RIYADH, 14 May 2004 — Ever heard of Goalball? A game for the blind, goalball has been around for some time in the Kingdom, and it gets a much-needed shot-in-the-arm with the visit here of three British players and a coach as part of the Saudi-British sports cooperation program coordinated by BAE Systems.
The visit aims to assess the development of the game in the Kingdom, according to British goalball coach Mick McGuare, who had arrived earlier in the week and joined by Stephen Troy, Tariq Hussain and Yahye Abdi Siyadh and referee Israr Ahmed.
"This is a fact-finding mission for me," McGuare said. "By the end of the week I'll have a much better idea of what stage of development goalball is at in the Kingdom and hopefully the Saudis will understand what we're doing in Britain."
Although a Saudi goalball team is not going to participate in the Paralympics this year, the team is preparing for the 2005 GCC championships.
This year, out of the 50 events the Saudi-British sports cooperation program is holding, 10 are in the area of special needs sport, said BAE Systems' Peter Waddell, who directs the sports memorandum program.
Waddell explained that sports for the disabled is one of the most important aspects of the program. "The sports facilities that are available for the disabled in the Kingdom are second to none. The General Presidency of Sport and Youth Welfare should be praised for the standards of the facilities they provide," he said.
Goalball, invented in Europe after the Second World War to help with rehabiliation process for war veterans who were blinded, is a physical sport played in an area the size of volleyball court. The players all wear masks to ensure that no one has a sight advantage; by using a ball with a bell encased inside it, the players are able to detect the whereabouts of the ball. The object of the game is to score as many goals as possible. A goal is scored when the players manage to get the ball past the opposing players into the back of their net.
