Portable goalball goals bring pro-level play to US blind sports summer camp

Young athletes with visual impairments from across New England were treated to a range of adaptive sports at a brand-new summer camp, including goalball played using innovative portable goals from Packaworld.

The Wildcat Blind Sports Education Camp was run from 28 June to 2 July at the University of New Hampshire's Durham campus, organized by the Maine Organization for Blind Athletic and Leadership Education (MOBALE) in partnership with the university.

The inclusive event brought together more than a dozen people with vision impairments aged 9-17 from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts.

​MOBALE president Cheryl Gannon said the camp provided opportunities for growth and friendship through sports and activities including goalball, wrestling, rock climbing, disc golf, swimming, beep kickball, yoga, track and field, skateboarding and general fitness. 

The goal was to build athlete confidence, as well as sports skills, by teaching the basics of goalball and also providing athletes with a chance to be more independent, she said.

“We wanted participants to leave knowing that they can do anything and having gained a whole lot more confidence.”

MOBALE secured funding for the new portable goalball goals from the Foreseeable Future Foundation and the Amherst, New Hampshire Lions Club, which provided for a top-quality playing experience at the goalball tournament on the camp's last day.

"Goalball provides a great opportunity for youth with visual impairments to compete on a level playing field with sighted peers because all players must wear eyeshades," Gannon said.

“We’d been wanting to get official goals to provide a professional playing experience for athletes in our MOBALE program. Thank you Packaworld for the new goals that were very easy to assemble and disassemble and remained sturdy throughout our camp. We can finally say goodbye to our DIY PVC pipe and pool noodle goals.”

Gannon said the partnership with the University of New Hampshire was central to the camp’s success. The university hosted the registration system and provided lodgings and facilities for camp participants, as well as volunteers from its Department of Kinesiology Adapted Physical Education graduate program to support camp activities.

“That took a lot off our plate, and it benefited the graduates too as many of them hadn’t worked a whole lot with people who were visually impaired before.”

The university’s relatively central New England location in Durham was ideal, Gannon said, because it made the camp accessible to people across a wide area.

The university had committed to running the camp again next year, and Gannon was hopeful many of the fantastic volunteers who supported it this year would continue in future.

“We are looking forward to next year’s camp, and we’re also contemplating doing some weekend goalball clinics for visually impaired youth and adults in the state of Maine.

“We are all really enthusiastic about goalball and just bringing the game to more people.”