Libby Daugherty strides on the goalball court as if she owns it. Wearing the blackout goggles that leave all players in complete darkness, the 15-year-old from Mesquite kneels to feel the string that lies under the taped boundaries so she can find her place.

Then she stands, ready to pounce as she listens intently for the sound of bells embedded in the rapidly rolling 2.75-pound ball. That’s her only clue for the location of the ball as the opposing three-person team tries to slip it past into her goal at Bradfield Recreation Center in Garland, where the 20-member Texas Goalball team practices weekly.

Goalball, a game played by visually impaired athletes, was developed in 1946 to help rehabilitate veterans who had lost all or part of their sight in World War II. It’s been part of the Paralympics since 1980.

These days, all ages play in more than 100 countries, and it can be an important tool for keeping kids motivated and physically fit, advocates say. Even so, the Frisco-based Texas Association for Blind Athletes, which sponsors Texas Goalball, struggles to raise financial and community support for its players.

Texas is home to about 10,000 people who are blind or visually impaired, and 3,000 of them are kids and teenagers, says Richie Flores, youth coordinator of the Austin-based National Federation of the Blind in Texas.

Texas has three teams. The teams in Round Rock and Austin are youth teams; the Austin one is part of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Only Texas Goalball serves all ages, with players ranging from 5 to 45. The teams play each other at least twice a year.

Some states, such as Colorado, Georgia, California, Michigan and Florida, have strong goalball programs, which are funded at state and local levels, says Christy Householter, visually impaired educational specialist at Region 10 Education Service Center in Richardson. In comparison, she says, Dallas-Fort Worth players rely on the blind athletes association’s limited resources and, mostly, their parents to pay for uniforms, equipment and travel expenses.

Libby’s father, Shawn Daugherty, volunteers his time to coach the team, which includes Libby and her brother Steven, 14. They have a genetic condition called Leber congenital amaurosis, which leaves them unable to distinguish much beyond light and dark.

Most of Texas’ Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services funds for the visually impaired go to wounded veterans or literacy programs, Flores says. But Flores draws from personal experience when he says sports could play a key role in helping people make friends, improve their health and whet their competitive spirits.

Blind since the age of 2 from cancer of his retinas, Flores, 34, plays on the Austin Blackhawks, a beep baseball team registered with the National Beep Baseball Association. The game is played with a beeping ball and buzzing bases. Flores doesn’t think it a coincidence that, even though three out of four blind or visually impaired Americans are unemployed, a majority of his teammates are either employed or in school.

“Playing sports increases your social skills,” he says. “It is an empowerment activity. It increases the possibility of making lifelong friends. It teaches you about being responsible and reliable because people are counting on you to show up for your games and practices. It gives you an opportunity to compete that people with disabilities usually don’t get because games are not accessible or they aren’t included. Putting your all into something and sweating and contributing to a win or a loss is a valuable lesson.”

Plus, a disproportionate number of kids who are blind and visually impaired are not physically fit. They are routinely given waivers that excuse them from physical education by schools that do not know how to accommodate them, Flores says.

Flores was one of those kids, growing up in Mission in the Rio Grande Valley, but he pushed hard to find ways to stay active. He talked friends into playing ball and climbing trees with him after school. He became water boy for his high school football team, which led to a lifelong love of the game and a source of bonding with his sighted wife, in-laws and fellow fans.

Libby’s mother, Jennifer Daugherty, says goalball has helped her daughter by giving her a chance to be a leader. It’s a quality Libby demonstrates in her assertiveness on the court and in the way she welcomes and encourages returning and new players.

Libby discovered the sport five years ago at the annual Sports Extravaganza and Goalball Tournament, sponsored by the Region 10 Education Service Center and local Lions Clubs. This year’s tournament will be Friday and Saturday at Nimitz High School in Irving.

Libby says she was tentative at first. As she embraced the game, it changed her, she says. “Just being around other people like me built my confidence.”

Now Libby considers it part of her mission to build up the confidence of others. “We’ve had people come in super-quiet. They leave feeling they have friends and a team and they are part of something. I love helping other people who are shy.”

Since Libby started goalball, she has done things many thought she would never do, including flying by herself to Arizona for a tournament, where she joined another team as an individual player. She works out at a CrossFit gym, doing exercises that have built up her strength to do handstands and climb rope. She bikes, swims and wakeboards.

Libby’s dreams have grown with her confidence. She aspires to become an attorney. She hopes to play in the Paralympics.

She talks dreamily about seeing — her word — goalball heroes like Jennifer Armbruster play. Armbruster was captain of the U.S. team that won the gold medal in 2008 and continues to play and coach the sport.

“She’s a legend. She’s incredible,” Libby says. “I would love to be like her.”

Source: Dallas News