The Australian women’s goalball team isn’t the best-known national team in the country, but they may just be one of the most interesting. Not only do they play a sport that requires participants to dive onto a wooden floor blindfolded to stop a 1.25kg ball thrown at up to 60 km/h, but they are also a realistic contender to pick up Australia’s first ever goalball Paralympic medal.

Known as the Aussie Belles, the team is going through their final preparations for the Tokyo Paralympics. They are currently ranked ninth in the world and the Tokyo campaign in August and September this year will be their third consecutive Paralympics appearance.

​Head Coach Peter Corr said the team was confident and looking forward to making waves in the international goalball scene.

Packaworld has launched its online Europe store, making it easier and more affordable for European customers to purchase its innovative portable bocce courts, goalball goals and water polo nets.

Shoppers in Europe can now buy the high-quality inflatable courts and goals in their local currency, with quicker delivery times and lower shipping costs. 

Orders are shipped from Packaworld’s warehouse in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, operated by Strong in Logistics Solutions (SILS).

​Packaworld chief executive Peter Roberts said the company’s move into Europe would help sports organisers, clubs and schools bring the joy of sport to their communities. 

The start of 2021 has been a time of new beginnings in the USA. Joe Biden has been inaugurated as the new president, NASA’s Perseverance rover will soon touchdown on Mars, and for those who love bocce ball – the first major American Bocce Company event of the year has been held in the shape of the Winter Ball Championship.

This year’s event was proudly supported by Packaworld, which supplies the portable bocce courts used in American Bocce Company​  leagues across the USA. Thirty-two teams duked it out across five days, competing in pairs at Bridge 410 in Chicago.

“Our Winter Ball Championship has been the perfect way to get bocce rolling for 2021, says American Bocce Company president Alex Gara.

Packaworld and Bocce Australia have teamed up to support their shared goal of getting more people engaged in bocce.

As part of the collaboration, Packaworld’s portable bocce courts are available at a special price to league organisers, event coordinators and players in Australia.

Bocce Australia, which marked its 50th anniversary this year, organises bocce events Australia-wide to introduce the game to as many Australians as possible.  

Frank Funari, Bocce Australia’s president, welcomed the new partnership, which he said would make the game more accessible and allow game organisers to take bocce to new locations, including schools and communities without existing courts.

The tide is turning for water polo players in the Middle East as they gear up for a tournament in Dubai on Saturday 19 December.

After a quiet year for water polo in the United Arab Emirates due to Covid-19 restrictions, the fast-paced beach water polo event, to be hosted by Dubai Camels Water Polo Club, is a chance for players to get back into the game.

The tournament venue – at Breeze Bar and Grill on the Palm Jumeirah artificial offshore island that resembles a stylised palm tree – will transform into a water polo dream with the help of Packaworld’s portable field and Packagoals.

A goalball coaching session held in Auckland, New Zealand last weekend used innovative portable goals from Packaworld to introduce blind and low-vision athletes to the sport.

And the success of the session, hosted in Spinal Support NZ’s gymnasium, has renewed hopes of starting a New Zealand team.

Goalball NZ committee member Troy Ramsay, who coached the players at the event, was happy with the turnout. Six beginners and 10 experienced players dived into the introduction and training event.

“In New Zealand, goalball numbers have dropped off a bit, and Covid-19 has not helped, so this was an event to get things moving again."

A school-based physical education programme in Hong Kong is using world-first inflatable goalball goals from New Zealand to bring the Paralympic sport of goalball to children with physical or intellectual disabilities.

The Jockey Club ‘Sports Without Limits” youth empowerment programme aims to increase opportunities for disabled children and young people to participate in sport.

​Set up by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the programme is part of a physical education and research initiative seeking to improve student outcomes by growing understanding of the links between physical activity, mental health and physical and cognitive development.

A group of young New Zealanders with vision impairments took to the hockey turf in October to experience the thrill of adapted hockey. 

The exhilarating sport is an adapted form of traditional field hockey, played using audible balls so that players who are blind or have low vision can identify where the ball is.

​Blind Sport New Zealand Awareness and Engagement Coordinator Stephanie Brown said the hockey skills session was organised by Blind Sport New Zealand and Counties Manukau Hockey Association to promote inclusion and raise awareness of the sports on offer for people with vision impairments.