More than 500 athletes from 40 countries visited Fort Wayne as the Turnstone Center for Children and Adults with Disabilities hosted the 2019 International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball and Judo Paralympic Qualifying Competition. The week-long event gave men’s and women’s teams a chance to secure a spot in the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Goalball is a unique combination of baseball, soccer and handball that takes place on a 30-foot court. There are two 12-minute halves and six players occupy the court at a time. Each player wears a blindfold.
The offensive players attempt to roll the ball the length of the floor into a large goal. Defenders listen for the ringing of bells inside the ball to determine the location and speed, and then dive to stop it from getting through to the goal.
Turnstone has become a key location for both the U.S. men’s and women’s national goalball teams. The Turnstone Goalball Center for Excellence has been the home of the men’s team since 2015 and the women’s team since 2017, and is an official U.S. Paralympic Training Site.
The U.S. women’s team qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics by taking home silver in goalball, while the men’s team finished fifth.
Judo also had a major presence at the Paralympic Qualifier as well, with the U.S. winning the silver medal and qualifying for Tokyo 2020 in the mixed team competition.
Parkview Sports Medicine is proud to provide athletic training services to all Paralympic athletes at Turnstone during the event.
