For the U.S. national goalball teams, the road to the Paralympics runs right through Fort Wayne, Indiana.
For the last five years, seven men and seven women selected to represent the United States of America have been preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at Turnstone. Zach Buhler from Huntington provides a local flare to the roster featuring athletes from across the country.
U.S. women's goalball athlete Eliana Mason fires
a shot during a scrimmage July 28 at Turnstone.
“We have been working so hard for four years—and now five years—for this event,“ Marybai Huking, 24, from Salt Lake City, tells the Parkview Sports Network. “There was a period of uncertainty that we didn’t know what was going to happen. It’s incredible that we were able to stick with it through this year, put a lot into it, and make the most of this time that we had.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams head to Tokyo with goals of another podium performance. The men won the Silver Medal at the 2016 Rio Games, while the women took the Bronze.
“Everything peaks for the Paralympics,” U.S. men’s goalball captain Calahan Young, 26, from Pittsburgh, says. “All of the training circulates around the Paralympic Games and pushing for that top athletic performance.”
Goalball is a combination of baseball, soccer and handball while blindfold. Each player listens for the ringing of bells inside a ball to determine location, speed and strategy and scoring. Goalball began as a therapy for wounded servicemen after World War II, but evolved into a global sport years later. Goalball was introduced as a demonstration event at the 1972 Paralympic Games in Heidelberg, West Germany, before becoming a fully-sanctioned Paralympic sport at the 1976 Toronto Games.
U.S. men's goalball athletes Calahan Young, left, and Daryl Walker, right,
defend a shot during a scrimmage July 28 at Turnstone
“The men’s and the women’s programs gave grown up together,” Jake Czechowski, who was elevated from assistant to head coach of the women's team after the Rio 2016 Games, says. “I've have been able to watch these men and women grow into strong and and powerful athletes on the court; and then wonderful people off the court. And it's really been that that culture shift in the last couple of years.” Jake’s wife, Lisa Czechowski is an athlete on the U.S. women’s national goalball team.
In 2015, Turnstone was granted a men’s goalball residency program to develop future Paralympic participants. The Goalball Center For Excellence became added a women’s residency in program in 2017. Turnstone was designated an U.S. Paralympic Training Site (now U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site) in May of 2018. And the Summit City hosted the International Blind Sports Federation Goalball & Judo Regional Qualifier in the Summer of 2019.
“Parkview has provided so many off-the-court assets along with the on-court help,” Czechowski adds. “To be able to have those resources right here in town without having to flyout to have that treatment and training, it adds to the entire wholistic process that we’ve been working at to get the athletes everything they need to be successful.”
Turnstone’s Olympic and Paralympic designation has also cultivated a growing partnership with Team USA and Parkview Health. Parkview Sports Medicine athletic trainers Joe Baer, Josh Sidener and Allie Doerffler serve as resident medical staff at Turnstone, and U.S. goalball athletes have access to physical therapy, nutrition and orthopedic services offered through Parkview Sports Medicine. Additionally, Parkview Hospital Randallia provides dining services to the Team USA goalball athletes.
“The Fort Wayne community has supported us in so many ways,” Marybai adds. “Ever since we had the residency program here, it has made such a difference to our playing and our program.”
Team USA’s women’s team qualified for the Tokyo 2020 games, which were postponed by a year, by winning the Silver Medal at the 2019 Paralympic Qualifier. The men’s team qualified for Tokyo at the Parapan Games in September 2019.
Both teams leave for Tokyo on August 17. The Opening Ceremony is August 24. Goalball competition starts August 25, with the medal matches held September 3.
story written and produced by Eric Dutkiewicz & Kenzie Hayward for Parkview Sports Medicine