Nova Scotia Junior Girls won their first ever Gold Medal at the 2019 Canadian Junior Goalball Championships held at Brantford, Ontario this past weekend.

Our girls, who won silver last year, met the 2018 champions, British Columbia, in the gold medal game. Nova Scotia, consisting of Tarah Sawler, Shams Hamad, Alexis Butler, and Emily Kinnear,defeated the British Columbia girls by a score of 8 to 2 to capture the gold.

Nova Scotia Junior Boys won their second consecutive Gold Medal at these Junior Goalball Championships.

Nova Scotia boys first won the gold in 2018 in front of their home crowd in Halifax. Ontario, the 2017 champions, won the silver medal in Halifax and were hungry to retake the title in Ontario. However, our Nova Scotia boys, Mason Smith, Nick Gentleman, Matthew Gentleman, and Griffin Hiltz won the gold medal in the final game with a score of 14 to 4.

At the conclusion of the tournament, the tournament officials choose the 2019 Junior Goalball “All Tournament Teams” in both the Boys and Girls divisions. The girls selected were Tarah Sawler and Shams Hamad of Nova Scotia and Haley Olinyk of British Columbia. The boys selected were Mason Smith and Nick Gentleman of Nova Scotia and Nader Ibrahim of Ontario.

Both Nova Scotia teams were coached by Linda MacRae Triff and Peter Parsons.

The 2019 Senior National Goalball Championships will be held in Halifax from May 10 to May 12 at Citadel High School.

– Linda MacRae Triff, Head Coach

CCB Blind Sports Nova Scotia is proud to be hosting the 2019 Senior Goalball National Championships, from May 10 – 12 , at Citadel High in Halifax.  We still need volunteers!

This is a rare opportunity to support your local and Canadian parasport community, while witnessing the unique competitive sport of goalball.

Please let us know if you are interested in signing up for a volunteer shift, don’t hesitate to ask questions, and feel free to share this information around. Get in touch:  blindsportsns@gmail.com

Below is the volunteer schedule.  We need goal judges, time keepers, shot recorders, etc.  Shifts are available on a first come, first serve basis.  

Shift 1A – Fri, May 10 – 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Shift 1B – Fri, May 10 – 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Shift 2 – Sat, May 11 – 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Shift 3 – Sat, May 11 – 12:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Shift 4 – Sat, May 11 – 4:30 PM to 8:00 PM

Shift 5 – Sun, May 12 – 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Shift 6 – Sun, May 12 – 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM

If you haven’t seen goalball before, here is a link to highlights from the medal games at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlztSzz6Uh8

If you would like to watch a full game, here is the finals of our 4th Annual NS Open (with commentary) in November – Nova Scotia vs. Quebec.  https://www.facebook.com/BlindSportsNS/videos/1126165574208470/

Peter Parsons                                                                                                                         Chairperson