NFB Youth Slam! » Extreme Sports

A Sports Night at the Slam!

Tamas — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:49:40 +0000

Hello to all readers!
Once again, it is Tomi journaling directly from the one and only, extraordinarily slammy Youth Slam! Well, a lot of people do slam into me with their trays during meals, but perhaps that’s a story for future article.

We had a sports night two days ago, and I thought I’d record my experience.
Each of us was assigned to a sport based on our top five choices, which we all selected during registration.

I was assigned to goalball. As a longtime goalball player, I already knew how to play this sport.
Readers who are not familiar with Goalball can watch several YouTube videos like the
U.S. VS. Japan competition
But I will also explain the sport.

We went to the Armory, the loud, echoing building where we had our dance. The goalball field was set up there. Tactile tape on the floor outlines the three wings (Left, center, and right) on each side of the court. Each team consists of three players, so a total of six are required to play.
Our group was divided into two subgroups: Those who already knew how to play goalball and those who didn’t. I was part of the players group, so for us they recapped ball blocking techniques.
Goalball is a special sport because you use your body a lot to block the ball. In addition every player is blindfolded. When you are blocking, you must carefully observe where the ball is rolling. You throw your body to either the left or right, depending on where it is coming from. Protecting vital body parts such as your face is also important, so you can shield your head with your hands. If you do not block the ball, it scores a goal by rolling and staying in the field. Sometimes the ball bounces out of bounds simply by hitting something like your leg, and that is still considered a block.

On the other side of the room those new to the sport learned how to throw the ball because that task is also quite an experience. A highball is one that is thrown too high and flies across the court. When throwing, it’s important to face the field and throw as if you were bowling the ball, sort of rolling and throwing at the same time.

Although we had time to play for only half an hour, Goalball gets very intense, with fast throws and blocks. It’s a fun sport, and I encourage both blind and sighted readers to check it out and play on a team if one is in your area. One future project I’m considering is setting up more teams across my city. I believe that both blind and sighted players would enjoy this sport equally. It’s fun and intense!

Taking a Break with Goalball

grecia — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:18:55 +0000

Tuesday night was pronounced Sports Night, a change from our science and engineering track coverage. Right after dinner, everyone was separated according to the sport they chose before coming here. I was put into the Goalball category with most of my Georgia Girls team. Ah, the memories.
The walk there was a pretty long one but it was fun. None of us were in our usual pods or tracks so it gave us all an opportunity to interact with and meet some of the other 200 students we wouldn’t have met otherwise.
When we got there, we were sorted into groups of people that had played and groups of people who hadn’t. There were about ten of us who had actually played on teams, four of us from the Georgia team. Then, we were further split into two teams and handed knee pads and eye shades. Most of the players were girls and we were almost all wearing flip-flops. Therefore, pretty much all of us played shoeless, a practice that would result in some embarrassing moments.

After we were all outfitted, we needed a scrimmage game starter. I wasn’t a starter, but when I came into the game, our team was losing and they thought putting me in the center would solve things. Big mistake, guys!!! I was fine for about the first thirty seconds. Then, it was my turn to roll the ball. I stood up, backed up to take my roll, and tripped. The ball rolled smoothly down the court, but sadly, so did my face. No one laughed, except me, and for that, I was both happy and relieved. I felt like a fool, but at least I was a fool having fun.
Our team still lost, but it was fun nonetheless. At one point, the ball was passed to me, and in waiting for the game whistle, we got a delayed game penalty. It was really fun though.

I am now a high school graduate so playing Goalball with my team is virtually impossible, unless I want to do it on the national level. But for me, Goalball is a hobby and I love it. Being there that night reminded me of how much I’m going to miss my old high school game.

Sports-A-Poppin’

Olaedo — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:54:03 +0000

Tuesday night was Sports Night and the games were flying. There was plenty going on, from goal ball to basketball, from dance to yoga. There was a star gazing party where you can see the moon and stars up close (with a telescope of course). There was even a wheelchair race!

It was amazing how all these students were able to find the force of the ball and sense that it was coming, gaze at the stars, or listen to directions and allow their bodies to move to the beat. The students were able to turn a hard task into something easy to do and fun to work with. They were also able to exercise not only their bodies and minds, but also their ability to follow along, despite their blindness.

At the Star Gazing portion of the evening, blind students were able to see the magic of the moonlit and starlit sky at night. For blind people, seeing the stars is one of those “unachievable” things, but Youth Slam opened up that world to us.

In the ball games, students are able to hear that the ball is coming and either catch it, hit it, or kick it without getting hit. And in the dance and yoga classes, people used their bodies to follow along to the music and instructions. Overall, it was a very entertaining and relaxing night for everyone.