Paris 2024 Goalball and Sitting Volleyball Lookahead: Great leadership propels both women’s teams

Canada’s women’s goalball and sitting volleyball teams, currently preparing for the 2024 Paralympic Games which run August 28 to September 8 in Paris, are similar in many ways.

Among those similarities is that both teams are vying for a podium at the Games and both have great leaders that are capable of lifting teammates to new levels.

That was clearly evident last fall at the Parapan American Games as Canada won the gold medal in women’s goalball in its last opportunity to qualify for Paris 2024. The main spokesperson for the team is captain Amy Burk.

“We are tired of being the quiet Canadians,” Burk gushed in the media mixed zone after the gold medal match victory over arch rival USA, which knocked the world number-three team out of qualification for the Paralympic Games tournament.

Burk, originally from Charlottetown and now living in Ottawa, will be competing at her fifth Paralympic Games (2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024). After a subpar result at the Tokyo Games three years ago, Burk took charge. There were no changes to the line-up, the same six women competed at the 2022 world championships where Canada placed fourth, at the 2023 Parapan Ams, and now it’s the same exact group for Paris 2024.

“We didn’t change the players, but we changed our team identity, culture, and revisited our team values,” said Burk. “That change has been evident over the last two years with some of the best results we’ve seen in a while.”

Burk, also on the Canadian Paralympic Athletes’ Council, was amazed how attitude can have such a profound effect.

“The mindset you can have really helps,” said the mother of two boys. ‘’We are determined to bring the energy we need, not be worried about any other team, and just focus on what we can control. There’s no point wasting energy.’’

Goalball and sitting volleyball are two totally different sports. Goalball is unique to Para sport and is played by athletes who are visually impaired. Sitting volleyball is for athletes primarily with leg impairments.

In the women’s goalball tournament, Canada, ranked sixth in the world, is in a pool with world number two Japan, France and South Korea. The other pool is comprised of defending champion and world number one Turkey, Israel, China and Brazil. The Canadians open against France on August 29.

In sitting volleyball, Heidi Peters, like Burk, is making an impact on and off the court. She is an elected member of the World ParaVolley Athlete Commission and has been a national team member since 2015. She has seen the fledging program grow to one of the very best in the world and had a direct impact on that growth.

‘’We are ready now to push the envelope even further,” said Peters, a political science student at MacEwan University. ‘’We’ve been training a lot more in working on being uncomfortable in certain situations.

‘’We have a great line-up, but you never know the matchups you’re going to get.’’

When Peters competed at her first Paralympics in 2016, Canada placed seventh but that was a huge step as the squad qualified for the Games for the first time. In 2020, the team improved to fourth. In 2022, it made history with a silver medal at the world championships.

There are nine returning members from Tokyo and 11 of 12 from the 2022 worlds.

‘’We’re new on the winning scene and now it’s about competing at the top consistently,” Peters said.

The Canadians, who currently sit atop the world rankings, are in a pool with world number two Brazil, Slovenia and Rwanda. The other pool is comprised of number three USA, France, Kazakhstan and China.

It was Brazil that beat Canada for bronze in Tokyo and gold at the last worlds.

Canada opens against Slovenia on August 29.

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