On Saturday, January 11th, at the Albert Malatesta gymnasium (64, Cyril Besset Avenue), an event organized by the A.N.I.C.E.S association will take place: the French Men’s 4th Division Torball Championship.
Eight teams will be present: Aubervilliers, Bar le Duc, Clermont Ferrand reserve, Laval, Lyon reserve, Nantes, Strasbourg reserve, and Nice reserve.
The matches will be played from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm without interruption. Entry to the gymnasium will be free of charge.
Torball, a team sport designed by Germans after the Second World War, is today one of the few team sports for visually impaired individuals. Approximately four hundred visually impaired people engage in this practice in France.
On a field measuring sixteen by seven meters, this sport involves scoring goals using a ball that emits a sound as it rolls on the ground, allowing players to locate it. A game consists of two halves of five minutes each and is played by two teams of three players (two wingers and one central player).
Based on hearing, this sport requires silence and proves to be an excellent exercise for the visually impaired. It combines the development of reflexes with enhanced orientation skills and demands significant concentration and a considerable amount of nervous tension.
In Nice, Torball is a sport in full evolution. The A.N.I.C.E.S. association currently has three Torball teams: team 1 (in the 2nd division), team 2 (in the 4th division), and a women’s team.
Torball is also developing among younger players: since 2009, a youth section has been established in the city of Nice.
The Nice reserve team is composed of: Philippe FELLENZ, Jean-Claude BELLONE, François DUMONT, Olivier ROLLIN, and Pascal QUENOI. The coach: Karolina LAZAREWICZ.
Sébastien Filippini, president of Anices, is confident about this particularly busy day: “Given the impeccable organization that had been put in place for the championships and international tournaments in recent years, we should not encounter any difficulties in holding such an event.”
