National goalball tryouts bring aspiring Paralympians to St-Henri

Several Quebecathletes are vying for a spot on thenational goalball team, which could mean a shot at competing in Rio at the 2016 Paralympics.

All six fought for their spot this partMarch in the national tryouts, held at St-Henri'sGadboisRecreational Centre.

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Goalball was invented in 1946 as a therapeutic activity to help rehabilitate blindSecond World Warveterans.

The sport, which is played by blind and visually impaired athletes,was introduced to the Paralympics as a demonstration sport at the 1976 Games inToronto. Canada has sent a team to competeinevery Paralympic Games since then.

Athletes wear eyeshades to block out all residual light, and experience complete darkness while they are on the court.

Players attempt to throw a ball with bells embedded in it into the opposinggoal.

They follow the ball with their ears, not their eyes. In that way, theydonot need their entire body to work together in order to playgoalball accurately.

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The Canadian goalball team'snext big tournament will be during the 2015 IBSA World Games inSouth Korea in May. If the team makesit to the top three, the men's andthe women's teams will qualify for the2016 Paralympic Games.

''This Paralympic tournament will be an ideal opportunity to show that Canada is back,'' saysNathalie Chartrand,executive director of the Quebec Blind Sport Association.

The Canadian goalball teams have no gold medals in their trophy case, but in 2006, they took home theworld championship and at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, the men's team won a silver medal.

Being part of the national team is a significantachievement, Chartrand said.

''It proves to people that 'hey, I'm blind, butI'm still representing Canada,''' she said.

The athletes selected to be part of next year's Canadian goalball team will also participate at theParapan Am Gamesin Toronto this August.

The national trials held in St-Henri were one part of theteam'sselection process.

Athletes were evaluated at the annual goalball tournament in St-Henri in January.The athletes will also be evaluated at theSenior Nationals in Toronto in April.

Nancy Morin, Bruno Hach and Simon Tremblay, members of the provinical goalball team who were at the tryouts in St-Henri, have already been selected to representCanada at2015 IBSA World Games in Korea in May.

Three other members of the Quebec teamSabrina Pilon, Josu Coud and Cindy Morin also took part in thenational tryouts.

They will find out inMay if they made nextyear's national team.

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St-Henri Chronicles

St-Henri Chroniclesis a collaboration between the Department of Journalism at Concordia University, and CBC Montreal.

Students in a graduate-level multimedia course were asked to find and produce original stories on St-Henri for their final class project.

They spent the winter term developing these stories, and experimented with sound, pictures, video, infographics and maps to tell them.

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