Young Reporter - Aysha Rizvi

VISA Ball Kid Experience

On the 11th of July 2022, I went to the Brighton & Hove Community Stadium as a ball kid for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022TM England v Norway match.

A ball kid is a kid who stands by the side of the pitch with a ball and if the current match ball is kicked out, then instead of the players chasing after it, the ball kid passes the ball they are holding to a player and then they go after the thrown-out ball.

There were 12 ball kids in this match and we each had our own part of the pitch to look out for balls for.

My name is Aysha, and I was a ball kid at the England v Norway match. My Mum and I arrived at a hotel in Brighton on the day of the match. We met up with people from VISA (who were sponsoring the ball kids). There was a lady called Yasmin who oversaw everything and Claudia and Christian who were in charge of looking after the ball kids. I got to meet the other kids and go through what would happen later during the match.

We took a coach to the stadium, and I got to see the players warming up. The England Team did a small part of their warm up in my ball kid pitch section! It was great to see them getting into the zone and ready for the game. That was epic.

When the match started, I was very excited by the fact that I would be able to see it all up close. It wasn’t just the football. It was the whole vibe and atmosphere. There was music, cheering; the match went into night-time and the crowd turned on their torches on their phones, there were huge Mexican waves.

It was great, but very noisy. As an autistic person, I did struggle with the noise - but it was a once in a lifetime experience and I am so glad I did it! Thanks to Claudia and Christian for being very kind to me ☺.

And one of the best parts: England won 8-nil. Amazing!

By Aysha Rizvi