Cal Goalball Team (First College Team for Blind Students)

This project has ended, but you can still support amazing Berkeley initiatives by visiting give.berkeley.edu. Your continued support of our students, faculty and staff will ensure that Berkeley remains the #1 public university. Go Bears!

UC Berkeley students recently created the first college sport team students with visual impairments: the Cal Goalball team. Your donation will support the Cal Goalball team invitational tournament with Portland University (the only one in the nation) that will be open to all colleges that create goalball teams of their own; four colleges have already created teams in the last year alone. This tournament will provide one of the first opportunities in the nation for students with visual impairments to play sports in a way that mirrors the competitive varsity student experience. Our student aspiration is to spread this model of inclusion across the country. Scholars consider the inclusion of student athletes with disabilities to be the next social justice issue  for the 21st Century that mirrors the integration of Black and female athletes into college sports.

The Goalball Story & Background

Visually impaired students from the Disabled Students Union at Cal came together with sighted students to develop the first competitive team (sighted players wear blindfolds and compete side-by-side) at UC Berkeley. In partnership with the Bay Area and Outreach Recreation Program (BORP), Chancellor Dirks Community Partnership Grant, Graduate School of Education, Rec Sorts Department, and other campus partners the team aims to set a new precedent of social inclusion for other institutions such as the NCAA (‘Big Time’ College), the field of college recreations sports, and high schools across the country. Your donation is making this future inclusion possible! GO BEARS!!!​