Junior Brittany Richardson navigates the halls of Foothill, mind focused and cane in hand. At school, Richardson is one of the few visually impaired students on campus. Outside of Foothill, however, Richardson is known as a national goalball champion.
Goalball, a sport specially created for the visually impaired, is played by three players on two teams with a three pound ball. The ball contains bells in it for the players to hear, and players attempt to roll the ball into the opposing team’s goal.
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“It’s very similar to soccer except you’re not kicking the ball, you’re rolling it in a similar fashion like bowling and you’re blocking [the ball] on the ground like a baseball slide position with your hands covering your face,” Richardson said.
Richardson first realized her passion in playing goalball through the Junior Blind of America camp three years ago, only playing for fun and to pass the time at first.
“I tried it out […] and they said that I had a lot of potential and I was invited back for an unofficial goalball tournament at the camp,” Richardson said. “From there I just kind of kept going and I ended up on the Junior Blind team and that’s how I got started.”
Richardson has competed in multiple tournaments across the U.S., playing in and placing high positions in several National High School Goalball Championships.
Last year, producers from Nickelodeon also came to Foothill to film Richardson as part of their Nick News segment, “A Day in the Life of a Visually Impaired Person,” which aired in January.
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Richardson plays for the California Mayhem, one of the two major teams in California. The other team, the California Earthquakes, are based around Northern California.
Richardson’s team has won numerous awards.
“We’ve placed first the second year I’ve ever played goalball, we got ‘undefeated’ that same year, [received] third place at a tournament in Florida my freshman year and recently we placed second and we only lost one game at a gold medal match,” she said.
Richardson has also won individual awards.
“I got ‘Most Improved’ this summer and then I got ‘All American’ just recently [but] that’s just personally,” she said.
Richardson credits the ‘team aspect’ of goalball as her favorite part about playing.
“It’s not just like track or golf; you have a team with you. There’s not many sports out there for [the visually impaired] that we’re allowed to participate in on an equal playing field and that’s why I love goalball,” she said.
Richardson plans on continuing to play and compete in goalball in the future and possibly as a profession.
“My goal is to actually become one of the most famous goalball players,” said Richardson. “I just want to be as good as I possibly can.”
