Tuesday night was pronounced Sports Night, a change from our science and engineering track coverage. Right after dinner, everyone was separated according to the sport they chose before coming here. I was put into the Goalball category with most of my Georgia Girls team. Ah, the memories.
The walk there was a pretty long one but it was fun. None of us were in our usual pods or tracks so it gave us all an opportunity to interact with and meet some of the other 200 students we wouldn’t have met otherwise.
When we got there, we were sorted into groups of people that had played and groups of people who hadn’t. There were about ten of us who had actually played on teams, four of us from the Georgia team. Then, we were further split into two teams and handed knee pads and eye shades. Most of the players were girls and we were almost all wearing flip-flops. Therefore, pretty much all of us played shoeless, a practice that would result in some embarrassing moments.
After we were all outfitted, we needed a scrimmage game starter. I wasn’t a starter, but when I came into the game, our team was losing and they thought putting me in the center would solve things. Big mistake, guys!!! I was fine for about the first thirty seconds. Then, it was my turn to roll the ball. I stood up, backed up to take my roll, and tripped. The ball rolled smoothly down the court, but sadly, so did my face. No one laughed, except me, and for that, I was both happy and relieved. I felt like a fool, but at least I was a fool having fun.
Our team still lost, but it was fun nonetheless. At one point, the ball was passed to me, and in waiting for the game whistle, we got a delayed game penalty. It was really fun though.
I am now a high school graduate so playing Goalball with my team is virtually impossible, unless I want to do it on the national level. But for me, Goalball is a hobby and I love it. Being there that night reminded me of how much I’m going to miss my old high school game.