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Bucharest hosted Romania’s inaugural water skyball tournament recently, with 80 competitors using Packaworld’s inflatable goals and fields to mark a significant milestone in the sport's European expansion.

The tournament, held on 15 and 16 February at the Steaua Olympics Swimming Pool, saw Romanian and other European teams taking to the water in separate adult and youth competitions.

Water Skyball Federation Vice President Olga Augusztin said Packaworld’s innovative inflatable goals were a key part of the tournament’s success.

“This was the first time we had brought the skyball goals and field on a plane – we just packed them into a few bags. It was a very simple and smooth process.”

The Paralympic Games in Paris have the world’s sports fans enthralled with the determination, ability and will to succeed of all the amazing athletes taking part.

But while the pinnacle event for disabled sports draws the crowds, some equally exciting happenings are afoot at grassroots level, where participation numbers are on the rise.

The economic impact of parasports events in the US was $139M in 2022, a 78% increase from 2021, according to a 2023 survey by All In Sport Consulting.

This rise in economic impact and participation is being driven by a variety of factors, including increased visibility through global events, and better access to equipment and facilities that enable sport to be played by all.

Aspiring Water Skyball coaches and referees from across Europe recently took part in training camp in Hungary as the sport prepares to launch new leagues throughout the continent.

Originally developed in Hungary, the sport is gaining popularity and is on the cusp of international expansion with the help of new portable goals that allow organisers to take the game almost anywhere.

The coach and referee training session was held at the Fontanus Sports Centre near Szeged, a day before the WSB Amateur Cup at the Makó Hagymatikum Spa in nearby Makó.

“We’ve come a long way since the first Water Skyball match back in 2014,” says Water Skyball Federation President Zsolt Gyuris.

The growing sport of bocce took centre stage at the Pan-Cypriot Special Olympics 2024 earlier this month with 80 athletes from Cyprus, Malta and Greece competing in bocce singles action.

This year's event saw more than 650 athletes descend on venues in Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca to compete in 10 different sports from 7-22 April.

Bocce is one of the fastest growing sports in Cyprus and three high-quality portable Packabocce courts were brought in to help ensure the Games’ bocce competition in Limassol on 12 April was a success.

Special Olympics Cyprus Office Director Costas Constantinou said more than one in 10 athletes at the Games competed in bocce this year.

A new aquatic sport is making a splash in Europe, supported by first-of-their-kind portable goals and fields from Packaworld to make bringing the game to new venues easy.

Water Skyball is a Hungarian invention, played in waist-deep water between teams of two.

Teams score points by throwing a ball into a goal that is divided into three sections – each worth a different number of points.

Water Skyball Federation President Zsolt Gyuris said the sport was created by the Fontanus Scientific Methodological Research and Educational Centre in 2013 and was growing in popularity thanks to its unique mix of strategy, movement and throwing accuracy.

A group of French Special Olympics athletes was introduced to bocce recently when one of Packaworld’s portable bocce courts was used at a multi-sport meeting in Issy-les-Moulineaux, on the outskirts of Paris.

The sport, which has similarities to lawn bowls and pétanque but is played within a walled court, was included to provide ‘taster sessions’ for athletes competing in basketball, climbing and a motor activity training programme (MATP) for those with limited mobility at the event.

Special Olympics France National Manager of Sport and Solidarity Events Antoine Fournier said more than 100 athletes played on the portable Packabocce court throughout the event, held on 17-18 November.