Nicole Esdaile

Nicole Esdaile
	2012 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Esdaile
Personal information
Nationality	Australian
Born	1 June 1987 (age 37); The Gap, Queensland
Sport
Country	Australia
Sport	Goalball

Nicole Esdaile (born 1 June 1987) is an Australian goalball player and is classified as a B2 competitor. She took up the sport in 1999, and made her national team debut in 2010. Subsequently, she has competed at the 2010 Goalball World Championships, 2011 IBSA Africa Oceania Goalball Regional Champions and 2011 IBSA Goalball World Cup. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in goalball .^[1]

Personal life

Esdaile was born on 1 June 1987,^[2]^[3] and has a visual disability called oculocutaneous albinism.^[2]^[4]

Goalball

Esdaile is a goalball player,^[2] and is classified as a B2 competitor.^[2] Her introduction to the sport was in primary school in 1999. She has continuously played it since then.^[2]

Esdaile made her national team debut in 2010 at the Goalball World Championships.^[2] In a game against Greece, she scored a goal immediately following a penalty.^[2] As a member of the 2011 team, she finished sixth at the IBSA Goalball World Cup.^[2]^[5]^[6] Her team made it the quarter finals before losing to Russia 3–6. Her team then met the Spain women's national goalball team to try to earn a spot in the fifth/sixth place match. Australia walked away 8-7 victors, but lost the fifth/sixth place match to the Israel women's national goalball team 6–8.^[7]

She was with the team during the 2011 IBSA Africa Oceania Goalball Regional Champions, which served as the Paralympic qualifying tournament.^[8]^[9] In her first game against New Zealand, her team won 11-4 after leading 7–1 at the half. She scored three goals in the team's victory.^[10]^[11] She also played in a match against Germany,^[2] and in the final match against New Zealand women's national goalball team,^[8]^[9] which Australia won,^[6] with Esdaile scoring a pair of goals.^[12]

Esdaile was a named a member of the Aussie Belles that was going to the 2012 Summer Paralympics.^[3]^[4]^[13]^[5] That the team qualified for the Games came as a surprise, as the Australian Paralympic Committee head been working on player development with the idea of qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.^[5]

An Australian team had not participated since the 2000 Summer Paralympics, when they earned an automatic selection as hosts, and the team finished last in the competition.^[5]^[14] The country has not medalled in the event since 1976.^[15] Going into the Paralympics, the team was ranked eighth in the world.^[3] In the 2012 Summer Paralympics tournament, the Belles played games against Japan, Canada, the United States and Sweden. They lost every game, and did not advance to the finals.^[16] Esdaile was the team's lead scorer, with four goals.^[17]^[18]

The Belles originally failed to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics after finishing third at the IBSA Goalball Asia Pacific Championships in Hangzhou, China.^[19] They were displaced to allow for an African team, Algeria as it turned out, to compete in goalball for the first time.^[20] But following the re-allocation of Russia's spot, the Belles found themselves getting a last minute invite to Rio.They entered the tournament ranked ninth in the world.^[21] They performed better this time, fighting Uzbekistan to a draw, but they needed a win or draw in their final game against Canada to progress to the quarter finals, but lost 6–0, ending their second Paralympic campaign.^[20]

References

^ "2016 Australian Paralympic Team receives nine extra spots". Australian Paralympic Committee News, 29 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Nicole Esdaile". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tilley, Andrew (22 May 2012). "News". The University of Sydney. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b "AAP News: OLY:Australian goalballers London bound". Australia: AAP News. 8 May 2012. WAAP97280181. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Fife, Janet (14 June 2012). "Pride of Australia nominee Georgina Kenaghan is giving her team that ring of confidence". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney, Australia. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b FitzGerald, Deborah (24 November 2011). "London here we come". Inner West Courier. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
^ "GOALBALL is set to get rolling in South Australia". Talent Times SA (PDF). South Australia. p. 1. Retrieved 15 July 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ ^a ^b "Aus goalballers play for London 2012 spots". Australia: Nine MSN. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b "AAP News: SPO:Aus goalballers play for London 2012 spots". Australia: AAP News. 16 November 2011. WAAP92597477. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ "Australian women win opening goalball game". Australian Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ "News". International Blind Sports Federation. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ FitzGerald, Deborah (24 November 2011). "London here we come — AUSSIE WOMEN BOOK SPOT AT PARALYMPICS". Inner West Courier — Inner West Edition. Sydney, Australia. p. 31. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ "Ark offers valuable resource for families". The Courier Mail. Brisbane, Australia. 5 December 2011. p. 29. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ "Australian London 2012 athletes receive extra funding | London 2012 Paralympic news". insideworldparasport.biz. 29 June 2012. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
^ "Meica, Nicole pack their bags for London". Sporting Wheelies. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
^ "Women's Goalball". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
^ "Match Results - Match No. 10 - AUS vs JPN" (PDF). Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
^ "Match Results - Match No. 46 - SWE vs AUS" (PDF). Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
^ "Curtain draw on Rio 2016 as Australian Belles claim bronze". Australian Paralympic Committee News. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
^ ^a ^b Spits, Scott (14 September 2016). "Rio Paralympics 2016: Silence please! Brazilian fans get their taste of goalball at the Paralympics". The Sydney Morning Herald.
^ McDonald, Margie (25 August 2016). "Rio Paralympics Paralympic team grows by nine after Russian ban upheld". The Australian. Retrieved 25 August 2016.