Blind Soccer
When I first met Noah and we were getting to know each other, it came out that he has dreams of playing on the blind paralympic soccer team in 2028! As soon as I found out he played blind soccer I looked videos up on YouTube. I'm not a big sports guy, but I will say I was thoroughly impressed by blind soccer right away.
For those of you who have not experienced blind soccer Let me explain; to be on the field you need to be at least partially blind. Everybody on the field has to wear blindfolds so that the people who are "partially-sighted" don't have an unfair advantage. The only people on the field who are “sighted” are the goalies. The soccer ball is basically a glorified baby rattle, so whenever it's kicked the beads move around, and the players know where it is.
Now to get ready for the 2028 games, all across the country there are these blind soccer camps. Each camp is just one or two soccer games (as far as I know). Noah isn't a hundred percent sure how it works, but the way he sees it, the more of the camps he does the more chances he gets to make an impression and potentially get on the team. Back in October, we found out that one of the camps was going to be in Columbus in January.
My family saw Noah and Lori over Christmas break and we told them we were going to the game. As soon as we brought it up, Noah asked, “Mitch, which one of your brothers is a soccer goalie for St. Charles?” I told him it was Luke. It turned out that the previous week, Noah’s team had gone to a camp in Denver and their goalie had backed out and they needed a replacement… I think you can see where I'm going with this.
On the day of the game, Luke and I found the indoor soccer field. Noah was not on the field yet so I prompted Luke to go on and try to get to know the other team members. Since Noah was not with us, when Luke walked on a woman asked Luke who he was. I could tell that Luke was nervous so I intercepted the woman and introduced myself assuming that Noah had told her my name. As soon as I said my name she smiled. The woman introduced herself as Noah’s coach Katie. Surprisingly, Katie knew of me from some public speaking that I have done and through one of my teaching mentors Mr. (Pete) Livingston, with whom she went to church before he moved. After I talked to Katie for a minute, I found a seat with Mom and Dad along with, Noah's dad, stepmom, grandpa, and Lori’s immediate family.
Like I said, I'm not a big sports guy. While there are a few reasons that I have for this, a big one that I don't talk about a lot is sports stress me out! Literally every time someone got close to Luke's goal, I burned a couple months of my life. Still, it was really entertaining to watch. First of all, Noah lost where the ball was a few times when he was close to Luke. Luke would direct him on where it was and that made me really proud. Second of all while all the players were good, Noah was amazing. I understand as his friend I have a biased opinion. But, in all honesty, I could not keep my eyes off him, and I don't think our friendship had too much to do with that… Maybe a little bit, but the way he was playing I think I would have been watching him even if I didn't know him.
Even though I agree with Noah’s logic with going to as many camps as he can, I'm way more of a manifestation kind of guy. Like, I know he needs to go to these camps to get noticed, but I honestly believe he's going to be on a team, especially after seeing how well he played.
Have a Greattastic day and Be Safe!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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