Exclusively for the blind or visually impaired
- Invented in 1946 to help veterans of WWII rehabilitate from losing sight
- Players must wear opaque eye shades always
- Legally blind – having less than 10% vision (B3, B2, B1 – Totally Blind)
- Teams of 6 players (3 on court)
- Throw ball past opponents into net to score points
- Defend the net by staying on your hands and your knees
- Court measures 18 meters long and 9 meters wide
- Goals cover the 9-meter-wide back line
- String taped on the ground allow players to feel the lines
Goalball made it Paralympic debut in Toronto, Canada in 1976
- The women’s event was added in 1984, in NY
- 1st world championships were held in Vocklamarck Austria, in 1978
- IBSA- International Blind Sport Federation governs goalball and holds world championships every four years between the Paralympics
Ball
- 24-25 cm in diameter
- 75.5-78.5 cm circumference
- 1.250 g
- 4 sounds holes in upper hemisphere and 4 sound holes in lower hemisphere
- 2 pieces of bells
- Natural Rubber
- Blue in color
Major championship tournaments
- Paralympics
- IBSA Goalball WC
- IBSA Goalball RC
Length of Game
- 24 minutes total
- Two 12-minute halves
- 3-minute halftime
Game Protocol
- Referee will call “quiet please”
- Referee throws the ball to team who won coin toss
- Whistle blown and “play” is called
- Game clock and ten second shot clock will be stopped whenever referee blows whistle
- Out of Bounds ball will be placed at the sideline 1.5 m in front of the goal post closest to the side it exited the court
- Dead ball is called if the ball stops without defending team to touch it. Also, dead ball is called when a throw hits the crossbar.
- Delay of Game – team penalty which can result from a play not waiting until half time to substitute
Scoring - Ball is in play and completely crosses the goal line
- Referee whistles twice and announces goal
- Eyeshades that fall off will be accounted for when defense stops the ball or when a goal is scored
- Game end once a team leads by 10 goals
Time-out
- Four 45 second time outs
- 1 in the first half
- 1 in overtime
- Timeouts not used at the end of regulation will be lost
- Control ball = timeout privileges
- Referee grants permission for timeout calls
- Substitutions may be made during timeouts
- Official can call timeout at any time
- Medical time out max at 45 seconds
Short ball
- Ball stops before reaching defense
Long ball
- Ball exceeds the neutral bounce before making it to the defender’s area
Eyeshades
- Touching eyeshades without permission receives an eyeshade penalty
Illegal Defense
- Defense must be played with the first contact is between the player in team area
- Players can proceed playing when illegal defense is called, if goal is scored against them the penalty will not be called
Noise - Any noise made by a player during act of throwing before it touches a defender will be penalized
