At the beginning of the month I stumbled in the magazine “Sichtweise” of the German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. V. (DBSV) about a contribution by Gabi and your passion: baseball for the blind. Yes, while some stumble upon posts, others have long been blindly playing baseball. But why not, there is also blind football and here a goal in the sports show has already made it to goal of the month.
I always say that if you want something, you shouldn’t let yourself be stopped. But if you have no idea about something, you can also shut up. Therefore I am very happy that I am able to publish Gabi’s contribution again today with her consent and the “points of view”.
Play Ball – let’s go!
Although baseball is rather an unknown sport in Germany, baseball for the blind immediately cast a spell on me. Especially to start running when it says “Play Ball!” And the bell ball that I hit flies to the defending team is a liberating feeling.
I’ve been playing for the Bavarian Bats, the blind team of the Freising Grizzlies, for a little over four years now. Our players are between 25 and 45 years old. Women and men play in mixed teams. Since everyone wears a blindfold during the game, the requirements between the blind and visually impaired players are equal. We usually meet around every other Sunday and travel from all over Bavaria to Freising or Regensburg. In winter we train individual moves in a hall. But training was unfortunately not possible because of the lockdown last winter.
Before I started baseball, I had tried a few other sports. But I particularly like the diverse combination of coordination and movement and the team aspect of baseball.
Trial workshops for newbies
The rules of the game sound more complicated than they really are. Everyone will notice this once they try baseball. At my association, those who are curious have the opportunity to do so, as we also hold taster workshops in Freising and Regensburg.
Let me try to explain the rules of the game a little: A team consists of five blindfolded players and a sighted catcher.
If, as part of the attacking team, I have hit the ball far enough with the baseball bat from my other hand, the defending, i.e. the opposing team, tries to catch it and toss it to its sighted catcher. Meanwhile I run around the first beeping base. Then I try to reach second base before the bell ball reaches the sighted catcher of the defending team. Because only if I have touched second base before the catcher has caught the ball will I stay in the game.
A base is a station on the part of the playing field that the runner has to go around. At the second and third base there is a trainer who shows the position of the base and my distance to it with rattles. The same goes for me, while my teammate hits a ball and runs to second base, for me to third. The team only earns a point when they have managed to walk home from third base, i.e. back to the starting point, without a constant acoustic signal. Just walking straight ahead for a few meters blindly is sometimes more difficult than you might imagine.
After an inning (section of the game), the attacking and defending teams swap positions. In defense, it is no longer about hitting the ball and running fast, but hearing is crucial, as you have to locate, catch and pick up the ball that has hit the attacking team. And that even if the ball has stopped and no longer makes any noise.
Low risk of injury
The biggest difference to sighted baseball is that the batsman hits the ball with a baseball bat from their own hand and does not have to hit a ball that is thrown at them.
There is little potential for injury in baseball. The playing field and the rules are designed in such a way that collisions are largely excluded and the risk of injury is reduced. ►
When my circle of friends persuaded me to take a look at Blindenbase-ball, I couldn’t have imagined that I would have so much fun that I was willing to take almost two and a half hours to get there. I live in Nuremberg and train in Freising.
But the team spirit and playing sports together in the fresh air are a guarantee for moments of happiness. And if things don’t go that way during training and I would like to throw the baseball bat off myself, there is always a teammate or coach who has tips in store and cheers me up.
Not to be forgotten, of course, are the interesting encounters with players from other countries. For example, the 2018 Bats were in Cuba, where baseball in general and baseball for the blind are much more popular than in this country. There is even a blind baseball league in Italy.
Hope for tournaments in 2022
In 2020 the Mole Cup, an international tournament for blind baseball players, should have taken place in Freising for the tenth time. But Corona not only restricted the training options, it also prevented or postponed the games. We would have loved to play against teams from Italy, France, England, Cuba, Pakistan or the USA. We hope that this will be possible again in 2022.
At the moment the Bavarian Bats are the only blind baseball team in Germany. A second team in Regensburg is being set up. Contacts to Stuttgart and Berlin have also been made.
I would of course be happy to have more teams in Germany so that I can play more often. But at the moment I’m just looking forward to the outdoor season when we can resume training and it’s: “Play Ball!”
Now, Nadine, I would like to say something again. Because I still have to refer to the following link:
www.blindenbaseball.de
Here you can find out more about baseball for the blind. In addition, there is an interesting audio report on the start page that brings you closer to the sport acoustically.
