SNOHOMISH — Alexis Lawrence stretched out on the gym floor at Riverview Elementary School in an effort to stop a ball with her body.
The sixth grader at Monroe Elementary School listened for the almost three-pound Goalball, a ball the size of a basketball with two bells inside, to roll
closer. She moved in the direction of the jingling sound and positioned herself to stop the ball. She did just that, keeping a goal from being scored against her three-person team.
The smile never left her face.
“She’s always smiling,” said her mother, Tara Lawrence of Monroe, who was watching the friendly Goalball scrimmage from the sidelines.
Alexis was one of 10 kids who participated in a Goalball clinic Saturday hosted by the Northwest Association for Blind Athletes. Goalball is a paralympic sport developed after World War II as a way to keep blind veterans physically active. It is played by two teams of three people who from their positions try to keep the ball from rolling past them and over a goal line. Every player wore blacked out ski goggles on Saturday so participants with some vision did not have an advantage. The Goalball clinic wasn’t the first time Alexis had played the game. She learned about the sport after Goalball instructors from Seattle visited a PE class when she was in elementary school. Still, she said, it was fun to play again and make some new friends.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I like playing the center.”
Her daughter became blind four years ago after a brain tumor, Lawrence said. School sports programs aren’t typically adapted for people with vision loss, she said.
“(Goalball) is the only game that is designed for visually impaired people,” Lawrence said. “It’s just nice that the kids could all get together and feel like they could do something together with people who they can relate to.”
Ali Steenis, a Glacier Peak High School sophomore, has been riding horses for the past 12 years. She played Goalball for the first time on Saturday.
“It was kind of an eye opener for me because I have some vision so to be totally blind was definitely different,” she said. “It made me appreciate the vision that I do have.”
Ali, 16, hopes to compete in equestrian events in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
“Anybody can set their minds to what they want to do,” she said.
Billy Henry, executive director of the Northwest Association for Blind Athletes, agreed. It’s important people who are blind or visually impaired have opportunities to play sports and build confidence, he added. The association was formed by a group of visually impaired athletes in May 2007 to provide sport opportunities for the blind and the visually impaired.
The Goalball clinic was the first the Vancouver, Wash., organization has hosted in Snohomish County and probably won’t be the last, Henry said. He hopes the association will also host swimming, powerlifting, track and field and other sports events.
“This is the first of many events,” he said. “We want to create some ongoing programs.”
Teachers with visually impaired students in multiple school districts received notice about the Goalball clinic, according to Christina Parker, a teacher for the visually impaired in the Snohomish School District.
“We’re going to try to have another (clinic) toward the end of April here again,” she said. “I hope to get more kids involved in that.”
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
How to join
For more information on Goalball or other events hosted by the Northwest Association for Blind Athletes, go to www.nwaba.org, call 360-448-7254 or e-mail Billy Henry at billy@nwaba.org.
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