For TeamTalk Season 2, Episode 2, we are joined by British Blind Sport’s Alaina MacGregor and Philippa Bass. Hosted by Chris Martin and Imogen Greatbatch.
Welcome back to Season 2 of our TeamTalk podcast. This season, we are talking to thought leaders, customers and stakeholders from the world of sport and physical exercise as we dive deeper into volunteering and the volunteer managers who make it happen.
In this episode, we are joined by Alaina MacGregor and Philippa Bass from British Blind Sport. We are also joined again by our co-host Imo Greatbatch. Imo is currently the Head of Volunteering at England Netball, she is passionate about volunteering in sports and is offering her knowledge and insight on the topic.
About British Blind Sport
British Blind Sport “prides itself on making a visible difference through sport as we know that taking the first step into participating in a sporting or recreational activity can change lives for the better”. The charity was established in 1975 under the name of BASRAB (British Association of Sports and Recreation Activities of the Blind) and was created to assist blind and partially sighted adults and children to access opportunities in sports. The charity organisation has now assisted over 100,000 visually impaired adults and children to access sport.
About Our Guests
Alaina MacGregor is the Chief Executive of British Blind Sport. After a successful 16-year career in marketing, Alaina turned to charity work as she felt that she wanted to give back. Alaina became involved in disability sport as a volunteer advisor to British Blind Sport in 2010 but took up the responsibility of Chief Executive Officer in 2011.
Our other guest is Philippa Bass, Sports Participation Officer. Philippa joined the team in September 2021, having worked in Disability Football for the past 8 years, where she has experience of blind and partially sighted provision. Philippa, is responsible for the coordination and delivery of their active programme, to get more people active and enjoying participation in sports. This includes the ‘Have a Go’ day programme.
Have a go days encourage everyone, no matter their previous experience in sport, to come along, make new friends and discover inclusive activities in their community. The ‘Have a Go’ day programme has introduced hundreds of visually impaired adults and children to new sports.
As Alaina says, it’s an exciting time for disability sports but we need to get it absolutely right, we’re going to sprinkle magic and we’re going to make this happen.
Some useful links and resources will be left below for those who want to learn more about what British Blind Sport do.
You can find TeamKinetic on social media and listen to other episodes of our podcast:
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Podcast
Useful links and resources:
British Blind Sport website: https://britishblindsport.org.uk/
British Blind Sport Twitter page: https://twitter.com/BritBlindSport
Email: info@britishblindsport.org.uk
