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Adaptive Sports & Recreation
May 4, 2005
Vol. 1, Issue 15
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Stephen Michael Kerr, Publisher
stevekerr@ev1.net
www.AdaptiveSports.AFreePress.com
To subscribe, send a blank email to:
41809-subscribe@zinester.com
Copyright 2005, Stephen Michael Kerr.
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In This Issue
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- From The Publisher
- Spotlight: Four Strikes, You're Out! Baseball for the Blind
by Stephen Michael Kerr
- Profile: Pulling Through the Darkness
by Tom Dunkel, The Baltimore Sun
- In The News
- Keeping Fit: Bring Back Your Independence Through the Help of a Wheelchair
by Maricon Williams
- Helpful Links
- On Deck
- Contact Information
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From The Publisher
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Welcome to Adaptive Sports & Recreation, delivered to your inbox every other Wednesday. You'll find useful links and fascinating articles about unique sports played by people with many types of disabilities.
Whether you're a friend or relative of a disabled individual, an adaptive physical education teacher, or a disabled person looking for ways to lead a more active life, this ezine can provide the information you're looking for. There's even a health and fitness section that anyone, disabled or not, will enjoy.
Your feedback is always welcome. Please email me at:
stevekerr@ev1.net
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This week's "Spotlight" shines on Beep Baseball, a modified form of baseball played by the blind. It's a sport that's close to my heart, since I played it for seven years.
I'd love to tell you tales of how I won game after game with superstar performances, knocking in the winning run or making game-saving plays in the field on a regular basis. But, they would be just that: tales. Tall ones.
I was what you would call an average player, not great, but steady. I was fortunate enough to play for some championship-caliber teams. In fact, I played in four Beep Baseball World Series (yes, there is a World Series), and missed winning a title by one run.
Oh, the heartbreak! Any athlete who has come so close to winning it all, but fell just short, knows what I mean. But more importantly, I got the chance to realize my childhood dream of competing in a real sport. I got to meet some wonderful people, some of whom are still my friends today. I have so many memories of good times and tough times, I could probably write a book. (Hey, there's an idea).
I took part in several other sports over the years: swimming, track, wrestling, goal ball. But Beep Baseball was the one activity that made me feel I belonged, that I had a purpose. I could let my competitive juices flow, feel a kinship with my teammates, and get to go to places I had never been. I felt the same way as many disabled athletes: this was one instance where my disability didn't matter at all.
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If you're a mom, I'm sure you know your special day is coming up May 8. I have three moms: my biological mom, my wife, and my mother-in-law, and I'd like to wish each of them and all of you a Happy Mother's Day. Thanks for being so unselfish with your time, energy, and love.
On behalf of us sons and daughters, I salute you, not just on May 8, but every day of the year. After all, being a mom is a 24/7 job no matter how old your children are, right?
Talk to you soon.
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Stephen Michael Kerr is the publisher of Adaptive Sports & Recreation, as well as a radio broadcaster and freelance writer in Austin, Texas. Visit his official website:
www.AdaptiveSports.AFreePress.com
You'll find selected articles from ASR, links, adaptive sports news, and message boards. You can even post your own adaptive sports story or news item. Please support the site by clicking on the Google ads and using the Google search function on each page.
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Spotlight
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Four Strikes, You're Out!
by Stephen Michael Kerr
The batter takes his stance, bat cocked and ready. When the pitch comes, he takes a healthy swing and sends the ball soaring deep into the outfield. He drops his bat and sprints toward the base.
Meanwhile, a fielder desperately tries to catch the ball before the runner touches base, but can't make the play in time, and the runner is safe.
If you're a baseball enthusiast, you are probably familiar with this picture. But there's something different about this particular scenario. The ball beeps, the bases buzz, and the players are blind.
Welcome to Beep Baseball, a modified version of America's pastime played by the blind and visually impaired. The ball is a 16-inch circumference softball weighing approximately 16 ounces. It contains a hollow core which houses a battery-powered sound device that emits a beeping noise for the players to hear. A pin is inserted into the ball to stop the beeping when not in use. Once the pin is pulled out, the ball beeps.
