Heywood teacher all set for London Paralympics

Sue Whitehead, a teacher from Heywood is on her marks for the Paralympic Games which start in London next week.

Sue, (48) has been given an 18-month secondment from her job as Community Sports Manager at Siddal Moor Sports College to work as Services Manager for Handball and Goalball for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, (LOCOG) and will return to her job in September.

Sue, who lives in Ramsbottom with her husband and two children, has been involved in handball coaching for about 30 years. She told Rochdale Online that she felt proud to be part of the Olympic project.

Although Sue would not be drawn on any medal predictions, she told Rochdale Online at the ‘great excitement’ being felt by the Paralympic athletes as they move into the Olympic Village as the opening of the games draws closer.

Goalball was a sport developed in the 1940s to help in the rehabilitation of blind ex-service personnel in the USA. It is played on an indoor, tactile-marked court with a ball containing bells.

All players wear eyeshades so that they are equally handicapped. There are three players per team and as the name suggests, the object is to score as many goals into the opponents net as possible.

The Rochdale Goalball Club, based at Siddal Moor, qualified for the National Schools final in 1998. The club has an in-house policy, in that only Rochdale club members represent the club, unlike some other goalball clubs rely on borrowing players to make up teams.

This policy has bred consistency and a real team spirit amongst the Rochdale players as they know each other well and are very supportive and encouraging of each other. Older players help with coaching and pass on tips to the youngsters.

As the club develops it is hoped to help some of these to become qualified coaches and officials in their own right. Two of the team have already gone on to represent Great Britain in international competition.