Goalball

alt=Two goalball players stretch to the left to stop the ball.|Goalballer Sarah Kennedy (Qld) makes a save for Australia at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games|thumb
alt=A goalballer throws the ball forward.|Goalballer Raelene Bock (NSW) competes for Australia at the 1996 Summer Paralympics|left|thumb
Goalball is a sport for people who are blind, meaning they cannot see. It is played by men and women. Each team has six people on it. Three people play on each team at one time. A team throws the ball at a goal behind the people on the other team. They get a point if the ball goes in the goal. The ball has a bell in it. Players cannot see the ball, but they can hear the bell. They use their body to stop the ball. It is governed by the International Blind Sports Federation, and it is a sport in the Paralympic Games.

Goalball players wear blindfolds. This is because some players can not see at all (they are totally blind), and some other players can still see a little bit. When players wear blindfolds, none of the players can see anything. This makes it fair for all the players. 

 History 
Goalball was invented in 1946 by Hanz Lorenzen and Sepp Reindle. They invented it to help veterans who became blind because of World War II.

Goalball was first played as part of the Paralympic Games during the 1976 Summer Paralympics. At first, only men played goalball in the Paralympics. Women first played goalball in the Paralympics at the 1984 Summer Paralympics.

In 1978, the first goalball championships were held in Vöcklamarkt, Austria.

People who cannot see who can play goalball

+ Seeing types Type What B1 completely unable to see B2 used-in-seeing acuity of less than 2/60 B3  used-in-seeing acuity of 2/60 to 6/60

References

Category:Blind sports
Category:Paralympic sports