it's possible

It all started from an unexpected proposal. A friend of ours calls us who has recently met a boy who plays in a football team for the blind and is looking for sponsors who will help them continue to train and play together. She tells us that she is thinking about how she can support them, but that in the meantime she has had an idea: "There is a five-a-side football pitch at the Arsenale, could we organize a match with these guys?". We immediately say yes, happy to be able to host these new friends. Thus was born a morning that we will not easily forget.

The first to arrive is Darley, the leader of this initiative, with his beautiful guide dog Clark with whom he speaks in English. He tells us that when he was one year old he had a brain tumor and as a result he lost his sight. He suffered a lot, but he found his own way to deal with all this through sport and the promotion of inclusive activities. Shortly afterwards the others arrive, all together, in a row, resting their hands on each other to be able to move in a large and completely new place like the Arsenale. With them are some able-bodied kids who act as a glue to this very special group. The presentations begin. Difficult stories that have found new momentum in football and team play. We tell them a little about the Arsenale, trying to put ourselves in their shoes and make them feel at home.

After a short while the match begins and for most of us, who had never witnessed a football match for the blind live, it was an incredible experience. They play with a black blindfold to make everyone equally blind, with a ball that makes noise when it moves and being guided by the indications of the able-bodied members of the team. This is why they ask us to watch the match in silence and to keep cheering when a goal is scored. In fact, watching them play makes us enter into an admiring silence: after the starting whistle we are all glued to the net wondering how they can play with such ease. What these guys are doing so naturally seems impossible to us. One of our volunteers summarizes well what they are teaching us: "There is nothing impossible for man, if he wants it." These guys helped us and our guests to kick away our worries, our struggles, the feeling that our problems are insurmountable. Watching them play you are forced to change perspective, at least for a moment. And if you manage to let this beautiful experience enter you, maybe, remembering them, you will face the next difficulty in a different way.

Then our time also came to try playing like this. Several of our guests offered themselves as volunteers, allowed themselves to be blindfolded and attempted to take a penalty, guided by the sound of a stone hitting their goal posts and the voice of a teammate. We said goodbye, hoping that this is just the first match of a long series and the beginning of a friendship between people who, for different reasons, know well the difficulties that life can make you encounter. As another friend said at the end of this morning: «This is the beauty of the Arsenale: that it is a home for everyone and manages to unite the blind, men who come from the street, young and old, giving everyone a little of hope".


The Sermig Brotherhood in Brazil
NP December 2023