York St John University hosts national Goalball tournament
York St John University hosted one of the
largest Goalball tournaments in the UK on Saturday, the
John Oakley Memorial Tournament, with spectators
coming to watch novice teams compete from around the country.
Goalball is a Paralympic sport, designed for
people with a visual impairment where two teams of blindfolded
players attempt to score in the opposition's goal by tracking the
path of a ball by sound alone. The goal is defended by
players' bodies, much in the same way as a football goalkeeper
would. Because all players are blindfolded and follow the
sound of the ball with bells in it, the game is open to everyone,
whether they have a visual impairment or not.
Dean Armstrong, Development Officer for
Community Sport and Knowledge Exchange at York St John University,
describes the benefits of hosting the event at York St John
University:
"As part of the University's mission to become
a recognised centre for inclusive sport opportunities we are
thrilled that we have been able to host such a big event in the
Goalball calendar at York St John. We're delighted that some of our
students had the opportunity to be a sighted guide or a goal judge
for the matches. This equips them with skills that will ultimately
aid in their employability after university."
York Goalball Club was launched in
February, as a partnership between City of York Council, York St
John Inclusive Activity Club and YSJ Active. Despite only
recently forming, the team were the surprise success story of
the day and went home with the silver medal in their first
ever competition, with the more experienced Worcester winning gold
and Nottingham in the bronze position. The team was made up of
Louise Redsull who only discovered goalball in January, Sidney
Tambin, Chelsea Greeley and York St John students Kev Lowther and
George Gibson.
The team meets every Saturday in Foss Sports
hall on the York St John University campus from
12.15pm-1.30pm. Newcomers are welcome and no previous experience of
goalball is required. For more information please call
T: 07786 701536 or visit http://www.ysjiac.org/
For further information please contact Amy Hall, PR
& Communications Officer on T: 01904 876466 or E: a.hall@yorksj.ac.uk