The bases are cylinders approximately four feet high and fitted with a vinyl or canvas covering. A remote-controll device is rigged to each base that produces a buzzing noise so the players can locate it. Unlike the ball, which has a rhythmic beeping, the bases emit a constant buzz at a different pitch to eliminate confusion. A batter does not know which base will be activated until he hits the ball.
Only two bases are used, placed 100 feet along the first- and third-base lines, and 10 feet off each foul line. Base umpires operate each base with a hand-held remote control device, which is activated once a batter makes contact with the ball.
There are six players to each side, plus a pitcher and catcher. All players, except the pitcher and catcher, must wear blindfolds when playing. In Beep Baseball, the pitcher and catcher are on the offensive team, and their objective is to help the batter hit the ball, not strike him out. The catcher sets up a target according to each batter's swing. The pitcher, who stands 20 feet from home plate, attempts to pitch the ball to that spot every time. It's the batter's job to keep his swing as consistent as possible in order to hit the ball.
Just before the ball is delivered, the pitcher says, "ready" so the players know the pitch is coming. As the pitcher throws the ball, he says, "pitch" or "ball," so the batter knows to swing at that instant. When a ball is struck, the batter must first listen to determine which base to run to, then run to that base. If he reaches before a fielder picks up the ball, a run is scored. An out is recorded if the ball is caught before the runner makes contact with the base.
A ball must travel at least 40 feet from home plate in fair territory to be considered a fair ball. If a ball travels at least 180 feet on the fly, it's considered an automatic home run.
A batter is allowed four strikes instead of three, and may allow one ball to pass without swinging. If a batter allows more than one pitch to go by without swinging, a strike will be called by the umpire. A foul ball is considered a strike except on the fourth strike, which must be a clean miss.
Fielding in Beep Baseball is different from the regular game. Six players are on defense, and it's up to each individual team as to how they're positioned. Most teams employ a numbering system to identify a player's defensive position. One or two sighted "spotters" are placed in the outfield. Their job is to call out a number indicating the general direction the ball is traveling. They may not call out any additional information; it's up to the players to verbally communicate with each other and determine where the ball is.
Players do not throw the ball to one another to record an out. A fielder must dive along the ground, block or trap the ball with his body, and simply pick it up and hold it away from his body before a runner touches base to record an out. Because the ball is heavier than a traditional softball or baseball, fly balls are rare; in fact, if a player catches a ball in the air, the side is automatically retired, regardless of how many outs there are in the inning.
The game is six innings in duration, unless extra innings are needed to break a tie. Since each safe hit constitutes a run, scoring in double digits is not uncommon. In tournament play, a game may end on a two-hour time limit or six innings, whichever comes first.
The first beep Baseball was introduced in 1964 by Charley Fairbanks, an engineer with Mountain Bell Telephone. He took a normal sized softball and implanted a sound module that made a beeping noise. Shortly thereafter, an organization called the Telephone Pioneers of America began to develop basic rules of a beep baseball game, along with a set of knee-high, cone-shaped rubber bases that contained an electrically-powered sound unit that emitted a high-pitched whistle.
However, it wasn't until 1975 that improvements to the ball and the rules were introduced to create a more exciting game. The National Beep Baseball Association (NBBA)was founded to govern and promote the sport, which has spread across the United States and several other countries over the last 30 years. An annual World Series of Beep Baseball is held, usually in late July at a different site, in a double-elimination format.
Beep Baseball has allowed thousands of blind and visually impaired people to realize the dream of stepping into a batter's box and hitting a ball, or making a great catch, just like a major leaguer. They can enjoy the camaraderie that comes with playing on a team, travel to cities they've never been before, and make some new friends along the way.
For more information about Beep Baseball, or to find out how to start a team, log onto the official NBBA website:
http://www.nbba.org
** If you have an idea for a spotlight on a particular adaptive sport or organization, send it to:
stevekerr@ev1.net
with "Spotlight" in the subject line.
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Profile
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Pulling through the darkness
From: The Baltimore Sun
By: Tom Dunkel
Those twinkles aren't little stars. That's the city skyline - glittering office towers, the pure-white Domino Sugars sign - coming to illuminated life as
a misty day melts into night.
