For blind soccer players, courage is essential

Visually impaired Olympic soccer player Wang Yafeng explains what it's like to run in the dark: "It's like there is always a wall in front of you," he said.

But sight is just one of the human senses that are useful in his chosen sport. There are others.

At the school for blind children in Fuzhou, Fujian province, where Wang has worked as a coach after his retirement in 2016, a boy fiddled with a specially designed soccer ball — one with a ringer. He tapped it with his feet to produce the sound, and then ran full speed the width of the square in pursuit.

Wang spoke gently, noting that the little player had been hesitant.

"Are you scared of running with the ball again?" Wang asked.

He said it takes a long time for a blind player to overcome fear of the darkness, and he never criticizes a student for not being brave enough. Soccer requires quick and precise reactions, but for a blind player it also takes patience.