14 November 2004
New Zealand Goalball Championships
19 - 21 November 2004
The New Zealand Goalball championships (www.Goalball-nz.org) will be
held this coming weekend from 19th to 21st November at the Onehunga
Working Men's Club in Auckland.
This will be the largest competition for this Paralympic sport for New
Zealand with over 12 teams competing in the Women's and Open sections,
and including two invitation teams from Australia.
Goalball is a Paralympic Sport played at international levels by blind
and visually impaired competitors on a volleyball sized court with two
teams of three
rolling a ball as fast as possible from one end of the court to the
other, whilst the defending team dives and attempts to stop the ball
(travelling at speeds over 60kmh) from entering their court width goal.
After defending they then return the ball in the same manner.This is the
only true hand ear coordination game in the world where all competitors
play blind folded and rely purely on their hearing and the markings on
the court itself.
"This will be our largest nationals to date" said Darryl Sherwood,
Publicity Officer for Goalball New Zealand (GNZ). "We have seen amazing
growth in the
game over the last 3 years and with a number of Australians coming over
to compete we are looking forward to a full on and closely fought series
of games."
New Zealand is not currently ranked on the world scale at this stage,
with only a couple of international games to date. "The game is very big
around the world, played in over 70 countries, only 12 being able to
attend the Paralympics" said Darryl. "Our long term goal is to make it
to the Paralympics, and these nationals are another step towards this."
There have been some rumours around the Goalball community both here and
Australia over the last month as there is a strong chance that the game
will be a demonstration sport at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
"If this was to happen we would all be thrilled" said Darryl. "Raising
the profile of the best and most equal game blind and visually impaired
people can play on an equal footing with everyone else has to be a good
thing, and we need to raise the profile of this game if we one day want
to take on the world at the Paralympics."
Further information
Further information about this release or Goalball itself can be
found by contacting the Goalball New Zealand Publicity Officer - Darryl
Sherwood on 03-353-3895 w/h, 03-366-0013 a/h, email
goalball@paradise.net.nz, or by visiting www.goalball-nz.org. |