Goalball training challenges and technology needs vary by role and team level
Understanding Goalball Training Across Roles and Team Contexts: Practices, Perceptions, Challenges, and Technological Opportunities
Human-Computer Interaction
Summary
Goalball is a sport for visually impaired players where they throw and block a special ball while wearing eyeshades. The authors talked with players and coaches from different team levels in South Korea to learn how they train, what problems they face, and what kinds of technology could help. They found that training methods, issues, and tech needs differ depending on whether someone is a player or a coach and on their team’s competitive level. This study helps guide the design of future technology to support daily goalball training better.
What this means in practice
- •For sports technology developers: Design assistive training tools tailored to the specific roles and competitive levels in goalball teams informed by detailed user challenges and needs.$Commercial implications: Creates customized assistive devices for visually impaired athletes and coaches, offering improved training experiences that can be marketed to sports organizations.
- •For adaptive sports coaches: Enhance coaching strategies by understanding diverse training challenges and perceptions across goalball team levels to improve daily practice effectiveness.
Authors
Gyeongdeok Kim, Junhyuk Jang, Donghyeon Kim, Billy Park, Gunhyuk Park
Abstract
Goalball is a team sport for visually impaired athletes, played by throwing and blocking a ball while wearing eyeshades. However, existing studies provide limited guidance on which everyday training difficulties technology should address for players and coaches across team contexts. We conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 18 players and 12 coaches from seven South Korean teams spanning youth, second-division, first-division, and national-team contexts. Using qualitative coding and matrix-based analysis, we describe current training practices, participants' views of these methods, the challenges they encounter, and their technological support needs. Drawing on the relationships among these four areas, we discuss implications for the design and evaluation of future support technologies that fit everyday goalball training across roles and team contexts.