SALT LAKE CITY — For the second year in a row, the Utah High School Girls’ Goalball team has won the national championship. The competition took place this year at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida. In the final round, the Utah team beat the West Virginia team by 9 to 1.

Utah player Reese Branch was named the tournament’s MVP. Because she was one of the top six girl goalball players, she made it to the All-American Goalball Team, as did her teammate Kelsey Kartchner.

Truly a Utah team

Utah’s girls’ goalball team members come from all over the state. They include Branch from Tremonton, Kartchner from Smithfield, Julie Jenson from Pleasant Grove, and Kalinka Brown from Clearfield.

And while that makes them a great representative of the state, the distance can interfere with their training as a team.

“We can’t get together like every day, like a lot of high school teams. So we practice usually once a week in Midvale.”

Then, like a lot of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the athletes train on their own, at home.

“It’s a lot of like finding your own time to work out, and then obviously, our amazing coaches help us so much,” Branch said.

The Utah Foundation for the Blind and Visually Impaired manages the team.  Rachel Jepson and Jalayne Engberg coach the team. Jepson is a former Utah goalball player. Engberg is a teacher and mobility instructor in the Alpine School District.

What is goalball?

According to the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, Goalball was a rehabilitation tool that originated after World War II in Germany. It’s played on an indoor court with a ball that has bells in it.

“There are three people on each side of the court,” Branch told KSL NewsRadio.

“You’re blindfolded, and the goal is to throw the ball into the opposing team’s goal. You block it with your body and then stand up and throw.”

Utah boys’ goalball

The Utah High School Boy’s Team got to the tournament’s quarterfinals before they were eliminated. Their team includes Kelton Health, Greer Merrill, Caleb Rice, and Luke Sorenson. 

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