NSW Goalball for Schools Knockout Cup Finals

On Thursday 15 June, NSW Goalball hosted the 2017 Goalball for Schools Knockout Cup Finals at Genea Netball Central in the heart of Sydney Olympic Park.

34 schools and over 200 student participants put on blindfolds and competed across three categories for Goalball glory. The Kenaghan Cup (Primary Schools) was a toughly fought competition with The Central coast school of Pretty Beach playing Garden Suburbs PS from Hunter Region in the final after Milpherra & Llandilo PS tied for bronze on the same round robin points and goal difference. Garden Suburbs really controlled the game and won 11-5 at the end. The Hunter and Central Coast region would also medal in the Junior High and Senior High divisions to highlight the great work of both regions that now support Goalball hub programs. In the Junior High School Division it was Kimcumber High winning bronze over Glenmore Park from the Penrith district. This game featured youth players Ethan Scaturchio & MiKayla Kumar who have both selected in the NSW Junior representative team to play in the Australian Championships to be hosted in Melbourne from 4-8 October. The Gold Medal Game saw Turramurra High School led by Amy Ridley who was just selected to the NSW Schools team to compete at the Pacific School Games against a combined NSW Schools team which featured Molly Smith who is also a member of that same Pacific School Games team with Isaac King and Kendra Brewer from Hunter.

Turramurra lead for the first half and went in with a 3 goal advantage but NSW Combined fought right back and ended up winning 7-4. This was the first year of the junior high or year 7, 8 & 9 competition which was given the name of NSW Goalball Variety Cup for the great work Variety have done supporting NSW Goalball across their scholarship program.

In the Senior High School competition for the Kevin Frew Cup, saw another NSW Combined school team lead by Aiden Smith the MVP of the Youth 2016 Australian Championships joined Sam MacKay and Emily Cruden to defeat Smith Hill High who were led by NSW Pacific School Games representative Cody Nugara from Smith Hill High in the Illawarra region. After a very strong defensive first half NSW Combined threw well to go ahead and win the final 6-3.

It was a real showcase event for NSW Goalball and through the program in 2017 there was over 2000 students across over 50 schools that experienced this unique Paralympic sport. A big thankyou to Office of Sport for the funding they provided and to Sport NSW & Western Sydney University for supplying support through the program and on the day including 28 volunteer exchange students from Austin, Texas who were amazing and so enthusiastic to learn the game and volunteer.