Article content continued

Coach Rob Christy called out instructions as Hart practised her shots, either rolling or bouncing the ball to her opponent’s end.

Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia

“Don’t try to place the ball!” he shouted. “Quick feet! Get low!”

Hart began playing goalball seriously while attending a school for the blind and visually impaired in Brantford. She’s been a member of the provincial team for six years and was named to the provincial senior team two years ago. Recently she was invited to play in the Malmö Lady Intercup in Malmö, Sweden at the end of March.

“Going to Sweden will give the coaches a chance to see me game and hopefully they’ll choose me for the Worlds,” she said.

The Swedish tournament would be her first international experience and a major stepping stone to her goal of representing Canada at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. Hart has started a GoFundMe campaign to help her with the estimated $3,000 cost of the trip.

“Throughout my adolescence, I was told on many occasions not to expect to graduate with my classmates; and if I did achieve this, I probably would not be doing so with above average grades,” Hart wrote in a fundraising letter for her campaign. “I was told that it would be difficult to lead a normal life. I am proving them wrong. I graduated at the top of my class with honours.”

As a full-time social work student at Algonquin and with few jobs available for a visually impaired person, “it’s a little bit tight for money sometimes,” she said. And as a blossoming player, Hart has yet to qualify for national team funding, which in any event, is sparse beside the funding available for able-bodied athletes.

“I’ve come a long way in the last two years,” she said. “I believe if I keep working hard like I have been, in the next two years I could make it to the Paralympics to represent Canada.”

You can reach Hart’s fundraising page at gofundme.com/developing-goalball-athlete.

For more information on goalball, visit blindsports.on.ca/sports/goal-ball.

bcrawford@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/getBAC