Blind Soccer Practice
As I have mentioned before, ever since I met Noah in the fall of 2019, it has been a dream of his to play on the National Blind Soccer team at the Paralympics in 2028. For the last few years, Noah has been on the team, and a few months ago, he became a 2024 Sport Ambassador for the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA). About 2 years ago Noah asked Luke to be a goalie for a game (goalies are sighted). I wrote an installment about that event called Blind Soccer.
There are a ton of camps throughout the entire year for the National Blind Soccer team. Noah injured his knee in early 2023, and then I pushed him a little too hard when Cousin Simple played the Newport shortly after that (Columbus Against The World). Because of that injury, Noah could not attend any of the camps last year, but he's feeling better now. The first camp in a year that Noah could go to was the first week of June, and he wanted to practice with my brothers, Paige and I before he went.
On Tuesday, June 4th, 2024, Paige and I got ready, called my brothers to decide on a place to meet, and then drove to pick up Noah at 7:30. I parked at the duck pond by my parents' house, and Ryan, Luke, and Josh walked into the parking lot just as we got out of my car. After everyone said hello, we walked to a park next to the duck pond.
Now, I’m not a big sports guy. Luke was only the goalie during the game I wrote about, and Ryan, Paige, and Josh weren't there, so Noah had to explain the rules. The soccer ball is basically a baby rattle, so whenever it's kicked, the beads move around so the players can hear where it is. Other than that, there are only two differences between blind soccer and the original game (at least for the sake of this installment). The first thing is that all players must say “Voy” over and over when they approach the ball. Secondly, if a player is about to pass the ball to someone, they need to call that person. For example, if I was going to pass to Noah, I would say: Noah! And he would respond: Noah here. And then I would kick the ball.
With those two stipulations in place, we ran a few drills and had a few mini scrimmages. As I said, I’m not a big sports guy, so I don’t think I’m super qualified to explain everything that we did, but we had a fun time and hopefully helped Noah prepare for his camp.
As you may know, last fall I finished my next two books. Because of complications with my mic. I’m about a month behind on this series, and at the time of this installment, my editor hadn’t gotten started yet. As a result, I’ve been very pent up for the last year since I couldn’t do anything with them.
I’ve published two books already, so I know that publishing a book is a lot of hard work, but I’ve felt very discouraged. But after watching Noah have this injury for a year and working through it to achieve his goal, he has inspired me to keep pushing through. I think people tend to want things done the quick and easy way, even though deep down, they know that's not the best option. When you get stuck in one of those moods, it's best to look to the people around you for encouragement.
Have a Greattastic Day and be Safe
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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