Goalball players and referees at the tournament.

Hello Goalball Fans,

Five teams gathered at James Kenny Gym on November 18 to compete for the 18th BORP Goalball Invitational title. The competition was intense and the Championship game was an all-time classic featuring a dramatic turn-around and a thrilling finish.

In addition to the many BORP stalwarts, the teams were sprinkled with BORP alumni from long distance including:

Green Monsters
Kamilla Ryding – Denmark
Karla Gilbride – Washington DC
Jon Simeone – Portland, OR

Wolverines
Bianca Stokkingreef – Netherlands
Matt Simpson – Colorado Springs, CO

Nillasauras
Joseph Hamilton – Washington, DC

Green Monsters (Ryding, Gilbride, Lopez, Simeone) couldn’t find an offensive groove and came in 5th.

Fist of Fury (Hakopian, Stubbert, Del Toro, Yoo) had an erratic day which cost them defensively and landed them in 4th. Wolverines (Kuan, Johnson, Stokkingreef, Simpson) improved throughout the day and played their strongest game in the 3rd Place final winning the bronze 9-6 over Fist of Fury.

Roger Acuna of team Nillasauras winds up to fire a shot

THE DRAMATIC FINAL
Nillasauras (Hamilton, Garcia, Acuna) and Racer 5s (Young, Fisher, Lauridsen) finished 1-2 in pool play and matched up for the final. Racer 5s was hoping to reverse an earlier pool play defeat to Nillasauras and took a 3-0 halftime lead behind 2 goals from Young and 1 from Fisher (including a goal by Fisher with 1 second left in the half).
The Nillas showed signs of life with a goal on their first throw of the 2nd half but the Racers quickly answered to keep their 3 goal advantage. Both teams tightened their defenses for the next minute and a half but then the Nillas went on a 3 goal spree and tied the game at 4 with 2.27 to go. The Racers went up 5-4 only 2 throws later but were immediately answered on the next throw to go to 5-5. With 1:14 left the Racers Young blasted a ball into the Nillas goal and a 6-5 lead. However 30 seconds later Nillan Acuna got the tying goal and on the very next Nilla throw with 28 seconds left, Hamilton put the Nillas ahead 7-6 with the winning goal!
Nillasauras 7 – Racer 5s 6

Khemnesuel Fisher sliding to block a throw

Post game commentary focused on the all-around excellent play by the women in tournament. Fearless defense and timely offense from the women made a difference in almost every game. Green Monsters’ Ryding led all women in scoring with 6 goals. Nillasauran Christella Garcia had 5 goals and led all players in busted lips and eye-shade checks for her many face-first blocks.

Kammi Ryding prepares to throw

Nillasauras’s Joe Hamilton and Coach Matt Boyle are the first to ever win the BORP Goalball Tournament and a National Championship in the same year.

Wolverine Shen Kuan played in his 16th BORP tournament and Nillan Roger Acuna his 15th. Roger has played in 9 championship games and won 7 titles and is first in both categories. Roger is also te all-time scoring leader at 122

Individual Scoring Totals for Tournament 18 (second number is career BORP Tournament goals)
* = first year at the BORP Tournament
Young – 23 – 109
* Simpson – 15 – 15
Hamilton – 12 – 65
Hakopian – 12 – 84
Acuna – 9 – 122
* Del Toro – 8 – 8
Ryding – 6 – 31
Fisher – 6 – 57
Garcia – 5 – 17
Lopez – 5 – 25
Kuan – 3 – 66
Gilbride – 1 – 4
Simeone – 1 – 12
Lauridsen – 1 – 3
Johnson – 1 – 86
Stokkingreef – 0 – 4
Yoo – 0 – 1
* Stubbert – 0 – 0

Abel Del Toro defending a penalty shot

Thank you to all our wonderful sponsors:
18 years: BORP, Innovative Interfaces, Nakashima Fine Arts
17 years: Sue Johnson, Custom Lamps and Shades, Scot Goodman Photography
14 years: Vision Faire Optometry
12 years: Zander Associates, Environmental Consultants
7 years: CamelBak
3 years: Ikeda/Greenwood Family (BEST LUNCH EVER!)

Thanks to the Delta Gammas for their invaluable ongoing program support!

Thanks to all the volunteers! As I said at the end of the day, I believe we have the best volunteer support of any goalball tournament I know of. Everyone seems to come with the same positive attitude and interest in making the event the best possible experience for the teams (and the Tournament Director).

Thanks to my fellow referees, Lauran and Scott for a great job in their first (but hopefully not last) official BORP goalball competition. Smile!

Thanks to Lucy and Mike for the traditional post-tournament chili dinner and sharing the tasty brews from their “beer cellar.”

Thanks to Scot Goodman for his full tilt all-day photographic coverage and good-natured management of the group photo challenge.

Thanks to Todd Kerr of the Berkeley Times for covering the goalball tournament and his deep appreciation of the athletes and BORP.

Thanks to Dawn Nakashima (Nakashima Fine Arts) for another tremendous t-shirt design.

Have a great Thanksgiving and hope to see you at BORP Goalball Invitational 19!

Jonathan