Australian Goalball Championships come to campus
1 October 2022: Aaron McNaughton
The Australian Goalball Championships arrived on campus at the Nona Lee Sports Centre on Thursday, as the best in the sport from around Australia compete to become national champions.
Goalball is a team sport played indoors by athletes with vision impairment, and made its Paralympic debut in Toronto, Canada in 1976 and the women’s event was added at the 1984 Paralympic Games in New York, USA. The object of the game is to roll the ball into the opponent’s goal while the opposing players try to block the ball with their bodies. Bells inside the ball help orientate the players by indicating the direction of the oncoming ball.
Part of the organising committee for the 2022 Championships is Sam Byrne. Sam graduated from the University with a Bachelor of Environments in 2012 and has been playing the sport since he was 13. Sam told us "I was looking for a winter team sport to play and was told to try Goalball. I have loved it since the first day."
During his time at University, Sam was a fitness member and frequently visited the on-campus facilities in the Beaurepaire Centre. During his studies, Sam was provided with the opportunity to go on exchange to Lund University in Sweden, a place where he was able to keep playing Goalball. Apart from representing Victoria at numerous Australian championships, Sam's goalball highlight came in 2018 when he returned to Sweden to represent Australia at the Goalball World Championships in Malmo. Sam scored two goals for the tournament, with the highlight being a win over Algeria in their final game.
Sam is excited to come back to where he studied for the event this year. "The venue is perfect for our sport with two large courts near each other, but at the same time far enough enough away so that each match doesn't impact the gameplay of the other with the noise from the bells."
The 2022 Australian Goalball Championships will be contested in the Men, Women/Youth and Junior divisions and conclude with the three Grand Finals on Sunday.
Tune into the live streams/replays of each day at the links below:
Day One – Thursday 29 September: https://youtu.be/FIG8xvlZwyY
Day Two – Friday 30 September: https://youtu.be/yvXaAgHUYQY
Day Three – Saturday 1 October: https://youtu.be/xUHRUsMUgbY
Day Four / Finals – Sunday 2 October: https://youtu.be/UUZOO5QfYgI