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.

Goalball is continuing to grow in South Australia as athletes with vision impairments look for new ways to stay active now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.

The Australian state has recorded relatively few cases of the virus in recent months and life is largely back to normal, with some additional hygiene and contact tracing measures in place.

Goalball South Australia has been making the most of their relative freedom, using their portable Goalball Packagoals from Packaworld International to run competition matches, training sessions and ‘Come and Try’ days. ​

Packaworld International was at the Wellington Gold Awards finals in Wellington, New Zealand, on Thursday night as a finalist in the ‘Innovation Gold’ category.

The finals appearance recognised Packaworld’s bocce court project, which saw the introduction of new materials and an improved manufacturing technique for Packaworld’s Competition Packabocce courts. The project also included changes to the court’s disabled access gate so players in wheelchairs could access the playing area more easily.

Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts said the Wellington Gold Awards finals recognition was another high-profile honour for the company.
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One of Western Australia’s most beautiful beaches will come alive with the sounds of beach water polo this summer when Bunbury Water Polo club brings the sport to Australia’s south west.

The club has been trialling a portable water polo field and goals from Packaworld International at its indoor training sessions and plans to use them over the summer at nearby Koombana Bay. The scenic Bay is known for its wildlife, including pods of bottlenose dolphins that frequent the area daily.

​Club president Alice Luscombe says at least four of this year’s regular Tuesday evening senior competition matches will be played by twilight at Koombana Bay from mid-October.

Young Aucklanders have growing aspirations to put New Zealand handball on the world stage. To develop their skills in the Olympic sport, they are using innovative portable goals that allow them to train where and when they want to. 

Over the past year, Auckland Region Handball has purchased 10 portable Handball Packagoals from New Zealand sport innovations company Packaworld International for use at open days and to support a youth development programme in Auckland schools.

Auckland Region Handball Vice President Qassim Helal says the fast-growing sport is immensely popular overseas and provides opportunities for young New Zealand players that more established sports such as rugby and cricket cannot.

A group of masked bocce players relaxes around a portable Packaworld bocce ball court in the backyard of a stylish event venue in Chicago, Illinois. They are in pairs, spaced apart, and each stands alongside their own set of bocce balls – freshly cleaned and glistening with soapy water from buckets that take pride of place at the head of each court.

After months without bocce because of the global Covid-19 pandemic, these players are learning how to enjoy the sport they love safely. It’s slightly different to what they have known in the past, but the return to play measures introduced by the American Bocce Company mean organised leagues are again possible.

“The biggest challenge has been navigating new information, evolving protocol, and city-wide uncertainty”, says American Bocce Company President Alex Gara.

A project to improve the durability and accessibility of Packaworld’s best-selling inflatable bocce ball court has been announced as a finalist in this year’s Wellington Gold Awards.

The project – one of six finalists in the ‘Innovation Gold’ category – saw the introduction of new materials and an improved manufacturing technique for Packaworld’s Competition Packabocce courts. It also resulted in a re-imagining of the court’s disabled access gate to ensure players in wheelchairs could enter and exit the playing area more easily.

Packaworld Chief Executive Peter Roberts said it was an honour to see the bocce court project gaining recognition in his hometown of Wellington.