Goalball athletes from around the world have come to Fort Wayne with hopes of qualifying for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. The Americans are looking for a bit of home court advantage in the week’s worth of competition, as both the men’s and women’s teams live, train and practice here.
Goalball is likened to a combination of baseball, soccer and handball while blindfolded on a 30-foot court. Each player wears a blindfold, and listens for the ringing of bells inside a ball to determine location, speed and strategy. Each match is separated into 12-minute halves. It began as a therapy for wounded servicemen after World War II, becoming a game for visually impaired children and evolving into one of the top competitions in the world.
Turnstone has turned the sport into a focus for getting the 2019 IBSA Goalball & Judo Paralympic Qualifier to Fort Wayne this summer. Turnstone’s Goalball Center For Excellence has served for the home the U.S. men’s goalball team since 2015; and the women’s national goalball team started its residency program in 2017. In that time, the men won the Silver Medal in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Turnstone was designated an official U.S. Paralympic Training Site last year.
Parkview Sports Medicine partners with Turnstone to provide athletic training services to U.S. national goalball athletes. Learn more at ParkviewSportsMedicine.com.