We are delighted to announce The London Clinic Eye Centre will be supporting the vision classification examinations for the Goalball GB team, this is part of the Clinic’s charitable purpose.  

The process of classification applies to all visually impaired competitors of Paralympic sports, and all other International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) sports to ensure that Para sports remain fair.

The partnership came into being after Gary Fraser, High Performance Lead at Goalball UK contacted Liz Tomlin, Orthoptist at the Clinic’s Eye Centre in her capacity as Master Elect of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers. This nearly 400-year-old City of London Livery company promotes educational, cultural, and sporting activities for visually impaired people through their charitable support.  

In the spirit of one of the Clinic’s values – We Work as One - Liz quickly rallied the support of her Ophthalmic nursing and ophthalmology colleagues to firm up the offer to the Goalball athletes of doing their visual acuity tests, Optical Coherence Tomography scan (OCT scan), visual field tests, with certification issued by Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon Mr Moin Mohamed, who specialises in medical retinal disease (including diabetes, age-related macular degeneration, and genetic eye diseases).  
 

“I was delighted to respond to Gary’s request and I’m very proud of my Eye Centre colleagues for their kind offer to manage the Goalball player’s classification. I know how much it means to everyone at Goalball, and I wish the team every success,” said Liz.
 

“The eye examinations are an essential part of the process to ensure our players can progress in the sport and compete at the highest level,” said Gary. “Goalball UK are very grateful to The London Clinic Eye Centre for their support because, without the Medical Diagnostic Forms (MDF) completed by an ophthalmologist, a player can’t gain a classification, meaning they can’t compete in international competitions.”  

It’s a GOAL!…ball? 

If you aren’t familiar with the sport of Goalball here, in brief, and clearer than explaining the off-side rule (!) are the basic facts about this fantastic sport for athletes with a visual impairment: 

•    Goalball is a unique, dynamic team sport of skill, speed, and accuracy for men’s and women’s teams. 
•    Players try to score goals by quickly and precisely firing a 1.25kg ball across the court – balls can travel up to over 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) - and defending shots from the opposing team using their entire bodies, throwing themselves to the floor in the right position.  
•    Players wear eyeshades to ensure a level-playing field where athletes with complete blindness compete with and against those with less severe – but still acute – visual impairments. 
•    The ball contains several bells so that players can locate its position. In addition, the goalball court is marked with raised lines so that players can feel their location at any time. 
•    To ensure that players can hear everything that is going on and properly absorb the intensity of the atmosphere, spectators must be completely silent during play. 
•    Games are split into two 12-minute halves and are played on a court that is 18m x 9m wide. Goals span the width of the pitch and each team member must stay in their half. 
•    A goal is one point and is scored when the ball completely crosses the goal line. 
 
What to know even more about this fascinating sport? Watch this informative video  https://bit.ly/3QOV960  and hear the players and their parents talk about what amazing benefits playing Goalball has brought to their lives.   

Would you like to be a patient at The London Clinic? 

If you would like more details about Mr Moin Mohamed visit this page.www.thelondonclinic.co.uk/experts/mr-moin-mohamed

If you want to book an appointment at The London Clinic Eye Centre for an eye check-up, or a diagnostic consultation about medical matters that concern you, call our self-pay team on 020 3219 3256 to find out more about pricing and 0% finance options (T&Cs apply)