
Website: www.blindsportsnsw.com.au
NSW Blind Golf: Graham: 0412992418 (sighted caddies needed)
Blind Cricket NSW: Jason: 0402227540 / Mark: 0418889188
NSW Goalball: Liza 0287361243 / 0468760249 -
www.goalball.com.au
THE VISION BULLETIN, April 2019 Edition - Edited by Murray
Elbourn
Blind Sports NSW have created a new podcast that is now
available on our website www.blindsportsnsw.com.au
please click on the media tab to listen to Liza and Jay our
American hosts talk about camp, goalball, cricket and all
the other exciting things that happens in the world of Blind
Sports NSW. For more information on future podcasts email
[email protected]
Regular podcasts will now take place on Blind Sports NSW
and we are running a competition to name it. Enter NOW
through commenting on SoundCloud or related FB posts!
Back Page BREAKING NEWS! Competition (continues) to name our
Podcast in Episode 3
Sponsors & Partners
http://www.blindsportsnsw.com.aumailto:[email protected]
