What is Goalball?
Goalball made its Paralympic debut in Toronto, Canada in 1976 and the women’s event was added at the 1984 Paralympic Games in New York, USA.
Goalball is a team sport played indoors by athletes with vision impairment. The object of the game is to roll the ball into the opponent’s goal while the opposing players try to block the ball with their bodies. Bells inside the ball help orientate the players by indicating the direction of the oncoming ball.
How Do You Play?
In goalball, two teams of three players each face each other across a court that is nine meters wide and 18 meters long. The object of the game is to roll a basketball size ball with bells inside over the opponent’s goal line. Your opponents listen for the oncoming ball and attempt to block it with their bodies. Once they are able to stop the ball and take control of it, they become the offensive team.
Goalball is played on a court by two teams of three players (six players total are allowed on each team). The objective is for each team to throw the ball, in some cases like rolling a bowling ball, toward the opponent with the hopes of getting the ball past the opponent to score. To stop the ball from going in the net, teams must block the ball with their body by diving from a crouched position. This exchange occurs over two 12-minute halves.
Benefits of Goalball
Often, individuals who are visually impaired or blind do not have many opportunities to involve themselves in physical activity, let alone team sports. Goalball then becomes very meaningful because it specifically creates an environment beyond just-an-activity for the visually impaired; communication, coordination, strategies, and split-second reactions are crucial elements of Goalball. Yet, the game is played in hush. This pushes the players beyond the ordinary realms of communication, fostering a unique mode of teamwork and cooperation between participants that cannot be found in any other sport. This spectacular outcome is sure to boost the confidence of participants. 스포츠토토
Goalball also serves as a medium to reconcile those who are sighted and those who are visually impaired. By participating together (at a recreational level), the able community benefits because of greater awareness of what visually impaired individuals, when given the opportunity, can achieve.
History
The sport was originally created back in the aftermath of World War II as a way for individuals to recover from war wounds. It is a sanctioned Paralympic sport and first was in the Paralympic games in 1976 following a successful test trial in the 1972 games. At each Paralympic Games, 12 Men’s and 10 Women’s teams from across the globe compete in this sport. This sport is unique in that only those with visual impairments are allowed to compete at the global stage and the game was specifically created for these individuals to play. There are few sports that tailor directly to this audience and few that can be easily played by this audience which creates an exciting activity for all and these people especially.
