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.

A German sports programme is using innovative portable goals from Packaworld to grow participation in the Paralympic sport of goalball – following the recent launch of Packaworld’s online store in Europe.

The Association for Disabled and Rehabilitation Sports (VBRS) is using the unique inflatable Goalball Packagoals for their project “Die Aufklärer (The Scout)”, which brings goalball to school students in the north-east German state of Mecklenburg—Western Pomerania.

Youth Goalball Coach Heiko Prinz says the inflatable Packagoals have allowed VBRS to introduce the sport to more people with and without vision impairments. The portability of the new goals makes the easy to take to new communities and schools, unlike standard metal goals which are difficult to move due to their width and bulk.

Jenny Blow is an international goalball star who has competed in three Paralympic Games. A key player for the Aussie Belles Australian women’s team, she is currently undergoing her final preparations for the Tokyo Paralympics later this year.

We caught up with Jenny ahead of one of the team’s training camps to gather her thoughts on the team’s preparations, their chances for the upcoming campaign, and why she loves goalball.

The training camp was held in Victoria and featured one of the team’s secret weapons – Goalball Packagoals. Created by Packaworld International, these full-sized inflatable goalball goals have helped the team continue training from new locations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and hold considerable potential for helping to grow the sport of goalball across Australia