Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the Labour Day long weekend, the best Australian goalball athletes came together with teams from America and Korea for the 36th Australian Goalball Championships, held at the King's School at North Parramatta.

Goalball was one of the surprise hits of the Paralympics. It is a sport designed specifically for the blind and visually impaired. It is played three a side—on a court quite a bit bigger than a volleyball court but not as big as a soccer field—with blackout goggles, so that everyone has the same complete lack of vision. They roll the ball, with a bell inside it, incredibly fast and throw themselves onto the ground to stop it from going across the line at the end. If it goes across the line, a goal is scored. It is one of the sports where the crowd is not allowed to say a word. Because the players have to hear the bell, any noise by the people watching is forbidden until the referee tells them that it is all over and they can cheer. So we watched the game in extraordinary silence.

The local Wentworthville father and son players, Troy and Isaac King, represented New South Wales—father Troy in the open seniors side and Isaac in the under-14s side. They are part of a family tradition, having both represented Australia, as has Isaac's mother, Kerry-Ann. It is a goalball family from Wentworthville. Their respective teams won silver medals for their efforts, with the open side losing to Queensland and the juniors to Victoria in the finals. But the women won the gold. I congratulate them in silence.