From the UK. Goalball is the only team game for visually impaired female athletes in the Paralympics.<\/p>\n
From the Women’s Blog<\/a>, Guardian News<\/p>\n If you are a blind or visually impaired woman wanting to play a team sport in Great Britain, then good luck to you. For years Georgie Bullen was told she was no good at sport by her PE teachers. It was only a chance try-out for a Paralympic talent-identification day that allowed the then teenager to be discovered in a sport she had never even heard of: goalball. The Paralympic sport, played blindfolded and in silence, subsequently changed Bullen\u2019s life both personally and professionally.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I went to mainstream school I was the only VI [visually impaired] person at my school,\u201d says the 20-year-old. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t have goalball I wouldn\u2019t even know anyone else who was VI or blind. We bonded over our experiences, like when people realise you\u2019re visually impaired and they say, \u201cOh, that\u2019s a such a shame because you\u2019re so pretty.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n Goalball gave Bullen the confidence to form relationships and become a leader. The Hertfordshire athlete helped Team GB make history by reaching the quarter finals at London 2012. That result led to the announcement that the women\u2019s team would be given \u00a31m<\/a> to help them on their journey to Rio 2016. \u201cWe went from being the worst-funded British Paralympic sport, to this huge increase. We got new staff on board. But with one bad result at the Europeans, UK Sport decided to take away all our funding<\/a>. We went from \u00a31m to nothing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n UK Sport says that its decision was based on a meritocratic system \u2013 \u201cSports that could not demonstrate a trajectory towards medal success had funding withdrawn\u201d \u2013 though the situation is reviewed on an annual basis. Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of the British Paralympic Association, says they have tried to support goalball in other ways, selecting it to be part of National Paralympic Day<\/a> at the Olympic Park on 30 August where Team GB will play in the Copper Box arena. \u201cIt was a conscious strategy to raise the sport\u2019s profile. Within the Games it is the only team sport for VI women, the differentiator being that for men there\u2019s also the opportunity to play VI football. I\u2019m not aware of any substantive move for that to change.\u201d<\/p>\n