Jacksonville native Daryl Walker represents the U.S. in the IBSA Goalball World Championships

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville native Daryl Walker is among 12 blind athletes representing the United States in the IBSA Goalball World Championships that kicks off on December 7, in Portugal. The three-time Paralympian is among 16 men and women’s teams competing to qualify for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

“I feel confident that the USA Men’s National Goalball Team has an excellent chance to medal at the world championships and qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games,” said USA Men’s Goalball Head Coach Keith Young in a recent press release. “Our team has players that fit like a puzzle, with great leadership and very strong role players who can contribute to victories.”

As WOKV wishes the very best to Darryl Wallker and the USA Men’s and Women’s National Goalball Teams, one might stop to ask, ‘What is goalball?’

Described as the most popular team sport for the blind and visually impaired, goalball’s origins stem back to 1946 when Austrian Hanz Lorrenzen and German Sett Reindle designed goalball as therapy for World War II Veterans blinded by wounds incurred during battle. The game’s popularity grew so much so that in 1976, the first team of blind athletes from the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes played goalball in the Toronto Paralympics. Since then, U.S. teams have earned 12 Paralympic Games medals and 11 world championship medals, affording America the title of top goalball contenders in the sport now played worldwide in 112 countries.

Goalball is not for the feint of heart. The game hosts two, three-member teams aiming to score by rolling a basketball-sized, 2.8 pound hollow ball stuffed with bells along a nine by 18-meter volleyball style court enclosed by heavy string. Players wear shaded goggles to block the light. Major competitions require adhesive patches applied directly over the players eyes with eyeshades then placed over the patches. Players also wear knee, elbow and hip padding.

Teams consist of a center, the main defensive player, who’s flanked by two wing players who serve as the offensive or throwing players. The team that maintains control of the ball is offense while the blocking team plays defense.

Centers block the incoming ball with their bodies by listening to the bells. Blocked balls are then thrown to a wing as the center re-orients to guard the goal. Teams then “quick throw” the ball with hopes of catching their opponents out of position.

A variety of curve balls and speed balls are thrown to confuse players. Players also change wing positions to surprise the defending team by throwing from a different side of the court. Described as a strategic and fast game anchored by verbal communication, the two, twelve-minute halves divided by a three-minute break have their fair share of penalties.

Jacksonville’s goalball champion Darryl Walker says understanding the game’s strategy is only the first step in understanding goalball’s impact for visually impaired and blind athletes.

Walker was born with albinism, a genetic disorder marked by little or no production of melanin, a pigment that plays a role in the development of one’s optic nerves along with skin, hair and eye color. The disorder also ranges in severity.

Severe Albinism causes vision problems, light sensitivity and an increased risk of developing skin cancer. The lack of melanin also causes skin to be light and hair almost white. Eye color can range between brown and light-blue with translucent irises and pale eyelashes. Vision impairment ranges between being nearsighted, farsighted or completely blind.

Describing his childhood as one of denial, Walker never allowed his albinism stop him from pursuing sports. St. Augustine’s School for the Deaf and Blind introduced Walker to goalball.

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