Wilro Park blind cricketer fearless in her pursuit of inclusivity and equal participation

Adventure needs no map nor clarity of vision, just a heart to guide one on the journey.

Born fully sighted, Tania Harris began to lose her vision at around 14 years old. The sporty young lady was a keen netball player and enjoyed the competitive dynamism of track and field events before being diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease. The rare affliction is the building up of material on the part of the eye which determines central vision and as a result, Tania has partial peripheral vision but cannot see directly in front of her.

Not one for quitting, Tania did not move schools, completing her matric at Athlone Girls High School, which accommodated her with relevantly adjusted school work. After school she went to Optima College and there she was introduced to tandem cycling, where a visually impaired person is paired with a sighted person. Since then Tania has sampled golf, hiking, climbing, parachuting, and bungee jumping and has completed several triathlons and Argus cycle tours.

Now 51 years old, Tania has been involved in her favourite sport for well over a decade. She has been playing cricket for 14 years and has represented the Central Gauteng Lions Blind Cricket (CGLBC) team. This year she moved into the administrator’s seat, overseeing the recent T20 National Blind Cricket tournament as tournament coordinator.

Blind cricket is played by the three medical visual classifications, B1, B2 and B3. Bowlers bowl underhand with a ball-bearing filled ball, and batsman typically sweep the ball. Fielders field at a distance from the wicket related to their classification. B3 classified players, those most sighted, field closer to the boundary while B1 players field closest with all putting their bodies on the line.

The T20 Nationals were held across three venues in the north of Johannesburg. Featuring six blind teams from established unions, Tania worked frantically in the background to keep things ticking over on the pitch. “I am always putting my hand up, I do not do it for recognition, but from the heart,” said Tania. On the field, her CGLBC colleagues would take the title, beating Northerns by 47 runs at Wanderers Stadium.

In her private life, Tania is always looking for new challenges and is now committed to growing blind cricket on the West Rand. Her goal is to create a blind cricket coaching manual and improve her own batting skills, welcoming assistance from local cricket coaches for both goals. Increasing female participation in blind cricket is also close to her heart but insists the game is harder than it may appear. “They need their own drive, it is hard work in the field,” she advised.

Tenacious, independent, humble and a self-proclaimed ‘flower-child’, Tania also has a humanitarian streak as she volunteers at organisations like Baby Moses and The Teddy Bear Clinic. More important to Tania than just participating is doing so on her own terms and requires no labels or platitudes, taking it upon herself, saying, “I would use the word ‘adventurous’”.