Australia’s quest for goalball glory boosted by funding and portable equipment

Participation in Australian goalball is building, fuelled by new high-performance funding that's enabled Blind Sport Australia to set ambitious targets for future Paralympic Games and supported by portable goals that make it easy to train teams across different locations.

Blind Sport Australia Acting CEO Felicity Wilkeson said the Australian Sports Commission funding had enabled support for goalball and blind football via a shared services team of high-performance coaches and administrators, adding momentum for blind and vision-impaired sport generally.

“Having exposure to Australia’s high-performance system is opening up a lot of doors for us. We’ve entered a new space and that has allowed us to bring on Kyle Burns and two others for a new high-performance sport department.”

An ambitious seven-year plan

The appointment of Burns as Blind Sport Australia High Performance Director has brought extensive Paralympic experience from his previous role as Para-lead at AusTriathalon, where he guided para-triathalon teams to the Paris and Tokyo Paralympics.

Australia's goalball teams face a challenging climb to Paralympic qualification, with only eight teams allowed in Paralympic goalball competition. The men's team currently sits at 17th in the world rankings while the women's team – known as the Aussie Belles – holds 13th position after making the quarter-finals in the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

Wilkeson said having Australian Paralympians represent the country on the world stage has also helped grow goalball at grassroots level, with players aspiring to reach the pinnacle of international competition.

The new high-performance program is supporting their dreams and increasing the number of state-level competitions and training camps, while the men’s and women’s teams have been playing in European competitions, including the recent Goalball Clubs World Cup in Finland.

With the wind in its sails, Blind Sport Australia plans to field both men’s and women’s goalball teams and a men’s blind football at the next Paralympics and on home turf in Brisbane in 2032.

“The aim is to qualify for LA28 Paralympic Games and compete well at the Brisbane 2032 Paralympic Games,” she said.

“We would love to see women’s blind football added in time for Brisbane, so our women’s blind football team can chase the Paralympic dream as well.”

Burns said the enthusiasm from players involved at the grass-roots level was crucial for long-term success of goalball in Australia, with the increase in player participation creating “upwards pressure”.

“The young athletes playing now will be eligible for the national goalball team selection at the 2032 Brisbane Paralympics.”

Goalball is on a roll across Australia, with significant development in multiple states, he said.

“It's certainly growing, it has a long history in Australia and it's well established in every state. We're seeing more volunteers getting involved and a lot of our athletes from the national squad are now going back and setting up more training camps in their home states.”

Burns said New South Wales was experiencing particularly rapid growth, thanks to a strong youth program, as well as South Australia where Blind Sport Australia was working in partnership with South Australia Institute of Sport and the South Australia School for Vision Impaired.

Blind Sport Australia was also working with universities and future teachers to help them understand how to develop an inclusive sporting environment for all students, where nobody is left on the sidelines, he said.

Portable goals make more training possible

Goalball’s growth in Australia is supported by an increasing number of volunteers and a new secret weapon, in the form of innovative portable goals provided by Packaworld International.

The goals are used during training for the men’s and women’s teams at the Essendon FC High Performance Centre in Melbourne and helped during the Covid pandemic by allowing the Aussie Belles to set up courts in different locations to practise for the Tokyo Paralympics.

The inflatable Goalball Packagoals were also used for youth training camps held at the facility, which was world-class but had limited storage space, so would struggle to store heavy nine-metre-wide traditional metal goals, Burns said.

“The important thing with the goals is we don't have specific facilities [with traditional goalball goals in place], so we need goals that can be stored away easily and put up quickly. They work really well and we use them every six weeks.”

He said the portable goals were rigid once inflated and performed well in match conditions, helping to create the right impression for the sport. Combined with shock-absorbing international competition standard Taraflex flooring, they created perfect playing conditions for goalball.

States throughout Australia have invested in their own Goalball Packagoals, allowing players to bring the game to their venue of choice, rather than having to navigate the transport and storage challenges presented by traditional goals.

Burns said Blind Sport Australia was making headway towards achieving its mission of Australian goalball players being competitive at all levels of play, backed by the right equipment and its new high-performance program.

The impending Australian National Goalball Championships in Sydney from 2 to 5 October, would allow the cream of the country’s competitors to showcase their skills, he said.

“The goal is also that people with vision impairments can make a career out of goalball – that is why it is so exciting to have the high-performance funding.”

Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts said the Packaworld team was pleased to see high-level support and funding for goalball in Australia.

"We're delighted to see the funding and proud our Goalball Packagoals are playing a small but important part in enhancing training and supporting Australia's Paralympic ambitions. It will be exciting to see the momentum of goalball continue to grow across the country in the build up to the 2028 Summer Paralympics in Los Angeles.”