What is it like to play for Australia in Goalball?

Since I’m gut-wrenchingly bored at work today, I may as well kick this blog off properly.  Today I want to talk about Goalball, in particular playing for the Australian Men’s team. 

Goalball, just in case you don’t know (of which there is a good chance), is a team sport played on an in-door volleyball court.  It consists of two teams of three who are trying to peg a ball past the opposing team and trying to stop the other team from scoring through them.  The ball weighs 1.25 KG and it has bells in it, which is pretty important given that everyone on court is blindfolded.  Still confused?  No worries – here is a link to some highlights of a game played at the Beijing Paralympics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X492Z01-Gk8

Alright, so that done, this is what has been going on.  The Men’s team has been trying to get to the London Paralympics.  We failed in our bid to qualify at the World Championships in Sheffield in 2010, as well as coming nowhere near where we needed to in order to qualify at the IBSA Blind Games in Turkey this year.  That, frankly, sucked.  Nevertheless, we have one more shot; we have the Africa/Oceania regional qualifying tournament in November this year.  The last we heard it was being played in Australia, where we’ll be coming up against such teams as New Zealand, Algeria and whoever else wants to come.

The one awesome thing about playing for Australia in a sport that no one knows about is that (1) I can play at that level (look at all the poor suckers who play cricket in Australia and who will never wear the baggy green) and (2) the media doesn’t care (so my bad performances won’t be analysed and writ large on the front pages of newspapers).  The downside is that I’m the only one who cares if I get up at 5 in the morning to go to gym, or eat dinner after 9pm due to finishing training late.  My team are the only people who appreciate the pain in my right hip at every jarring step in my run up and my physiotherapist is the only person who knows how stiff and scarred my right ankle is from tearing ligaments in it last year.  Lastly, very few people realise what a strain training at the requisite level is having on my marriage. 

But, here’s the thing.  Despite all the downsides, I love it.  I love playing with my team-mates for Australia.  It is such a wonderful experience to sing your national anthem whilst wearing the green and gold.  Although the Men’s team hasn’t had much success lately, any game we do win feels so sweet, because you know the shit you’ve all put yourselves through to get there.  The adrenalin that I feel when I first set up in my defensive position against an international opponent, waiting for the game to begin, is only comparable in my mind to that which I felt when about to skydive for the first time.  Even describing that feeling makes my heart flutter and my hands shake to a slight degree with nervous excitement. 

I want so badly to succeed.  I want to get to the Paralympic games in London in 2012.  I’m turning 27 in august and I feel that this could be my last shot at the Paralympics.  So much is dependent on how the Men’s team performs in November.  Am I scared?  Absolutely.  Every training session, every training camp, each session in the gym is bringing me inevitably closer to my own personal judgment day.  Am I going to be good enough?  Is my team going to be good enough?  Are the coaches going to be tactically ready?  These are the questions that resound in my head from day to day.  I guess the old ‘wait and see’ approach is in order, but it is easier said than done.  

That’s probably enough for one day.  I have some work to do before I go to gym.