Goal
We are 100 days away from the opening of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Among the 22 disciplines, some are well known, such as blind football or para-swimming. But others are much less so, like goalball, a sport created after the Second World War for war wounded. A ball sport reserved for the visually impaired and whose objective is to score the most goals for your opponent.
The ball is the same size as basketball, but it is pierced in places to reduce rebound and it is filled with bells to identify its trajectory. Goalball is very physical and strategic, but concentration is a central factor. Without seeing anything, you have to listen carefully to guess everything.
“The famous sixth sense that visually impaired people have, I don’t believe in it, sweeps away Ambroise Daudin, the right winger of the France team. I think it’s mainly our attention that is focused a little more on hearing and touch. It’s a lot of listening and a lot of concentration because there’s the sound of the ball. There are instructions from the staff, refereeing, but also communication with teammates. All of these are things that we must learn to manage at the same time and under the influence of physical effort. So it’s actually quite demanding from that point of view.”
“Come on, back to the second half, what was different compared to the first? Did you feel the same sensations? Did that confirm certain things?” asks Vivien Fournier, the coach of the France team. “We tried to put more rhythm, replies one of the players. I think we relaxed a little. I don’t know if it’s the fact of being ahead in the score or what, but we probably unconsciously relaxed a little bit defensively.”
And to maintain this sustained attention for two periods of 12 minutes, the players are accompanied by a mental trainer. “Concretely, it is work that has been done on the management of emotions and on the work of different types of attention, explains Brice Hyeans. Internal attention, external attention, which can be broad, which can be focused and on that, they must make decisions and ‘switch’ between their different types of attention very quickly.”
- For more: Elrisala website and for social follow us on Facebook
- Source of information and images “francetvinfo“
