Goal ball

Torball or Blindentorball well as goalball and blind football is a team sport for disabled, mostly of blind and visually impaired is operated humans.

It is played by around 200 teams in Europe.

Field structure and course of the game

Action at a Torball game a Moldovan player selection

The playing field covers an area of 16 × 7 m. The goal extends over the entire width of the field and is 130 cm high. In front of the goals are the active areas where they have to fend off the ball or throw it when attacking. Three glued carpeted mats (1 x 2 m) are used for orientation on each side. Three lines are stretched across the playing field at a distance of 2 m at a height of 40 cm. Small bells are attached to them, which make contact by the ball or a player audible.

The three players of each team position themselves in the team area in front of the goal. Since blind and visually impaired people play together, everyone wears opaque glasses because of the equal opportunities. The teams are alternately in attack and defense. The game is played with a ball with bells inside so that the movements of the ball can be heard. The attacking team tries to throw the ball under the three lines into the opposing goal by hand. To fend off the ball, the opponents lie stretched out on the ground. If the ball touches a line, the thrower must leave the field for an opponent's throw (penalty throw). After three such errors, the goal for a throw is only defended by one player (penalty). The winner is the team that was able to score more goals at the end of the game (2 x 5 minutes).

distribution

Torball is played in the following European countries:

Belgium
Germany
France
Italy
Lithuania
Moldova
Austria
Poland
Romania
Russia
Switzerland
Slovenia
Hungary

In other Eastern European countries, attempts are being made to build teams.

Goalball is otherwise played in South America (especially in Argentina and Uruguay) and in Africa (especially in Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Niger).

Current development

Torball, like most other disabled sports, is on the decline. The reasons for this are, on the one hand, the decline in the number of young disabled people in general and, on the other hand, the structures, some of which no longer exist, such as B. the schools for the blind, which facilitated the promotion of sport. Due to the lack of support from umbrella organizations in some countries, especially in the USA, Torball meets with relatively great resistance when it comes to distribution. In many countries, however, consideration is being given to establishing goalball as a women's sport. The reason is the lower effort required in relation to the goalball (the goalball weighs 1250 instead of 500 grams).

Paralympics

Goalball is not Paralympic because it is very similar to competitive goalball . In addition to the national championships and numerous invitation tournaments, international competitions are also held in goalball. In addition to the European and World Championships for national teams, there is also the European and World Cup for club teams. The respective national champions qualify for these competitions.

Web links

Commons : Torball - Collection of images, videos and audio files