A community organisation on a mission to improve understanding of how it feels to be blind has staged a unique goalball event for Girl Scouts at Camp Prairie Schooner in Kansas City.

Made possible by new portable goalball goals, the event was one of many ‘immersion experiences’ Blind Spot runs to enable sighted people to experience the world of the blind.

It was also the first time the scouts taking part had the opportunity to enjoy goalball – a Paralympic sport that puts those with and without sight on an equal footing because all players wear blackout goggles and pick up the position of the ball using only their ears.

The Paralympic sport of goalball has rolled into the University of Minnesota’s sports facilities in a big way, with two new inflatable Goalball Packagoals helping to ignite a passion for the sport on campus.

“It’s still in its infancy but the participation and excitement from the visually impaired community here on campus has been fantastic,” said Jaime Medina, the university’s Assistant Director of Intramural Sports.

“Goalball this year has really taken off."

Medina says goalball fever began to take hold on campus in October 2022, when the university began open gym goalball sessions on Saturday afternoons roughly every other weekend, attracting up to 30 participants each time.

Dozens of children and young people with vision impairments are now enjoying the thrill of playing goalball with top-quality goals, thanks to the arrival of portable Goalball Packagoals in Pennsylvania.   

The portable goals from Packaworld were used by Envision Blind Sports for the first time at its 2022 summer camp, held at Penn State University for Blind or Visually Impaired (BVI) children between ages 5 and 18.

Envision Blind Sports Executive Director Wendy Fagan said the children and young people taking part in the camp and goalball sessions run since have enjoyed playing with proper goals instead of cones or goals made of unwieldy PVC pipe.

"I’ve been coaching for 30 years, and I’ve never been this affected by a piece of sports equipment before."

A youth camp in Michigan has been bringing the high-octane sport of goalball to students who are Blind or Visually Impaired (BVI), with a little help from Packaworld’s portable goalball goals and some star guests from Team USA.

Camp Tuhsmeheta in Greenville recently used two new Goalball Packagoals from Packaworld to run a youth recreation clinic and host the Michigan Blind Athletic Association (MBAA) goalball tournament.

The camp is run by the Michigan Department of Education - Incidence Outreach to cater for students who are BVI, or Deaf/Hard of Hearing, as well as other youth education groups.

Students joining the University of Western Australia (UWA) got a taste of the unique and challenging sport of goalball during a recent Orientation Day event.

The ‘O Week’ event, organised by Goalball Western Australia in collaboration with the university’s inclusion team, made use of portable Goalball Packagoals from Packaworld to allow the game to be played ‘for real’ by an audience that might not otherwise experience it.

While the game is primarily played by visually impaired athletes, the ‘Have a Go’ event introduced the game to the entire university community to grow the sport’s profile, offering those without a vision impairment the chance to feel what it’s like the experience the game.