Голбол: командный вид спорта для слабовидящих и незрячих спортсменов

Team sport designed for athletes with vision impairment

Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball that has bells embedded inside of it into the opponents' goal. The ball is thrown by hand and never kicked. Using ear hand coordination, originating as a rehabilitation exercise, the sport has no able bodied equivalent. Able bodied athletes are also blindfolded when playing this sport. Played indoors, usually on a volleyball court, games consist of twelve minute halves (formerly ten minute halves) with a three minute half time. Goalball gradually evolved into a competitive game during the 1950s and 1960s. It was eventually nominated as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Summer Paralympics in Heidelberg, West Germany, and became a Paralympic Games sport at the 1976 Summer Paralympics in Toronto. Goals span the width of the pitch. The court is divided into six even sections, At either end, just in front of the goal, is the team area. Beyond that is each team's landing zone. The middle two sections are collectively referred to as the neutral zone. The lines of the court are made by placing tape over lengths of twine. This makes the line both visual (for officials) and tactile (for players). The team area and landing zone, including the boundary, goal lines and high ball lines, are always marked in this way. Furthermore, the team area has six hash marks (three at the front, one on either side, and one on the goal line) to assist with player orientation. The ball weighs and has eight holes and contains several noise bells. The ball's diameter is around .

The game relies heavily on the sense of hearing instead of sight, so all outside noise, including cheering, clapping, chanting or ringtones from cellphones, is prohibited. The crowd is therefore repeatedly reminded to remain silent, and referees preface their call "Play!" with "Quiet, please!". Coaches cannot speak whilst the ball is in play, and so cannot influence the game. Players, regardless of the degree of vision, wear blackened out eyeshades which allow no light in, to ensure fairness. Fully sighted individuals may play the sport while wearing eyeshades.

The team winning the coin toss usually starts with the ball.

To score, a player must roll or bounce the ball down the length of the court, past the opposing defenders, and into the opponents' goal. Typically, the player with the ball will stand, orient themselves using the tactile lines, sounds from teammates, and/or the crossbar of their own goal. The player will then stride forward, lean low, and roll or side arm the ball down the court. The ball must hit in the player's own landing zone, and anywhere in the neutral zone. So long as it hits each zone, the style of throw is entirely up to the player in question. Many players will take several strides and release the ball as close to their own high ball line as possible, leaning low to ensure a legal throw. Some players will throw after spinning, transferring the momentum of the spin into additional velocity. Others are able to throw the ball so that it will bounce just once in each of the required zones. Most elite players are effective when using multiple types of throws.

The defending players stay within the team area, generally in somewhat staggered positions to avoid collisions. When they hear the other team throw the ball, they 'lay out', that is slide on their hips and stretch their arms above their heads and extend their legs in order to cover as much distance as possible. The objective is simply to keep the ball from getting past with whatever part of the body the player can get in front of it. Some players prefer to block the ball with their chests and absorb the impact. Others like to block with their legs so the ball will roll up their bodies into their hands. Regardless of method, the players will always try to make themselves as long as possible to block the greatest area.

Infractions are generally punished by the loss of possession to the other team. Premature throw – Throwing the ball before the official has called 'play'. Ball over – The ball rebounds off a defending player, the crossbar or goalposts, and crosses back over half court.

The official rules for the sport are provided on the IBSA website. The number of participating teams has changed over the decades, but for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, this was reduced from ten to eight teams per division by the International Paralympic Committee. Competition is open to sighted persons to national level, but for international IBSA sanctioned tournaments, athletes must have a visual impairment classification of B1, B2, or B3. the first outside of the U. S. state of Colorado. Diving as part of defensive skills has been used as a training activity for (sighted) sports teams. Professional teams trying goalball have included the Boston Bruins ice hockey, Queensland Fire cricket, and Seattle Sounders FC soccer teams.

In 2006, the computer animated series Bernard produced a three minute clip, featuring Eva the penguin introducing the titular polar bear to goalball. In 2018, the sport was featured in the fourth episode of the anime Ani x Para: Anata no Hero wa Dare desu ka, where the characters of the anime KochiKame played a match of goalball. Goalball was featured in episodes 10–12 of the 2020 Japanese anime, Breakers, where Paralympic sports are featured, originally planned to promote the 2020 Summer Paralympics.