As part of our learning about the Paralympics, on Friday, we had so much fun learning Goal Ball with Hamish and Kerry from BLENZ. Goal Ball is a paralympic sport for athletes who are sight impaired.
Hamish is a paralympic athlete and plays Goal Ball for the Hawke's Bay Titans. The Hawke's Bay Titans were the winners in the Elite competition in 2015. Hamish shared his expertise with us so that we could learn about the game of Goal Ball and what it would be like to be sight impaired. We learnt that athletes who play and compete in goal ball need to be very fit as its a game of speed, agility and strength. Hamish can get the ball rolling at a rocketing speed of 80km per hour!
The object of Goal ball is to roll the ball into the opponents goal while the other team players try to block the ball with their bodies. Players wear protective gear - imagine getting hit in the stomach with a ball rolling at 80km per hour. Bells inside the ball help the players figure out what direction the ball is coming from because being sight impaired means they cannot see the ball. So, the when the game is being played complete silence is needed. Goal ball athletes have super strong hearing.
Click here to watch a video about Goal Ball
Goal ball on PhotoPeach
Hamish is a paralympic athlete and plays Goal Ball for the Hawke's Bay Titans. The Hawke's Bay Titans were the winners in the Elite competition in 2015. Hamish shared his expertise with us so that we could learn about the game of Goal Ball and what it would be like to be sight impaired. We learnt that athletes who play and compete in goal ball need to be very fit as its a game of speed, agility and strength. Hamish can get the ball rolling at a rocketing speed of 80km per hour!
The object of Goal ball is to roll the ball into the opponents goal while the other team players try to block the ball with their bodies. Players wear protective gear - imagine getting hit in the stomach with a ball rolling at 80km per hour. Bells inside the ball help the players figure out what direction the ball is coming from because being sight impaired means they cannot see the ball. So, the when the game is being played complete silence is needed. Goal ball athletes have super strong hearing.
Click here to watch a video about Goal Ball
Goalball looks like a lot of fun! I would love to give it a go one day!
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