| Headercolor: | green |
| Textcolor: | yellow |
| Rachel Henderson | |
| Nationality: | Australian |
| Birth Date: | 8 September 1992 |
| Birth Place: | Nuriootpa, South Australia |
| Country: | Australia |
| Sport: | Goalball |
| Event: | Women's Team |
Rachel Henderson (born 8 September 1992) is an Australian goalball player and is classified as a B2 competitor. While only starting playing the game in 2010, she made the national team in 2011 and competed in the 2011 IBSA Goalball World Cup and 2011 African-Oceania regional Paralympic qualifying competition. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in goalball.
Henderson was born in Nuriootpa, South Australia, on 8 September 1992.[1] 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. 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. She graduated from Nuriootpa High School in 2010.[1], she is studying with the goal of becoming a preschool teacher.
Henderson is a goalball player, and is classified as a B2 competitor.[2] She has a goalball scholarship with the South Australian Institute of Sport.[3] In 2011/2012, the Australian Sports Commission gave her a A$7,000 as part of their DAS grant program.[4] She does not play for a state team. Rather, she is coached by Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) Development Coordinator and athletics coach Cathy Lambert.[2] [5] Having not even heard of goalball a few months before, Henderson took up the sport in 2010 following an invitation to attend a team training camp.[2] [6] She made the national team in January 2011 at the national trials,[6] and her national team debut in 2011 at the IBSA Goalball World Cup, where her team finished sixth,[2] [7] and she scored four total goals.[2] 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.[7] 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.[1] [10] [11] She was the youngest member of the team, and the only South Australian.[2] [1] 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]