U.S. Girls’ Junior National Team named for World Youth Championships.

(Colorado Springs, CO.) – The U.S. Association of Blind Athletes is pleased to name six athletes and two alternates to the U.S. Girls’ Junior National Team that will compete at the World Youth Goalball Championships, August 4-10, in Colorado Springs. The team includes a strong contingent from Florida with Charity Ryder, Jocelyn Brannon and Stacie Jenkins (all St. Augustine) as well as 2004 U.S.. Paralympic Team Alternate Jackie Barnes (Vernon Hills, Ill.), Trisha Chase (Murray, Utah), Kristin Millerov (Caro, Mich.) Katie Healy (Mundelein, Ill.) and Jordan Walters (U.S.. Air Force Academy, Colo.)

Five members of the U.S.. Girls’ Junior National Team  (Ryder, Brannon, Jenkins, Barnes and Millerov) will kick off their preparation for the World Youth Championships April 29-30 as they compete against teams from the United States and Canada at the Defi Sportif International Goalball Tournament in Montreal, Canada.

“There is a tremendous amount of talent in the young players on this team,” said Head Coach Christy Householter (Garland, Texas). “I am really looking forward to seeing this talent perform in Montreal.  This will be our first opportunity to compete as a team and another step in developing these young athletes into elite players.

”Goalball is a team sport played by blind and visually impaired athletes around the world. A team of three athletes on each side of the court aims to launch a ball at speeds of more than 30 mph into the opposing side's goal on an indoor volleyball-sized court. All athletes are blindfolded to create a state of total blackness and four bells encased in a ball the size of a basketball help the athletes track the ball's location.

At 19-years-old, team center Barnes brings a wealth of experience to the team.  Leading up to the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games, Barnes trained full-time at the U.S.. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and has competed internationally against Paralympic athletes from Canada and Brazil.  Barnes and Healy, her Illinois Tsunami teammate, won the bronze medal at the 2004 USABA National Goalball Championships as well as back-to-back titles at the 2003 and 2004 USABA National High School Goalball Championships.

Chase also has trained extensively with the U.S.. Women’s Goalball Team, having participated in three Team U.S.A camps in 2003. Although she is the youngest member of the team, Chase has had success in both youth and adult competitions, leading her Utah team to a gold medal at the 2004 USABA Western Regional Goalball Championships and the 2004 High School Nationals.

Ryder, Brannon and Jenkins make up the core of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind Goalball Team, a program known for producing several Paralympic and World Championships goalball players. The threesome have each played on the FSDB team for three years, winning a silver medal at the 2004 High School Nationals and qualifying for both the 2004 and 2005 open National Championships.

A former four-sport athlete at Caro High School, Millerov was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa in 2002. As her vision has progressively deteriorated, Millerov has shifted her focus to goalball, taking to the sport quickly and recently winning the 2005 Midwest Regional Goalball Championship with the Kalamazoo Chaos.

Walters was introduced to goalball through a USABA Colorado Sports Education Camp and joined the Colorado Bandits in 2004, winning her first National Championship last June and claiming silver medals at the 2005 Mideast and Midwest Regional.

Barnes, Chase, Ryder, Jenkins, Brannon and Healy were all named to the 2004 USABA All-American Team.

Athletes were selected for the U.S.. Girls’ Junior National Goalball Team based upon their performances at the 2004 USABA National High School Championships (October 1-2), 2005 USABA Midwest Regional Championships (February 26-27) and 2005 USABA Mideast Regional Championships (April 2-3).

For more information, contact Nicole Jomantas, USABA Communications Director, at (719) 630-0422, ext. 10 or njomantas@usaba.org

USABA, a member organization of the U.S.. Olympic Committee, is a nonprofit organization that provides training for blind and visually impaired athletes for competition in nine sports. USABA members range from blind children developing sports skills to elite athletes who train for competitions such as the Paralympic Games, the world's second largest athletic competition that draws more than 4,000 disabled athletes.