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.

England’s visually impaired rugby team has triumphed over Japan in the sport’s second ever international test series, hosted in Kumagaya on 14 October.

The three-match series was part of a festival of visually impaired rugby organised by UK charity The Change Foundation to coincide with the Rugby World Cup.

Packaworld’s high-quality inflatable Blind Rugby Packaposts were used throughout the series for player safety and to make setting up the smaller fields used for visually impaired rugby simple.

“I never thought I would be playing rugby with other visually impaired people, let alone playing in Japan during a Rugby World Cup,” said England team Captain Jack Pearce.

South Australia’s goalball players are preparing to host the 2019 Australian Goalball Championships next month, with help from portable, inflatable goals from Packaworld.

The championships are being held in Adelaide from 3-6 October, and Goalball South Australia’s players are busy practising with their new Goalball Packagoals, which they received last month.

The state’s governing body for goalball, Goalball South Australia was established in 2012 in response to significant development of the sport through the work of the Australian Paralympic Committee and Blind Sports South Australia.

Goalball South Australia’s President David Tiller said the ease of transport, time required to set up and storability of the Packaworld goals is much better than steel or aluminium goals.

Up until recently Tokyo man Kohei Kamiya had never dreamed of playing international rugby. But that is all about to change, thanks to his selection as captain of Japan’s first blind and visually impaired rugby team.

Kamiya will be one of 10 visually impaired players who will represent their country later this year when the Japanese team plays a three-match international test series against the English Visually Impaired Roses.

The series, taking place on 13-14 October during the Rugby World Cup, will be the second ever international visually impaired rugby test series.

Japan Blind Rugby Secretary General Ayako Matsui said the Japanese team was expecting a hard-fought battle against an "experienced and strong" English side.

New inflatable goalball goals are helping a Canadian sport organisation introduce sport and physical activity to aspiring blind and low vision participants, as well as supporting its high-performance goalball athletes.

The Alberta Sports and Recreation Association for the Blind (ASRAB) has recently received two portable Goalball Packagoals from New Zealand company Packaworld International. The unique goals are the same size as conventional nine-metre-wide metal goalball goals but are inflatable, making them easy to transport and store.

ASRAB Executive Director Linda MacPhail said the new goals would play an important part in helping the Association to take its sport and recreation programmes to people with vision impairments in more towns and cities across Alberta.

A blind Hamilton man is on a mission to grow the sport of goalball, aided by a world-first inflatable goal developed by innovative sports gear company Packaworld International.

Steve Donnelly is the captain of Waikato Goalball Club and well known within the blind and low vision community for his sporting exploits as a New Zealand BlindCaps cricket player.

The 47-year old is keen to raise awareness of goalball – a popular sport at the Paralympics – but has struggled to introduce people to the sport because of a lack of local facilities with goals.

But that is about to change. Waikato Goalball Club received a boost on Saturday when they used the new Goalball Packagoals for the first time at one of their training sessions at Melville Community Hall in Hamilton, New Zealand.