Reflected colors are painting the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, a masterpiece Gary Norman can't see as he stands on the dock outside the Baltimore
Rowing Club and makes ready to take a practice spin.
"The water and everything is kind of this bluish-gray darkness to me," he says.
Norman, 30, an attorney from Pikesville, is the club's first blind rower. His golden Labrador guide dog, Langer, is tied to a pole inside the boathouse,
snoozing. Club member Alice Lium, who is about to step into the stern of a two-person shell, is temporarily serving as Norman's eyes.
"Walk straight toward my voice," she says.
He edges toward the side of the dock, gingerly sticks one foot into the bottom of the boat, then another, and eases into a seat in the bow. Lium passes
him two oars.
They shove off. Backs bend. Arms pull. The cigar-shaped boat arcs to the right, heading for the archway under the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge.
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." That's how The Great Gatsby ends. In Norman's case, his boat is bearing
him toward the future, toward a return to the athletic life.
He grew up in Ohio and earned a black belt in tae kwon do, but had to give up the sport in ninth grade. Though his parents have normal vision, Gary and
older brother Charles slowly went blind from the degenerative eye condition retinitis pigmentosa.
Norman went on to graduate from Cleveland State University law school, where a classmate kept praising the virtues of rowing. It wasn't until Norman got
a job in Maryland with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that he had time to give it a try.
"I'm kind of a self-starter," he says.
Thus, despite his disability, he enrolled last fall in one of the novice classes at Baltimore Rowing Club. But group instruction proved difficult. Too many
of the learning-curve cues - proper placement of the hands in rowing motion, when to turn the oar blades perpendicular to the water - are vision-based.
He opted to work out during the winter on a rowing machine and last spring hired club member Dione Bakule to be his tutor. They rowed several times a week
for five months. She was impressed by her pupil's determination.
"I gained respect for the whole blind rowing community," says Bakule, 28, a social worker. "He's the most impatient person I know. He didn't want to just
row. He wanted to compete."
And compete they did. In September, Norman and Bakule entered an 800-meter mixed doubles race at Philadelphia's Bayada Regatta, a national event for disabled
rowers. They didn't win, but Norman got hooked on the sport.
Someday he hopes to qualify for the Paralympic Games. But there's additional motivation: to be a ground-breaker role model, to recruit enough blind rowers
to have their own novice class at the rowing club.
"Disabled people are heavily segregated in society," says Norman. "They're discriminated against for employment, but even more so for athletic opportunities."
His more immediate plans are simply to work the kinks out of his stroke. That will require thousands of practice hours. "I like the ... discipline," Norman
says, "the sense of focusing your body through mental control."
Norman is more than 200 pounds, stocky with thick legs. He's got a naturally powerful stroke, notes Lium. The tricky part for him and every other newcomer,
she adds, is to swear off those big, circular pulls and learn the beauty of nuance - "so that your hands are moving in a little rectangle."
"The goal," Norman reminds himself, "is to have a constant, fluid motion."
He and Lium stay on the river about 90 minutes, long enough to complete two counterclockwise loops around the boat basin, about five miles of rowing.
When finished, it's after 8 o'clock. Night has fallen in full. They emerge from the bluish-gray darkness and approach the floodlit boathouse.
Suddenly, it's bright enough to read the message on the front of Gary Norman's T-shirt: You Need Not See the Stars to Reach Them.
** Have an idea for a profile? Just send an email to:
stevekerr@ev1.net
with "Profile" in the subject line.
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In The News
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The U.S. Deaf Sports Federation is excited to announce that the 2006 World Deaf Cycling Championships will be held in San Francisco the week of June 19-25, 2006.
Events will range from mountain biking to road racing. Approximately 40 cyclists from around the world are expected to participate.
In a statement published in the USADSF newsletter, Event Chairperson Robin Horwitz said inquiries from other countries are pouring in.
"We've already received a lot of interest from other countries because of our proximity to locations that makes up for the best venues," Horwitz said.
To find out more, go to:
http://www.usdeafsports.org/2006cycling
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The Sonderborg Yacht Club in Sonderborg Bay, Denmark, will host the International Foundation for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) 2005 World Championships from Aug. 29-Set. 5, 2005.
