Goalball, the experience of unity with the other that was born from World War II

The goalball players form a line behind the guide or assistant who is a member of their team, and create a chain by holding the shoulder of the teammate in front to guide themselves into the court. They have different degrees of visual impairment so some get loose, but they maintain training.

They are a true team, where each other’s presence is a guide and an impulse that is felt through contact. They look for each other to hug each other, cheer each other up in the middle of the game and to position themselves within the playing rectangle.

The Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games that are underway is the third time that this sport is contested in these events, after debuting in Guadalajara 2011 while in the Paralympic Games it debuted as an exhibition in Toronto 1976.

It began awarding medals in Arnhem 1980, in the Netherlands edition, for the men’s category and in the women’s category it debuted four years later in the New York 1984 edition.

Chile, for example, had never competed with this discipline in the Parapan American Games, so its performance, at the Paralympic Sports Center in the Chilean capital, is historic.

In the Paralympic Games, the United States has won three gold medals and is the country with the most medals in total with 12, but in the Parapan American Games the main reference is Brazil, which has only won one gold medal in the Paralympic Games.

In the continental competition, the Brazilians are three-time men’s champions and two-time women’s champions and their power is recognized by their rivals such as the coach of Argentina, Facundo Rodríguez, who regretted the 12-2 defeat of his women’s team in the first match.

“We knew that they were careful, Brazil is a world power. The result was predictable, we must continue working. “We already played with the most difficult obstacle,” he assured.

The origin

This sport began as a rehabilitation activity, when it was created by the Austrian Hans Lorenzen and the German Sepp Reindle in 1946, after the Second World War, thinking about soldiers who ended up with reduced vision or blindness as a result of the conflict.

He ‘Goalball’ Goalball is exclusively a Paralympic sport unlike other disciplines that are adaptations of Olympic sports, however it has an essence or sense of the game that unites it with football and handball.

The organization of this sport has 41 years of experience, since in 1982 the subcommittee of the discipline was created within the International Federation of Sports for the Blind, which is in charge of the regulations and official championships as well as the promotion of the practice throughout the world.

The dynamics

Silence is required when playing, since the ball has bells inside and the sound of the bounce against the floor is also a reference for para athletes, but before the start and after each goal play the atmosphere is a party and the noise and cheers excite the players.

“For us it is an honor to share this sport with people. We, personally, have never had such a strong bar. It helped us a lot. The boys are super happy”commented Chilean coach Samuel Hidalgo after the debut.

Two teams of three players each face each other, attacking and defending their goal that measures about nine meters wide, in which the crossbar is a constant reference which they look for to walk from one end of the field to the other.

It is played on a court with a surface similar to a board, which measures 18 meters long and has raised delimitations through which they can also locate themselves within the space by touching them with their shoes and hands. The ball is blue in color with dimensions similar to a basketball and weighs 1 kilo and 250 grams to be thrown by hand with the intention of introducing it into the rival goal.

The team that scores the most points wins, after 24 minutes of the game divided into two halves of 12. The dynamic is that once they receive the ball, the players have 10 seconds to throw it into the opposite goal, where the rivals who are in the floor they extend their arms and legs to try to block it, and then they make their throw.

The teams are made up of athletes of different ages, and at the time of playing they are equalized in their condition to standardize the competition and avoid advantages, hence everyone must use goggles to completely block vision, even under them they cover their eyes. with patches.

The rules are strict, before starting the competition the judges check that the goggles have no cracks and then that the position in which the players put them on blocks all vision. There are also assistants who pass the balls and communicate with them constantly for restarts of play, changes or penalty kicks, which there are also.