Algonquin student shoots for Paralympics
Visually impaired athlete aims for world stage in rough-and-tumble sport of goalball
You may never have heard of goalball, but Algonquin student Gen Hart is hoping the sport is her ticket to the 2020 Paralympic Games.
Hart, 21, was born with Wagner syndrome, a genetic and progressive disease that causes vision loss. Hart began to lose her sight at age seven and says she endured some 50 operations until she lost her vision completely at 14.
When she was sighted, the Orléans native played soccer, baseball and basketball and loved the camaraderie of team sports. Goalball, she says, has given her that joy again now that her world has gone dark.
“It’s the only team sport that you can play when you’re visually impaired,” Hart said. “I always liked the team atmosphere of soccer and basketball and how your teammates would encourage you. No matter what happened, you’re not the only one out there on the court.”
Unlike other Paralympic sports such as sledge hockey or wheelchair basketball, goalball has no able-bodied equivalent. It is a sport developed specifically for the blind and visually impaired.
When it was invented in Austria in 1946, goalball was a form of recreation and therapy for blind war veterans. Eventually it developed into a competitive sport and has been a Paralympic event since 1972.
The game uses a weighted 1.3-kilogram ball, roughly the size of a basketball, that has bells embedded in it so players can follow its sound. Six players — three per side — take turns hurling the ball at each other, trying to score on their opponents’ goal, while using their bodies to defend and block shots at their own goal. Eye covers ensure even players with limited vision are completely sightless for the game.
The game requires strength, athleticism and a large dose of courage. Imagine playing dodge ball in a pitch black gym with a medicine ball or a hockey goalie blocking shots while blindfolded. Paralympic players have been clocked launching the ball as fast as 60 km/h. Players wear knee pads and chest protectors and quickly learn how to shield their heads and faces with their arms when diving to make a save.
At a recent weekly practice at W.E. Gowling Public School, Hart joined other goalball players and two provincially accredited coaches in a gruelling, three-hour training session. Tape on the floor delineates the playing surface and gives players a tactile reference to their position on the court. Teammates spoke quick, short instructions to each other to make sure they were in proper position and to avoid colliding with each other. Since sound is so vital to the players, goalball spectators have to hold their cheers until stoppages in play.
Coach Rob Christy called out instructions as Hart practised her shots, either rolling or bouncing the ball to her opponent’s end.
“Don’t try to place the ball!” he shouted. “Quick feet! Get low!”
Hart began playing goalball seriously while attending a school for the blind and visually impaired in Brantford. She’s been a member of the provincial team for six years and was named to the provincial senior team two years ago. Recently she was invited to play in the
I was told that it would be difficult to lead a normal life. I am proving them wrong. I graduated at the top of my class with honours.
Malmo Lady Intercup in Malmo, Sweden, at the end of March.
“Going to Sweden will give the coaches a chance to see my game and hopefully they ’ll choose me for the Worlds,” she said.
The Swedish tournament would be her first international experience and a major stepping stone to her goal of representing Canada at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. Hart has started a GoFundMe campaign to help her with the estimated $3,000 cost of the trip.
“Throughout my adolescence, I was told on many occasions not to expect to graduate with my classmates; and if I did achieve this, I probably would not be doing so with above-average grades,” Hart wrote in a fundraising letter for her campaign. “I was told that it would be difficult to lead a normal life. I am proving them wrong. I graduated at the top of my class with honours.”
As a full-time social work student at Algonquin and with few jobs available for a visually impaired person, “it’s a little bit tight for money sometimes,” she said. And as a blossoming player, Hart has yet to qualify for national team funding, which in any event is sparse beside the funding available for able-bodied athletes.
“I’ve come a long way in the last two years,” she said. “I believe if I keep working hard like I have been, in the next two years I could make it to the Paralympics to represent Canada.”
You can reach Hart’s fundraising page at gofundme.com/developing-goalball-athlete.