A Sudbury athlete who’s competed for Canada in hockey is trying her hand at soccer on the national level. The switch is made even more extraordinary because Amanda Provan is blind. Legally blind since birth, Provan has just three per cent vision, but that hasn’t stopped her – she has been playing hockey since the age of 12. Provan was the first woman to play on the Canadian National Blind Hockey team. From the rink to the pitch “I’m a bit of a parasport enthusiast,” she said. “I’m kind of game to try whichever sports come my way. Mostly I’m looking for a Paralympics route because I have a dream in taking part in the Paralympic Games.” In spring 2025, she tried blind soccer for the first time, attending a training camp near Parry Sound, Ont. This past May, she was asked to be part of the national women’s team. New level of trust “Blind soccer has given me kind of a new aspect on teamwork where you’re seriously relying on your other teammates and your coaches because you don’t have any vision that you may have,” Provan told CTV News in an exclusive interview while she was getting in some training on a Sudbury soccer pitch. Her mother, Lisette, provided auditory cues clanging the right and left posts on the goal net. Eyes shut, ears open Blind Soccer is an adapted version with a few differences. First, the pitch is smaller with kickboards and teams are made up of five players all wearing eye shades regardless of their level of vision. Additionally, sighted goalies provide verbal direction during the game and there’s an auditory ball. “Obviously without the sense of sight it really increases people’s awareness of what they’re listening for but also the communication that’s being provided to them,” said Matt Greenwood, coach of the national women’s Blind Soccer team. “It needs to be succinct, on point and fast.” Crashing the boards again Greenwood, the founder of Soccability Canada, said that given Provan’s athletic background, it’s been a smooth transition from hockey to soccer. “Sometimes it does look a little bit like hockey, getting kind of crushed up against the boards with two or three players,” he said. “Amanda is just more than comfortable to be in that environment and physically strong enough to hold off an opposition player, whilst kind of protecting herself against the boards.” Provan will head with the team to Brazil this September when Canada participates in the Blind Football American Championships.
