New AI Study Could Help Blind Athletes Train Smarter

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.