An organisation championing disabled sport in the Netherlands is expanding the number of bocce and goalball clinics it offers with the help of portable courts and goals from Packaworld International.

Gehandicaptensport Nederland is a national sports federation that runs competitions and introductory clinics for disabled people who want to play goalball, bocce, para ice hockey, wheelchair hockey, boccia, 5-a-side football and showdown. Bocce and goalball sessions have historically been challenging to run because traditional courts and goals are difficult to transport.

Gehandicaptensport Nederland sports coordinator Joris van Impelen said the portability of the inflatable Packabocce courts and Goalball Packagoals was allowing volunteers to expand the number of clinics being run at schools and sports clubs across the Netherlands.

Children at six New Zealand schools have been side-stepping, tackling, kicking and dribbling their way to fitness with a little help from Packaworld International.

The Wellington-based company provided a set of hybrid football/rugby goals to Wellsford School, Pukeoware School, Turaki Primary School, Grants Braes School, Leeston Consolidated School and Rakaia School after they won a competition on Packaworld’s Facebook page.

The competition called on principals, teachers and send in inspiring nominations for their local schools, outlining why they deserved to win and how the goals would be used.

Pukeoware School in Waiuku received an impressive 15 nominations, more than any other school.

When it comes to what makes bocce special, there are few people better qualified to comment than Special Olympics Bocce Sports Resource Team chairman Mike Ryan.

Known to some as "Mr Bocce", the hardworking New Zealander has been involved in the sport for 25 years.

There’s no doubting his passion either – his car number plate is BOCCE and he has "bocce" tattooed on him in Greek, Arabic, Chinese and English – one for each of the Special Olympics World Games he’s attended as either a bocce coach or technical advisor.

We caught up with Mike to ask his views on what makes bocce so popular in the Special Olympics, and what it might take for it to achieve world domination.

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.

Portable courts making bocce ball more accessible around the world were used last week to host the next generation of bocce ball stars at the Special Olympics Ontario Invitational Youth Games in Canada.

More than 2,000 student athletes from around the world descended on Toronto for the four-day event, which ran from 14-17 May.

The bocce ball competition was held at the University of Toronto’s St George Campus, where more than 240 young athletes competed for gold on 10 inflatable Packabocce courts.

The innovative courts feature a lightweight but durable design that makes them easier to transport, set up and store than bocce ball courts made out of wood or PVC piping.

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.

Young footballers in Waihi, New Zealand, kicked off for another year on Sunday when around 100 children and their parents made their way to Morgan Park for the first 2019 session of Waihi AFC’s Junior Football Programme.

This year’s programme has an expanded age bracket, allowing for older children to take part. Age groups range from 4-14 for both girls and boys, and each session includes skills drills and fun games, followed by a match.

Programme organiser Richard James said he was thrilled with the turnout and was looking forward to another successful year. New portable Youth Packagoals from Packaworld International were helping the programme to grow, he said.

Match days against other local clubs were being planned throughout the season, in addition to the regular Sunday sessions at Morgan Park, to give your players a chance to test their skills against others in the region.

Some of New Zealand’s top water polo players plunged into Tauranga Harbour over the weekend for New Zealand’s first festival of ocean-based water polo.

The two-day Water Polo on the Waterfront event was played in full view of The Strand hospitality district, attracting thousands of spectators who enjoyed a weekend of water polo, music and delicious delicacies offered by on-site food stalls.

Event organiser Danny Kayes said the event saw 12 teams from around New Zealand competing in a five-a-side tournament played with eight-minute halves rather than the eight-minute quarters seen in conventional water polo.

“We wanted to create a fast-paced festival atmosphere that was fun and accessible, similar to that of Rugby 7s. The stormy conditions over the weekend made things challenging, but it made for good watching regardless.”