WY players and officials take part at the International Goalball Test Event
Published on: 12th December 2011
Five women’s teams were invited to participate in the round robin tournament – Great Britain, China, USA, Sweden and Canada. Unfortunately Great Britain lost all of their 4 games, but only by small margins, and played exceptionally well considering they were facing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams from the 2010 World Championships!
Included in the Great Britain squad was Louise Simpson from Wakefield who is the only remaining player from the last time GB qualified for a Paralympic Games (Sydney 2000). She hopes to participate in London but together with the rest of the squad has to anxiously wait until February now when the British Paralympic Association will announce whether they have met their ‘credible performance’ criteria. Certainly their 1-0 defeat to China showed that they have the potential to compete.
The Bronze medal match was between Sweden and the USA. With the score tied at the end of regulation play, overtime followed. The game then went to extra throws and then sudden death extra throws with the USA eventually winning 4-3. In the Gold medal match, China convincingly beat Canada 5-2.
From an officiating perspective, there was a strong representation from West Yorkshire with Ross Bibby, Ekpedeme Edem, Rachel Carlton, Nina Robery and Kathryn Fielding all selected as National Technical Officials (NTO’s). Their role included helping maintain the flow of the game by quickly returning the ball in to play, guiding players on and off court and indicating when goals had been scored.
It is back to reality this weekend though with a Goalball UK Novice tournament on Saturday in Hull, and a West Yorkshire Goalball Club training session on Sunday at Armley Leisure Centre in Leeds!
For more information about goalball, please contact Kathryn Fielding: Tel. 07795 263642 or email Kathryn@achievepotentials.co.uk