Many of the top international sailors who competed in the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens will renew their rivalry in these championships.
In conjunction with the event, the IFDS will also hold a Classification Seminar on the functional classification of sailing for disabled athletes. For more on the championships, go to the official IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championship website:
www.2005dswc.dk
** If you know of an adaptive sports event for this section, send it to:
stevekerr@ev1.net
and put "News" in the subject line.
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Keeping Fit
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Bring Back Your Independence through the help of a Power Wheel Chair!
by: Maricon Williams
Life is annoying when you are precluded from doing things that you want to do. It hits you hard when you can see other people enjoying the things that can
also be enjoyed by you but the chance of doing it was already withheld. It is also miserable when you depend too much on other people. At the back of your
mind you sense helplessness and vulnerability. These are the mixed emotions that persons confined in a wheel chair feel.
Now, they can be freed from misery and apprehensions and live an equally normal life. With the help of power wheel chairs, a new life can work loose with
them. Now they can participate in any activity they desire. They can go wherever they wanted to. They can have the greatest level of independence that
they long for. The advantages of a power wheel chair above traditional manual chairs are plentiful and somewhat straightforward. The most noticeable, of
course, being their battery-power which enables the occupant to move under their own preference. By itself, this is a marked enhancement over conventional
models for those lacking the arm strength to wheel themselves up a ramp.
The adding of self-contained batteries to each chair, improved their mobility and made more specialized chairs possible. Chairs can now be modified for
a number of new and precise applications. Today, there are custom chairs which have the ability to ascend stairs. For those suffering from severe paralysis,
there are chairs that are operated with breath control. It is the most recent breakthrough that makes wheel chairs easier to control.
Most, if not all, electric wheelchairs are now guided by joysticks fastened to the armrest. By allowing the occupant to easily control the chair's motion,
without someone behind pushing, negotiating a tight aisle is relatively simple. Advancement in suspension and designed tuning radius convey smooth changes
in mobility and direction. The standard for power wheelchairs continues to cater the needs which are then considered inaccessible.
When someone is confined to a wheelchair, especially for life, the ergonomics and facilities are not inconsequential concerns. There are doable extravagances
like a reclining power wheelchair and other customizations. The fact is, though, that the more comfortable, purposeful and maneuverable your new wheelchair
is, the more the occupant will be grateful for his new found independence. We want the best for our loved ones and the way to prove it is to give him the
best comfort and care possible!
About The Author
Maricon Williams
I love reading. Give me a book and I'll finish it in one sitting. Reading is the chance to be transported to a different world and so is writing. I'm more
enthusiastic about writing however, since you can relay your ideas to someone else. I can only imagine that feeling when I hear a complete stranger talking
about my ideas which read on an article somewhere. To relay my message to as many people is the same as touching people with music. Only mine's less harmonic.
I try to make up for it with the color I bring with words. And most of the time, it??™s more than enough.
For additional Information about the articles you may visit
http://www.wheelchairspower.com
carmelo@wheelchairspower.com
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Helpful Links
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Official Website of the Paralympic World Cup
The largest annual competition for disabled athletes will be held May 12-15, 2005, in Manchester, England. Has all the information on the World Cup.
www.paralympicworldcup.com.
National Beep Baseball Association
The governing body for the sport of Beep Baseball, a modified form of baseball for the blind.
http://www.nbba.org
Blind Sailing International
Organization dedicated to promoting sailing for the blind.
www.blindsailing.org.
** If you have a link to an adaptive sports organization that you would like listed in this section, email it to:
stevekerr@ev1.net
with "Helpful Links" in the subject line.
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On Deck
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Here's a peek at what's coming up in the next issue.
Despite a congenital eye condition, Kurt Fiene of Omaha, Nebraska, is still able to enjoy long-distance running. Check out the story in our next "Profile" section.
Few people realize the benefits of laughter as medicine for our mental health, but it has been established that people who laugh more live longer, healthier lives. Author and humorist John Ryan explores this topic in "Keeping Fit".
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Contact Information
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Stephen Michael Kerr, Publisher
stevekerr@ev1.net
1218 Hughmont Dr.
Pflugerville, Tx 78660
www.AdaptiveSports.AFreePress.com
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