St. George’s Park added another unique event to its list of firsts this week when the England Deaf and Partially Sighted teams went head to head.

Arranged as part of the England Deaf team’s preparations for the European qualifiers in Oslo later this month, Head Coach Paul Harrison said the fixture provided challenges on and off the court as both players and coaches adapted to a unique environment.

He said: “The game was an opportunity for us to play against good opposition who would present us with different challenges.

“We are a relatively new squad; this is only our second time being together, and so for us there is the challenge of making sure the players understand what we have asked them to do.

At the final whistle, the result was a 6-0 win to the England Deaf team but Harrison was keen to stress that this was an exercise where overcoming new challenges was more valuable than the score line.

Jamie Clarke, one of the stars of the Deaf team, believed the performance showed that Harrison’s charges were moving in the right direction.

The England Deaf team will play Norway, Russia and France later this month in a bid to qualify for the November’s European Deaf Futsal Championship in Bulgaria.

England v Norway, 22 February
England v Russia, 22 February
England v France, 23 February
Read full story at

http://www.thefa.com/news/england/development/2014/feb/deaf-v-partially-sighted#0TmHYPbLYFB14aMV.99