BLIND SPORTS NSW. October 2017 Edition. Blind Golf Australian Open held at Royal Sydney

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1 BLIND SPORTS NSW Blind Golf Australian Open held at Royal Sydney What an amazing event it was at the home of Golf in NSW. This beautiful course played host to the ISPS Australian Blind Golf Open with support from Vision Australia as a key sponsor of the event. Blind and Vision Impaired golfers from all over Australia, Canada and UK participated in the event which was hosted by the amazing staff at Royal Sydney Golf Club. Open & Ladies winner was newcomer to the Blind Golf division due to a recent loss in vision Michele Watts. Michele had been playing competitive sighted golf for many years but recently took up Blind Golf and had instant success around this tough course hitting a 69 in the last round. Canadian Kiefer Jones won the men s division. Rod Mills stole the show at the NSW Blind Golf Open at Bankstown Golf Course the week prior to the Australian Blind Golf Open. While Jenny Mccallum took out the Ladies NSW Blind Golf Open Championship.

2 Blind Sports NSW Member Survey Blind Sports NSW have significantly expanded their offering to members in 2017 to now include touch football, judo, gymnastics, hockey, netball, basketball, futsal, Goalball, Tennis, cricket, golf, swimming & athletics. With all this choice of sports for members who are blind or vision impaired the executive team met recently to strategize around how we can further improve services to our members and commercial partners including Vision Australia, Guide Dogs, Variety NSW The Children s Charity, Ability Links, Universities and Schools among others. We want your input to understand what you want from us and how we can support you. A survey will be send out to all current and previous members asking some questions around programs and delivery moving into Please take 10 minutes to fill this out and submit it to us via survey monkey. Remember that we exist to provide services to you. Please click on this link to fill in our survey. BLIND SPORTS NSW 2016 This is a notice to all current and past members that Blind Sports NSW will host the 2017 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, December 16th at Sports House from Sydney Olympic Park at 2pm. A full agenda will soon be available soon at and all members will receive an with it. Nominations for the following positions are now open through November 24th, 2017 Blind Sports NSW are looking for a membership protection officer currently, if you would like to nominate for this role please contact Murray Elbourn by ing us at blindsportsnsw@gmail.com or call Murray on Also Tamara Elbourn will be stepping down as our Vice President so that position will also be one nominated for. All other positions are in their first year of a two year term.

3 Page 3 ADRENALINE RUSH THIS JANUARY SCHOOL HOLIDDAYS Blind Sports NSW is packing some fun into the holiday season over summer, no more staying at home and being bored, this coming January its play time!!! In partnership with Uniting Care who supported funding for the Adrenaline Rush Program Blind Sports NSW will be featuring days at North Bondi Beach with Lets GO Surfing who have been a partner and delivered a great experience to vision impaired people in the past. Indoor Sky Diving at Penrith Indoor Sky Dive who have also had participants from our 2014 Youth Camp. Then in Blacktown a joint day of fun with Rock Climbing and Inflatable World. To register for the Adrenaline Rush Program head to our website and sign up as a member of Blind Sports NSW. Dates are being confirmed as we speak and more information will come to you through our upcoming November and December newsletters that you receive as a member. ACTIVATE INCLUSION SPORTS DAYS & VARIETY HEART SCHOLARSHIPS Variety NSW The Children s Charity are bringing Activate Inclusion Sports Days to regional NSW. If you are a student who has blindness or a vision impairment and would like to try adaptive sport in a fun and supportive environment then please go to activateinclusionsportsdays there you can register for upcoming days in Coffs Harbour, Tamworth, Lake Macquarie, Lane Cove & Northern Beaches. These days are for students aged 5-18yrs. At these days you will be able to see the 2017 IBSA Youth Goalball World Cup that the Australian under 19 Women s team won in Budapest, Hungary in July 2017 by defeating Russia 9-6 in the gold medal match.

4 Page 4 Blind Cricket NSW kicks off the season at Bankstown Oval Bankstown Oval is the new home of Blind Cricket NSW and they launched their season on Sunday, September 17th with another match that took place on Sunday, October 8th. If you want to play Blind Cricket in the NSW competition please contact Mark Eschbank on or you can the secretary Leanne Fitzpatrick on leannebcnsw@gmail.com Also dates are soon to be announced for the upcoming T20 Blast Sixers v Thunder youth blind cricket games. To sign up for these games please head to and register to receive the flyer and dates when they become available Here is the draw for the remainder of the Blind Cricket NSW season as it currently stands: October 22nd at 11am Social T20 game at Graeme Thomas Oval next to Bankstown Oval October 29th at 11am Social T20 game at Jensen Oval, Clapton Rd, Birrong November 12th at 11am Social T20 game at Jensen Oval, Clapton Rd, Birrong November 26th at 11am Social T20 game at Graeme Thomas Oval next to Bankstown Oval December 10th at 10am Possible All Blacks game at Bankstown Main Oval The NSW Blind Cricket Team will then head to the National Cricket Inclusion Championships to battle other states for the Australian Blind Cricket Shield. The team is expected to feature some new young faces and will be a competitive force against other states in Geelong, Victoria. Stay tuned to Blind Sports NSW for updates on the team and the Championships in January ahead of the T20 World Cup in Dubai next year.

5 Page 5 NSW Goalball Juniors win GOLD at AGC s 2017 NSW Goalball traveled to Melbourne, VIC to compete against other states in the 2017 Australian Goalball Championships at Collingwood College. Having finished 2nd 4 years straight the NSW Junior team were focused on going one better and after an undefeated pool round they met QLD in the Junior final. With new Central Coast players Ethan Scaturchio and Makayla Reilly on board the team performed above expectations winning the final Ethan was also selected along with Molly Smith and Tyson O Neil to the All Star Junior team. MiKayla Kumar said goodbye to Juniors as Captain of the team and Kendra Brewer scored her most goals (12) in AGC history. The team was coached by Murray Elbourn, Nathan Reilly and Ingrid Stephens. In other categories NSW Women finished 2nd to QLD in a reversal of the 2016 AGC s with Tyan Taylor and Sarah Plunket making the All Star Team. Our Youth Team finished 3rd which was their first loss in the last 5 years at AGC level. Matthew Bowry and Alice Kingston were named to the All Star Team. The NSW Men were hit hard by withdrawals and injuries losing their starting lineup prior to the event then having Issac Toppo unable to play due to sickness. Despite all that adversity the team fought hard to do their absolute best with Captain Daniel Dalton being selected in the All Star team as the men finished 4th. NSW Goalball lost their hold on the National Combined shield to QLD by 1 over all point in this changed format by Goalball Australia to not count every game but instead focus on pool standings.

6 MEMO FROM THE CEO (CEO) Murray Elbourn Blind Sports NSW Our Premier Inclusion League Touch Football is about to end and unfortunately Parramatta were not able to make the Grand Final but did attract a better number of players in 2017 then in We hope to again be part of this main stream competition in 2018 with a final on offer. Our Raiders Futsal Club is in full swing though and have been promoted to the Premier League after their div 2 state champs and league cup win in This team is full but if you want to play Futsal call Kristy CONTACT US blindsportsnsw@gmail.com Web: (membership form & Event Registrations) Phone: (Kristy Berthelot, Program Manager (Wednesday & Thursday) Phone: (Murray Elbourn, CEO) Social Media: Search BlindsportsNSW THANK YOU SPONSORS & PARTNERS