The Queensland Goalball teams have returned victorious from the 2019 Australian Goalball Championships in Adelaide; held 3 – 7 October 2019, winning the State Champion shield for just the second time in history.
In a dominant on-court display, Queensland finished on top of the pool in the Junior, Women and Mens divisions. We also had 2 Youth players in the combined SA/QLD/VIC team, which finished at the top of their pool as well, seeing all Queensland players making it straight through to the Gold medal matches.
The Queenslanders stamped their authority on the Gold medal matches, winning all 3 divisions by mercy. (When one team gets ahead by 10 goals the matched is declared over, regardless of how much time is left on the game clock). The combined youth team were defeated by WA in the Gold medal match, winning Silver.
Final Gold Medal match results were:
Juniors: Qld 13 def WA 3
Youth: WA 13 def SA 10
Women: Qld 10 def NSW 0
Men: Qld 13 def WA 3
The Queensland players efforts were rewarded with the following individual honors as well:
(NB: MVP was determined on the Gold Medal Match only, the Highest Goal Scorer and All Star 6 were determined on all round-robin matches)
JUNIOR
MVP: Mikhail Othman
Highest Goal Scorer: Sidney Whipp
All Star 6: Sidney Whipp, Oliver Fanshawe
WOMEN
MVP: Meica Horsburgh
Highest Goal Scorer Meica Horsburgh
All Star 6: Meica Horsburgh, Alison Jones
MEN
MVP: Jon Horsburgh
Highest Goal Scorer: Jon Horsburgh
All Star 6: Jon Horsburgh, Michael Sheppard
Sport Development Coordinator and coach, Robyn Stephensen, summed up the feeling of the team, “we are obviously ecstatic at these results this week. But it doesn’t just happen – everyone including the players, coaches, support staff, families and friends have committed 100% to Goalball this year. You can’t have such success without a great culture in the sport. We train and play hard, but are also very humble in victory as well as defeat. It has been especially pleasing to see the development of the Junior and Youth players, who just keep getting better.”
Several of our players will head to Japan in early December with the Australian teams for the Asia Pacific Regional Championships, which is the final opportunity to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Queensland are also excited that we will be hosting the 40th Australian Goalball Championships on the Gold Coast in October 2020.