The 2024 Paralympics begin this week in Paris. Over 4,000 athletes will compete in 22 events.

While many of the games will be familiar to those who watched the Olympics in the French capital earlier this summer, such as wheelchair basketball, cycling and table tennis, there are two sports that are unique to the Paralympics: goalball and bocce.

Here’s what you need to know about both.

What is Goalball?

Goalball is a game played by visually impaired athletes. It was originally invented in 1946 to help veterans who had lost their sight in World War II. The sport was officially included in the Paralympics in 1976 for men and in 1984 for women.

To be allowed to play, athletes must be considered blind, which means they have less than 10% of their vision.

Each team starts with three players on the court and a maximum of three substitutes on the sidelines. The offense tries to roll the ball past the defenders and into the 18 by 9 meter net. Since the players can’t see, bells are attached to the rubber ball in the middle of the game so that the players can follow the sound of the ball and try to stop it from reaching the net.

During the game, the arena must be quiet so that players can hear the ball and position themselves to defend the goal.

Each match lasts 24 minutes, with two halves of 12 minutes each and a three-minute break in between. However, the match can be ended early if a team is leading by 10 goals at any point.

At the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, Brazil won gold in the men’s competition and Turkey won gold in the women’s competition.

What is bocce?

Boccia was originally developed for athletes with cerebral palsy, but has since been expanded to include people with other disabilities. It was first included in the program at the 1984 Paralympics in New York. Although bocce has no Olympic counterpart, it is comparable to bocce – with only a few differences.

One of the main differences between the two is that bocce is played indoors and bocce is an outdoor sport. Also, the floor in bocce is shorter and wider than in a bocce court.

The aim of the game is to get your ball as close as possible to a white target ball, the so-called jack. All other balls in the game are usually colored.

The length of the game is structured by ends, which consist of a sequence of six ball throws. In singles (one person per side) and pairs (two people per team) games, each side gets four ends. However, in team games with three people per side, there are six ends per side. After each end, the team whose balls land closest to the jack scores the point for the end. An additional point is also awarded for each ball that lands closer to the jack than the opponent’s.

Competitions will take place between the individual, pair and group bocce events on each Paralympic day except the last three days.