Goalball USA vs Japan

A clip from the 2006 World Championshps. The US women beat Japan 6-1 in this round robin match-up.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• goalball
• USA
• paralympic

[iStack245]

Wow their is so much skill involved in this I had nidea. Are the people partially blind? Or are they really that well at telling where the ball is when their partners throw it to them.

[Robin917]

Everyone on the court is blindfolded and at the elite level, we all have some level of visual impairment but the blindfolds keep things equal between people with some sight and those with no sight at all. It takes practice to get the ear/hand coordination down and to be able to audibly track the ball. Thanks for the comment. :)

[Robin917]

To answer a couple questions people posted, the court dimensions are 9x18 meters and yes, we are pretty good. We (the USA Women's Team) won the gold medal in Beijing and the men placed 4th.

[Canman99]

I tried playing goalball with a blindfold on. It's amazing how focused you have to be to track the ball as it comes towards you.

Also, some people might not know this, but the white lines on the court are textured so you can feel where you are positionally.

[dileizhan]

The sport was developed after WW2 for visually impaired veterans to aid in their rehabilitation, so it's a great way for the visually impaired to stay active and athletic.

However, from a competitive standpoint... three people lying down head to toe in a line pretty much covers the entire width of the net since the ball rolls on the ground? Or is there something I'm missing such as are the players allowed to have bounce shots?

[jasonmanny1]

holly shit, im in grade 6 and we play in gym, and the pace is slower than ... well the slowest thing on earth!

[GRolliRing]

i like the part with the ball and the girls

[Haisoj6119]

Pretty cool that blind people have their own sport. But the only way for them to enjoy it, would be to play it because they can't really watch it.

[duderilreez]

Its not stupid u have to wear blind folds n depend on ur hearing sumthin u might actually depend on later on in life cuz u never kno wats gonna happen to u so dnt make fun of this sport till u have tried it n if u havent n ur makin fun of visionally impaired children that like this sport stfu cuz we can do way better then u will ever do

[duderilreez]

Goalball is freakin awsome u get to hit ppl wit a big ball that rings

[23423465111223]

So lame...

[OutOfThisWorld21Oo]

This is a game for the legally blind like me leave us alone

[OutOfThisWorld21Oo]

That was no cool it actually very fun so your that low you make fun of inpared people

[TehMusicCentral]

It seems very hard to score because everyone just totally lays out on the court...