Rachel Henderson

Henderson was born in Nuriootpa, South Australia, on 8 September 1992.[1][2] She has the visual disability of retinitis pigmentosa, a heredity disease she was diagnosed with when she was four years old. As a child, Henderson was involved in javelin, and only stopped competing in 2010 following taking up goalball.[1] She was also involved in swimming, representing South Australia in a few national competitions, before leaving the sport at the same time she quit athletics.[1][3] She graduated from Nuriootpa High School in 2010.[2] As of 2012, she is studying with the goal of becoming a preschool teacher.[1]

Henderson is a goalball player, and is classified as a B2 competitor.[1] She has a goalball scholarship with the South Australian Institute of Sport.[4] In 2011/2012, the Australian Sports Commission gave her a A$7,000 as part of their DAS grant program.[5] She does not play for a state team. Rather, she is coached by Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) Development Coordinator and athletics coach Cathy Lambert.[1][6] Having not even heard of goalball a few months before,[7] Henderson took up the sport in 2010 following an invitation to attend a team training camp.[1][3][7] She made the national team in January 2011 at the national trials,[3][7] and her national team debut in 2011 at the IBSA Goalball World Cup, where her team finished sixth,[1][3] and she scored four total goals.[1] Her team made it the quarter-finals before losing to Russia 3–6. It then met the Spain women's national goalball team to try to earn a spot in the fifth/sixth place match, where Australia walked away 8–7 victors. In the fifth/sixth place match, it lost to the Israel women's national goalball team 6–8.[3] She played in the 2011 African-Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition and in its gold medal game against the New Zealand women's national goalball team,[8] which Australia won.[9]

Henderson was a named a member of the Aussie Belles that was going to the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[2][10][11] She was the youngest member of the team, and the only South Australian.[1][2] That the team qualified for the Games came as a surprise, as the Australian Paralympic Committee had been working on player development with the idea of qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[11] 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.[11][12] The country has not medalled in the event since 1976.[13] Going into the Paralympics, the team was ranked eighth in the world.[10] 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.[14]