Goalball sounds like the type of game you and your friends would have made up in your basement on a rainy day when you are eight. Essentially the way it works is that teams of 3 attempt to throw/roll a ball across a line into a large goal and the defending team tries to stop it. You take turns alternating who throws the ball. Sounds easy enough. Except everyone is completely blind playing it.

It’s not hand-eye coordination that matters, but hand-ear coordination. Never having played this game, I can only image that as a (corrected) full-sight person, I would be at a disadvantage. It’s not hand-eye coordination that matters, but hand-ear coordination.

Most of the paralympic sports are either exactly the same as their Olympic counterparts or are adapted to the abilities of the athletes.  Goalball is a completely different game designed around the abilities of the athletes. The ball has bells inside of it. All players wear complete blackout blindfolds, so no matter what your ability when it comes to vision, everyone is on the same page. The lines of the court have a rope running under them so that you can tell in a tactile manner where you are.

If anyone of my friends have a goalball, let’s play. I would love to try it out.