Goal Ball!

One of our Year 8 PE classes recently had the awesome opportunity to experience Goal Ball in a session run by Zoe Tully from the Halberg Foundation, and Paris Skipper from Parafed Otago.

What is Goalball? Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Athletes use blackout masks to ensure equality, as the severity of Para athletes’ impairment may differ. Participants compete in teams of three. The object of the game is for players to throw the ball so that it rolls towards/into the opposite goal, while opposing players try to block the ball with their bodies to avoid conceding a goal. The rubber ball has a bell inside it to orient players, indicating the direction of the on-coming ball. Each game involves two halves of 12 minutes each. Whilst play is in progress, complete silence is required in the venue to allow the players to instantly react to the ball. It is the most popular team sport for the blind and visually impaired and is played competitively in 112 countries.

The students all thoroughly enjoyed this experience - relishing, and thoughtful about, the challenge involved. Thank you very much to Zoe and Paris for facilitating this for our students.