BALTIMORE — Imagine playing kickball, or volleyball, in a gym – with a blindfold on. Well, that’s kinda what the game of goalball is like.
Students at the Maryland School for the Blind opened up their 2024 goalball season this afternoon. The school played a team from the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind.
Goalball is the only sport specifically designed for athletes who are blind or have low vision. Invented in 1946 as a rehabilitation sport for blind World War II veterans, the sport made its Paralympic Games debut in 1976 and will be played at the Paralympic Games in Paris this summer.
The players wear eyeshades to level the playing field, and knee pads, since it’s mostly played at ground level.
And as the game begins, instead of cheers from the crowd… a hush falls over the court.
That’s so players can hear the rumble of the basketball-size rubber ball as it rolls across the hardwood towards them. They rely on their ears and their hands, feeling for markings on the floor and listening for the ball, which is filled with bells.
Their objective: to throw the ball into the opponent’s goal net. When they do, the crowd erupts in cheers. When the team scores, or blocks the opponent’s attempt to score, is the only time the audience is allowed to cheer.
Sixteen boys and girls in grades seven through 12 are on the MSB Bees goalball team this year, including 16-year-old Briasia Bowser. This is her second season on the team.
Her grandmother, Muriel Jones, comes from Michigan to watch Briasia’s matches. Jones says she’s seen a difference in her granddaughter’s confidence since she’s been playing goalball.
“It’s done so much for her,” Jones says. “She loves this sport so much. This is her favorite sport.”
Seeing the players blossom as individuals is a highlight for one of the MSB Bees’ coaches, Drew Fitzpatrick.
“It gives them a sense of accomplishment,” Fitzpatrick says. “A lot of times, people might tell them that they can’t play sports because they’re visually impaired. But this game allows that to happen, and it allows them to be who they are and be an athlete, which is what they are.”
