The Lubbock Alstrom Angels hosted its third annual ‘BEEP’ball Tournament. Some of the teams that participated had members who were visually impaired, but all players were blindfolded.
“For once we weren’t treated any different and we loved it. Everyone plays blind folded in beep baseball so the playing field is even,” Cassie Johnston, the Director and Co-founder of Alstrom Angels, said.
“It allows blind and visually impaired individuals to feel accepted and see what normal sighted people can do,” Matt Arnold, a player for a visually impaired team said.
Below is the press release for the event
WEST TEXAS TEAMS TAKE THE BEEP BASEBALL CHALLENGE
LUBBOCK, Texas – July 5, 2017 – More than 200 West Texans are getting blindfolded and stepping up to bat. On Saturday and Sunday, July 8 and 9, 2017 Alström Angels will host 20 teams in Lubbock’s only beeping baseball tournament for children and adults who are blind, visually impaired, and those that are sighted; everyone plays blindfolded.
Beep Baseball was started in 1964 by engineers at the Mountain Bell Telephone Company. The game was designed to allow individuals with visual disabilities the chance to play one of America’s greatest sports: baseball. In Beep Baseball, both the balls and bases are modified to emit an audible beep, which allow blindfolded players to fully engage in the game. All players, regardless of visual ability or disability, must wear blindfolds to even the playing field.
The community event is brought to Lubbock by Alström Angels, a Lubbock-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children diagnosed with Alström Syndrome. The charity focuses on raising funds for medical research and increasing awareness of the rare disease. Alström Syndrome is a genetic disease that affects children with complete blindness, deafness, type 2 diabetes, kidney and liver failure, congestive heart failure and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
“Because childhood blindness is such a big part of Alström Syndrome, the BEEPball Tournament is a great way for us to raise awareness for all blind and vision impaired children and adults,” said Cassie Johnston, co-founder and executive director of Alström Angels. “I can’t think of a better way to raise awareness for a disability than to let someone experience it.”
“We thought this tournament would be an excellent team building activity for our staff & colleagues to do together,” said Tiffany Jobe, RN with Beyond Faith Homecare, who has a BEEPball team playing in the tournament. “We have had a couple of practices and already realized the challenges of being blindfolded. This is going to be a fun event and everyone should come support the cause and cheer on the teams!”
