The Sheffield goalball player representing Great Britain in world’s largest sporting event for blind and partially sighted athletes

That would be the “pinnacle”, 29-year-old Caleb says. “That’s the aim, the dream but there’s a lot of hard work to be done.

"As a team, we are the best we’ve ever been so it will be amazing to test ourselves on this stage and get a good result in the tournament

“We are going to really give it our all. A lot of hard work has gone into this and I can’t wait to be involved and really display what we have got as a team on the world stage.”

The Games is making its UK debut this summer, being held across Birmingham and the surrounding areas between August 18 and 27. Around 1,250 blind and partially sighted athletes from 70 countries are set to compete in 10 sports.

Goalball UK sees it as an “exciting opportunity” for its selected Great Britain athletes and coaches to show its home country “what goalball and blind sport is all about”.

Played exclusively by athletes who are blind or partially sighted, goalball was invented in 1946 to help rehabilitate veterans who had lost their sight during the Second World War.

It is a sport which sees players attempt to score goals by throwing a 1.25kg ball across the court and defending shots from the opposing team using their bodies.

“You’re always up on your feet, fighting to try to win,” Caleb says. “There’s no other sport like it for people who are blind or visually impaired. It’s not easy but it’s a fun sport to play - and to watch.”

Caleb first got involved in the sport when he was 16-years-old and studying at the Royal National College for the Blind. He had moved to the UK from Ghana five years prior.

When Caleb was seven-years-old, he was blinded by a rare allergic reaction. He lost his sight after being prescribed medication to help manage chickenpox by doctors where he lived at the time.

It was a moment which changed his life, triggering a severe and rare skin reaction known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome, leaving him blind for more than three years.

At the age of 11, Caleb flew some 3,000 miles to England for a cornea transplant to restore partial vision in his left eye. He has lived with his family in Gleadless in Sheffield ever since.

“I don’t remember what it was like having full sight before," Caleb says. “For me, as a child, I was aware of being blind or partially sighted and not being able to see as much as everyone else, but I only really started understanding how to use my eyesight to its full potential in my teens

“But I have never really felt like I am not capable of doing anything. It has never brought me down, I have never been sad about it. It has given me the sense that I can try to do anything. Do not limit yourself.”

Caleb began to take goalball seriously in his early 20s and is part of the sport at various levels, playing domestically for the Northern Allstars, coaching for his local team South Yorkshire, and – through a programme with Goalball UK – visiting schools to teach children about the sport.

He has competed at major European championships, topped goalscoring charts, and become one of Great Britain’s best goalball athletes.

Now, he is hoping to inspire the next generation, through the World Games.

“We want to be one of those teams who are in the Paras every four years, having an established team and a strong core to build a legacy for ourselves and help inspire younger and upcoming athletes.”

There’s one youngster in particular that Caleb hopes to do proud – his four-year-old son Logan.

“When he gets older, I hope he can look back and think ‘woah my dad did this at the top level’. I hope it inspires him to join in sport or take the lessons you learn from a sporting environment - being committed and working hard.

“He has never seen me play at a big event like this, so I will hopefully do him proud.”

For more information about the World Games, visit www.ibsagames2023.co.uk