Blind Sports Organizations

Cartoon showing pitcher, batter, and the ball in the air Cartoon of a baseball showing large stitches Image of baseball player ready to swing bat Of special Boston Area note: The Association of Blind Citizens sponsors a beep-baseball team called The Boston Renegades and the 2004 Beep Baseball World Series, which was held in August, 2004 in Columbus, OH. Our very own cofounder, Jon Simeone, participated!



Athletics, Tandem Bicycling, Football 5-A-Side, Goalball (Torball), Judo, Sailing, and Swimming, are the sports offered for blind athletes at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games (held August 2004).

Similar games are held around the world under the auspices of the U.S. Paralympics and will be held at the IX Paralympic Winter Games in March, 2006 in Torino, Italy.

Goalball (Torball), invented in 1976 by Hanz Lorenzen and Sepp Reindle, is a sport played by blind and visually impaired persons. A team of three athletes on each side of the court aims to launch a ball at speeds more than 30 mph into the opposing side's goal. Nine bells located in a ball roughly the dimensions of a basketball help the athletes track the ball's location. Detailed descriptions of goalball are available here, here, and here. The U.S. women's goalball team won the Malmo InterCup championship in 2003 in Sweden.

Several other sports have been designed or modified for the blind or visually impaired. They include Beep Baseball (Beepball, Beeperball), Bowling (nine and ten pin), Judo, Power Lifting, Showdown, Skiing (Alpine and Nordic), Tandem Cycling, Track and Field, and Wrestling. Some technical information about specialized sports for the blind may be found at the Web site of the International Blind Sports Federation.


A cartoon of a colorful rooster ready to swing the bat The main U.S.A. organization is the United States Association for Blind Athletes (USABA).

Some activities for blind and visually impaired people are sponsored by Disabled Sports USA; their local chapter is the New England Handicapped Sports Association.

Many universities offer sports programs for blind and visually impaired students (for example, a regular Goalball season is offered at the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind.

A cartoon of a batter holding the bat, ready to swing Here are some additional links to blind sports organizations, including the National Beep Baseball Association, the American Blind Skiing Foundation, and Running Eyes for the Blind.