{"id":1868,"date":"2026-06-03T00:16:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/?p=1868"},"modified":"2026-06-03T00:16:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T00:16:42","slug":"nova-scotia-athletes-make-up-two-thirds-canadian-mens-national-goalball-team-going-to-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/?p=1868","title":{"rendered":"Nova Scotia Athletes Make Up Two-Thirds Canadian Men&#8217;s National Goalball Team Going to World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Four Nova Scotia men&#8217;s goalball athletes have been named to the Canadian Men&#8217;s National Goalball team to compete at the World Goalball Championships in Hangzhou, China from June 6 to 16.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1869\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1869\" style=\"width: 664px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-9.14.27\u202fPM.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1869\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-9.14.27\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"Canadian Mens Goalball team 2026 IBSA World Championships. Graphic showing 6 athletes in sports jerseys. Text beneath them reads Raki Karim, Blair Nesbitt, Nick Gentleman, Harry Nickerson, Mason Smith, Peter Parsons. Canadian Blind Sports Association logo. Red &amp; white, maple leaf, scheme.\" width=\"664\" height=\"832\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-9.14.27\u202fPM.png 664w, https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-9.14.27\u202fPM-239x300.png 239w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 664px) 100vw, 664px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graphic courtesy of Canadian Blind Sports Association<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harry Nickerson, 17, Nick Gentleman, 23, Mason Smith, 26, and Peter Parsons, 50, have all been named to the team making up two-thirds of the six player roster.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parsons is the oldest player to ever make the men&#8217;s goalball national team and Nickerson is the youngest player ever to make the men&#8217;s national goalball team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their connection in sport is unique. &#8220;I have been coaching Harry since he was ten years old,&#8221;\u00a0 Parsons proudly says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nickerson is coached by Parsons on the junior men&#8217;s national team who won bronze at the Youth Parapan Ams in Santiago, Chile in November.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nickerson is also Parsons&#8217;s teammate on the Nova Scotia men&#8217;s team, who in May won gold at the 2026 Senior National Goalball Championships goalball in Richmond, BC. Harry was awarded tournament MVP.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mason Smith, the 2024 Senior Goalball Nationals MVP last competed internationally at the 2023 Para Panam games where he helped secure bronze for Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nick Gentleman is making his international debut for Canada.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;It is really special for me to be named to the team with Harry, Nick and Mason, having recruited and coached them from young ages&#8221;, says Parsons, President of Blind Sports Nova Scotia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top two teams at the world championships will automatically qualify for the LA28 Paralympics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Goalball is a Paralympic sport, played by athletes who are blind and visually impaired.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>For interviews with the athletes, contact Peter Parsons at 902 229 8246 or <a href=\"mailto:parsons.pete@gmail.com\">parsons.pete@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four Nova Scotia men&#8217;s goalball athletes have been named to the Canadian Men&#8217;s National Goalball team to compete at the World Goalball Championships in Hangzhou, China from June 6 to 16. Harry Nickerson, 17, Nick Gentleman, 23, Mason Smith, 26, and Peter Parsons, 50, have all been named to the team making up two-thirds of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/?p=1868\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Nova Scotia Athletes Make Up Two-Thirds Canadian Men&#8217;s National Goalball Team Going to World Championships<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1870,"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868\/revisions\/1870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blindsportsnovascotia.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}