Playing Blind: Listen for the Ball and to Each Other

Goalball match, 2012 World Paralympics  (photo: Getty Images)

By Jasmin Robertson

I am a player on a sports team for the blind called Goalball. I wear the number 1 on my jersey and play on the wing lines. We are known as the NY Lady Lions. This weekend my six team members and I went to New Jersey to compete against four other teams from around the US. Our coach gave us a speech that motivated us to do the best we can.

Our coach, Darryl Austin, a member of the men’s team, told us to believe in ourselves and each other. He said “you all are blindfolded and nobody can see anybody. Remember to communicated and let each other know where you are.”

He told us because we were unable to practice for a month and still came to play, that alone made us a stronger team. “California is going to be tough and you may not be able to score on them, but play good defense and don’t let any goals in. If you do that and try to keep them at zero, you should be good,” he said.

“Jazz, remember to cover Shay, if you hear the ball coming cross court or in the middle. You need to block all corners, girl,” he said to me. “Mariah, don’t hesitate to ask Shay to take the center line if you start to get tired. If any of you need to rest, call for time out and I will sub someone in,” he told us before our game.

Darryl also told us to watch for the other teams’ weakest players, but don’t make it obvious. He told us if we find the weakest girl aim there, but switch it up some times so the opposing team doesn’t catch on. “Stay out of the three zone. You need to aim for the one, two, four, and five spots. Always aim for hands and feet,” he said.

I have already mentioned that we were unable to practice for a month, so we lost a lot of our games. We were a little sad, but Darryl reminded us that we were the NY Lady Lions and we were a great team.

“I am proud of you girls. I am surprised at how well you performed out there on the court. Your hands and feet were looking strong, but either you reacted too slow or you reacted too fast and missed the ball. Take your time and listen for the ball. A lot of those teams mercy rolled you girls in the past, but they didn’t today. You should be proud of yourselves, because I am,” he said to us as we walked off the court.

We are a fairly new team. A lot of us have played when we were younger, but it has been quite some time since then. He reminded us that nationals are in June and we have a lot of work to do before we get there. We are the NY Lady Lions and if it wasn’t for Darryl pushing us, throwing the ball at us, and nagging us about our form, we wouldn’t have made it this far.