The Sport Of Goalball

How would you like to have a three-pound ball size of a basketball fired at you at 50, 60 miles an hour, and you have to hurl your body in a diving attempt to stop it while blindfolded? This isn't some fraternity initiation prank. It's a real sport played by blind and visually impaired athletes all over world. The game is called Goalball, and it's not for fainthearted. In a recent article from Herald Palladium (Michigan) newspaper, Nikki Buck of U.S. National Goalball Team described sport as "kind of like dodge ball but in reverse." In 1946, Hanz Lorenzen of Austria and Sepp Reindle of Germany invented Goalball as a way to help rehabilitate veterans blinded during World War II. The game was first introduced to worlde at 1976 Paralympics in Toronto, and has been a Paralympic sport ever since. The game is played with three players a side facing each other across a court nine meters wide and 18 meters long. A heavy string taped to each end of court marks area, or zone, players can use to orient themselves to court. They do this by feeling string with their hands or feet. Each zone has three orientation lines that each player can use to make sure they are lined up properly. A basketball-size ball with bells inside is used so players can hear it when it's thrown. The object of game is to throw ball in such a way that it rolls over opposing team's goal line. Don't let word "roll" fool you; players can put amazing speeds of 50 miles an hour or more on their throws. The defensive players listen for ball, and attempt to block it with their bodies by diving on floor. Once ball is stopped, that team takes control of ball and may attempt a throw of their own.

My Baseball Story

I discovered my need to write and gather inspiring stories about baseball as I drove on route 80 in Northen New Jersey in February 2004. I started thinking about movies I have seen and stories I have read that I loved. Like The Lou Gehrig story Pride of Yankees. or stories about Babe Ruth. Why did I like these stories? What was “My” definition of a great story? I was fixed on finding an answer .I started thinking about movie Field of Dreams, one of my all time favorites. Why did I like this corny movie so much? Was Field of Dreams a metaphor for living out of your field of dreams? Was creating a clearing done to ALLOW dreams to show up? In movie they cleared away a crop of corn to build a baseball field. Do we need to clear away some of our own corn fields to see dreams that capture our hearts and then create a path to reach those dreams?