[nfbwatlk] FW: Disability & College Sport

Tue Jan 20 22:28:08 UTC 2015

From: Lissner, L S. (Scott ) [mailto:lissner.2 at osu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 11:58 AM
Subject: FW: Disability & College Sport

NCAA dreams for Cal's competitive team for the blind   http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_27088585/ncaa-dreams-cals-competitive-team-blind

By Katy Murphy

kmurphy at bayareanewsgroup.com<mailto:kmurphy at bayareanewsgroup.com>
Posted:   11/27/2014 12:00:00 AM Updated:   about a month ago
BERKELEY -- Growing up blind, the closest Ann Kwong came to a competitive sport, even in P.E., was a marshmallow-eating contest. Judith Lung never learned how to throw a ball.
"I never knew what it was like to block a ball and take one for the team," said Kwong, a senior psychology major at UC Berkeley.
Now she does. And it happens to be a nearly 3-pound rubber ball with bells inside that she can hear only as it comes bouncing and jingling toward her at as fast as 30 mph.

College sports teams are all but off-limits to the disabled, but UC Berkeley hopes to pry open the door with goalball, a bruising and sometimes bloody sport in which sightless players rely on sound, touch, communication and grit to hurl a sphere roughly the size of a basketball across an 18-meter court, past three opponents and into their goal.

[cid:image002.jpg at 01D034BD.4FBEC4F0]<http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=6444742>
Micha Aveno and Will Slason, from left, dive as they try to block the ball during Goalball team practice at UC Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif., Friday, Oct. 31, 2014. Cal's first competitive Goalball team started as a class. Goalball is a team sport designed for the visually impaired. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) ( ANDA CHU )
Video associated with this article:       http://videos.tout.com/dry/mp4/7ad009a4042034d3.mp4 and
                                                            http://videos.tout.com/dry/mp4/d5d69f2cd27bd9d9.mp4

This fall, Cal became the first in the nation to establish a competitive collegiate goalball team, less than two years after teaching students, both blind and sighted, how to play.

Its advocates hope the coming years will lead to the kinds of inroads for the disabled that the Title IX anti-gender-discrimination law did for women -- who, as late as the 1960s, were relegated to half-court basketball.

"I would argue that this is one of the civil rights issues of the 21st century," said Derek Van Rheenen, goalball's faculty sponsor, who directs UC Berkeley's Cultural Studies of Sport in Education in the Graduate School of Education.

Between 35 and 50 blind students attend the university, said Matt Grigorieff, a graduate student who founded Cal's Athletics for All to include people with disabilities in recreational and competitive sports.
At a recent scrimmage, a referee reminded everyone to be quiet -- an important rule, as the athletes need to be able to hear what's happening on the court.

He rolled the ball to the team's freshman star, Will Slason, and blew the whistle. As his two teammates crouched beside him, Slason took a running start, whipping the ball in a bowling motion to the other end of the court and, with a thump, into the chest of Jessica Adams, who had slid to her side on the floor in a successful blocking move.

Adams, who briefly played varsity volleyball at Cal, is the only player on the goalball team with full vision, as current U.S. rules permit. But like everyone else, she wears blackout eyeshades and can see nothing during the game. (The court lines are marked by twine covered in tape, so the players can feel their positions.)

"For sure, the first time you play it's scary. It's easy to get disoriented," Adams said. "It's also scary playing against Will."
Known for his power and raw athleticism, Slason wrestled in high school before coming to Cal and says he loves the discipline, teamwork and "never-give-up attitude" of team sports. He is legally blind but can see enough to get around -- just not to play sports where, he says, "I have to catch a ball flying at my face."

Players have hip, elbow and knee pads to protect them from all the diving and sliding, but nothing shields their eyes or noses. They quickly learn to guard their faces with outstretched arms during rallies.
Let your guard down for a moment and you can have a bloody nose.

"People with disabilities are seen as these fragile people, which isn't the case at all," Kwong said.
The team is coached by Jonathan Newman of the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program, Brandon Young, a former Paralympic goalball athlete, and Joe Hamilton, a current player.

It also has an adorable service dog, Van Dyke, who sports a team uniform. Invented after World War II to rehabilitate disabled veterans, goalball evolved into a competitive sport and for decades has been part of the Paralympic Games. Elite goalball players throw the ball at up to 50 mph. As in tennis, rallies can happen at a dizzying pace. Matches have two halves, each of 12 minutes, but the clock stops for penalties.

The Cal goalball team already has at least one very influential fan: UC Berkeley's chancellor, Nicholas Dirks, who says it "exemplifies Berkeley's commitment to defying limits."

"I have no doubt others will follow our lead and that our team will soon have no shortage of worthy opponents," he said.
Until then, the Cal team will play Paralympic club teams, many with far more experienced athletes. They are preparing for tough competition in their first tournament Dec. 6, at the James Kenney Recreation Center in Berkeley.

But Portland State and CSU Long Beach are building their goalball programs, which are still recreational, and other universities have expressed interest in following Cal's lead, Grigorieff said.
He dreams that one day soon the NCAA will create a conference for sports like goalball that can include athletes with -- and without -- disabilities.

"It's easy to say it's going to be too complicated, that we don't have the infrastructure. But we went from one class to three classes with a competitive team, and it really didn't cost much," he said. "We're showing that it can be done."

Celebrate Our Progress - Write Our Future History<http://ada.osu.edu/conferences/2015Conf/2015conf.html>  at the 2015 Multiple Perspcetives Conference, April 13-14.

[cid:image006.jpg at 01D034BD.4FBEC4F0]
L. Scott Lissner
ADA Coordinator & 504 Compliance Officer
Office Of Diversity And Inclusion, The Ohio State University
    Associate, John Glenn School of Public Affairs
    Lecturer, Knowlton School of Architecture, Moritz College of Law & Disability Studies
    Board, Center for Disability Empowerment
    Appointed:  State HAVA Committee & Columbus Advisory Council on Disability Issues

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