Hello to all readers!
Once again, it is Tomi journaling directly from the one and only, extraordinarily slammy Youth Slam! Well, a lot of people do slam into me with their trays during meals, but perhaps that’s a story for future article.
We had a sports night two days ago, and I thought I’d record my experience.
Each of us was assigned to a sport based on our top five choices, which we all selected during registration.
I was assigned to goalball. As a longtime goalball player, I already knew how to play this sport.
Readers who are not familiar with Goalball can watch several YouTube videos like the
U.S. VS. Japan competition
But I will also explain the sport.
We went to the Armory, the loud, echoing building where we had our dance. The goalball field was set up there. Tactile tape on the floor outlines the three wings (Left, center, and right) on each side of the court. Each team consists of three players, so a total of six are required to play.
Our group was divided into two subgroups: Those who already knew how to play goalball and those who didn’t. I was part of the players group, so for us they recapped ball blocking techniques.
Goalball is a special sport because you use your body a lot to block the ball. In addition every player is blindfolded. When you are blocking, you must carefully observe where the ball is rolling. You throw your body to either the left or right, depending on where it is coming from. Protecting vital body parts such as your face is also important, so you can shield your head with your hands. If you do not block the ball, it scores a goal by rolling and staying in the field. Sometimes the ball bounces out of bounds simply by hitting something like your leg, and that is still considered a block.
On the other side of the room those new to the sport learned how to throw the ball because that task is also quite an experience. A highball is one that is thrown too high and flies across the court. When throwing, it’s important to face the field and throw as if you were bowling the ball, sort of rolling and throwing at the same time.
Although we had time to play for only half an hour, Goalball gets very intense, with fast throws and blocks. It’s a fun sport, and I encourage both blind and sighted readers to check it out and play on a team if one is in your area. One future project I’m considering is setting up more teams across my city. I believe that both blind and sighted players would enjoy this sport equally. It’s fun and intense!