Rules

Rules

Each game consists of two ten-minute halves. A coin toss is held and the winning team can choose whether to throw or receive or pick an end of the court to start play.

One of the two referees checks the court and teams to make sure they are ready to begin, and then blows a whistle three times and calls out "play" to signal the beginning of the half.

During the halves, play can be stopped by a ball landing out of bounds, signaled by the call "out" or "blocked out"; the ball going past a team's back line, signaled by two whistle blows and the call "goal", or by time expiring.

When a player blocks the ball, they will usually throw it back to the other team or pass it to a teammate. To pass the ball, the passer must verbally hear where the other player is, usually by tapping the floor, in order to make a clean pass.

That's about all that is necessary to know to start playing the game.

Classification - Athletes with Blindness (IBSA)

CLASS B1
Total absence of perception of the light in both eyes, or some perception of the light but with inability to recognize the form of a hand at any distance and in any direction.

CLASS B2
From the ability to recognize the form of a hand to a visual acuity of 2/60 and/or a visual field of less than 5 degrees.

CLASS B3
From a visual acuity of above 2/60 to a visual acuity of 6/60 and/or a visual field or more than 5 degrees and less than 20 degrees.

All classifications must be made by measuring the best eye and to the highest possible correction. This means that all athletes who use contact lenses or correcting glasses normally must wear them during classification, whether or not they intend to use them during competition.

Coaching

Most competitive Goalball teams have at least one coach who sits in the team area on one side of the court.

Like in most major sports, a coach can call time-outs and substitutions.

Each team has three 45-second time-outs; this is the only time during the game where the coach can talk to their players on the court. Time-outs stop the game clock and are a good time to plan strategy.

Similarly, each coach can make up to three substitutions per game. If one or more of the three players on the court is not playing how the coach wants them to play, or if the coach wants to employ a different strategy they may opt to substitute a player for one on the bench. A team can have up to six total players. Also, substitutions made at half-time do not count towards the three substitutions.

Penalties

If a player or a team commits a penalty, one team member must defend the goal by himself or herself for one free throw.

There are two types of penalties: individual penalties, and team penalties. For an individual penalty, the person who committed the penalty defends the goal. These penalties include:

High Ball - When a player throws the ball, it must touch the ground at least once before it travels 3 meters in front of the team's front line.

Long Ball - Similarly, there is a 6-metre area between these two high ball lines in the center of the court. The ball must touch the court at least once in this area. These two penalties prevent a player from throwing the ball in the air to the other goal (when the ball is in the air - the bells make no sound).

Third-Time Throw - A player is only allowed to throw the ball twice in succession. Doing this a third time will result in a penalty. Throws carry over halftime, but not into overtime. Also, if a player receives this penalty, and then throws again, they will get another penalty. The count does not reset after the penalty.

Eyeshade Violation - If a player touches any part of their eyeshades, they will receive a penalty. If they need to adjust their eyeshades, they should raise their hand and an official will recognize them and ask them to turn around, face their own goals, and make the adjustment.

Illegal Defense - If a player in defence goes forward and puts their entire body in front of the front line and touches the ball coming at them, they will incur a penalty. The ball must be blocked with some part of the body inside the team area of the defending team.

Team penalties, penalties that cannot be attributed to one person, can also be assessed. The last person to throw the ball for the penalized team will defend the goal. These include:

Ten Seconds - A team has ten seconds to throw the ball after one of the players has contacted it. If the ball is blocked out, and play has to be stopped then the ten second count starts from where it was stopped when the referee whistled to stop the play.

Delay of Game - If the team is not ready when a game starts, misses the coin toss, etc. a penalty is assessed on the team. This one also occurs when a coach makes a substitution at half-time and fails to report it to the referees.

Game scoring

The game is won when there is a one-goal lead at the end of the second half. During the round robin section a win gives a team - 3 points, a draw - 2 points and a loss - 1 point.

In the finals if a draw occurs, those two teams will play an addition to three minutes halves, if the score is still drawn, sudden death will be played. Sudden death is when the players are separated from the coach and are lined up according to the player running sheet that was submitted by the coach before the game. The first player from each team is placed on either end of the court and each has a throw. If there is no score then the next players attempt to win, this continues until a goal is scored and the throws are equal, the referee will then declare the winner.