[Sportsandrec] Students at the NFB Youth Slam Recount Their Sports Experiences!

[Cervenka, Stacy (Brownback)]

Hey, all!
    Like many of you, I enjoyed following the experiences of the kids at the NFB Youth Slam through all the blog posts, podcasts, and videos that were posted online at www.nfbyouthslam.org<http://www.nfbyouthslam.org>. There was a kinesiology track this year called Slammin' Sports. Our own Sports and Rec prez, Lisamaria Martinez, as well as Sports and Rec Division members, Greg DeWall and Joe Shaw, were all mentors for this track. There was also a Sports Night for kids in all the different tracks and a Rec X night with a climbing wall, a Velcro wall, a moon bounce, a mechanical bull, a dunk tank, a water slide, and so on. So, the concept that it's important for blind people to be involved and integrated into sports and recreation is slowly tricking its way into NFB events. I'd love to hear from LM, Joe, and Greg about some of the experiences you guys had!!!
    Also, if anyone is interested, I typed the word "sports" into the search field on the Youth Slam page and I got the following six results, in the chronological order they were posted. (I was disappointed to see no articles on Rec X night, but maybe I should have typed in a different search word in order to get them.)
1. Sports Night
2. Greg DeWall's Athletic Life
3. Sports-A-Poppin'
4. Taking A Break With Goalball
5. A Sports Night at the Slam!
6. Exercise and Fun While Learning

Here is the text of all six articles. They are all relatively short and were all written by students in the Slam News track, which was the journalism track that reported on the events of the Youth Slam all week and created all the articles, blog posts, podcasts, and videos.
Sports Night
My sports night went really well. I did judo, and considering that I've been doing that for maybe a year now, I had a lot of fun and thankfully didn't have to do the INSANE exercise. I learned a new throw while I was there and it is easier than osoto. Our sensei was very good and helpful. I was disappointed when it ended. My partner was Jason; he's pretty good if he gets into it. He could be a beast if he really tried. Luckily nobody broke his or her neck or arm or leg, whereas at my practice it's almost a guarantee you will get hurt. So I had fun and I hope you guys had fun as well. Later on, fellow slammers.
Greg Dwall's Athletic Life

This afternoon I had a fascinating interview with Greg Dwall, who was born February 10, 1979, in Chico, California. Mr. Dwall is an expert in Judo, but is still learning. He has played in 3 international competitions such as the World Judo Championships in Brazil and the 2008 Olympics in Asia. During these games, Mr. Dwall became a silver and bronze metal winner. The most impressive fact that caught my eye was that Greg plays Judo against sighted opponents. He does this by developing physical strategies and just plain hard work. I asked Greg what goes through his mind when playing Judo. "Action," he said, "Just beating my opponent," he said simply.

Greg said that with the coaching he believes that blind athletes can be great - that's why he wants to continue the legacy of the blind Judo wrestlers before him.

I also had a chance to explore Greg's personal life and learn what makes a strong judo player and some strong events that helped build this man's character. He started off by saying he grew up in a stable home, both parents, one brother and one sister; also throughout his time in school he was active in football, soccer and wrestling. His hobbies were classic rural boy ones - hunting and wrestling, a sport in which he won some awards. Greg confided in me with some irony that in his teenage years he mostly paid more attention to sports and his girlfriend and he never worried about his grades. When it was time to figure out what college and what career he wanted to do, however, he was trap, because his grades weren't great and his mind wasn't together. So, increasingly, he began to feel pressured by family and other peers.

When I asked him what he did to get through his hard times he said, "I got up and grab my shotgun and tried to end my life." I was stunned at Greg's great candor but he was comfortable explaining and I let him continue.

When He awoke a week later Greg discovered that he was missing half of his face and that he was blind. I ventured to ask what was going through his mind at that time and He was chillingly honest, "Oh crap, what am I going to do now!"

Even in the midst of his recovery, Greg's humor came through. While he was in the hospital he made a bet with his brother on who would win - the Packers or the Patriots. Interestingly, Greg says that he was more bothered after his accident by his injured face than with his blindness. Improving his face would require that Greg undergo multiple surgeries to restore his facial function and gain more comfort. After Greg was released from the hospital he attended college at California State University, Chico. Though he resumed his studies, further surgeries slowed him down. And in between all these demands he enrolled at a California blindness training center to gain the basics of blind independence such as Braille and cane travel.

Now that Greg Dwall is 30, he is looking toward the future, toward settling down in a stable community in Maryland, where he can keep teaching Judo and continue doing recreation jobs. His advice to other blind students thinking about sports is to "explore freely and make sure you have support from family or friends and, above all, keep working hard."

Sports-A-Poppin'

Tuesday night was Sports Night and the games were flying. There was plenty going on, from goal ball to basketball, from dance to yoga. There was a star gazing party where you can see the moon and stars up close (with a telescope of course). There was even a wheelchair race!



It was amazing how all these students were able to find the force of the ball and sense that it was coming, gaze at the stars, or listen to directions and allow their bodies to move to the beat. The students were able to turn a hard task into something easy to do and fun to work with. They were also able to exercise not only their bodies and minds, but also their ability to follow along, despite their blindness.



At the Star Gazing portion of the evening, blind students were able to see the magic of the moonlit and starlit sky at night.  For blind people, seeing the stars is one of those "unachievable" things, but Youth Slam opened up that world to us.



In the ball games, students are able to hear that the ball is coming and either catch it, hit it, or kick it without getting hit.  And in the dance and yoga classes, people used their bodies to follow along to the music and instructions. Overall, it was a very entertaining and relaxing night for everyone.

Taking a Break with Goalball

Tuesday night was pronounced Sports Night, a change from our science and engineering track coverage. Right after dinner, everyone was separated according to the sport they chose before coming here. I was put into the Goalball category with most of my Georgia Girls team. Ah, the memories.
The walk there was a pretty long one but it was fun. None of us were in our usual pods or tracks so it gave us all an opportunity to interact with and meet some of the other 200 students we wouldn't have met otherwise.
When we got there, we were sorted into groups of people that had played and groups of people who hadn't. There were about ten of us who had actually played on teams, four of us from the Georgia team. Then, we were further split into two teams and handed knee pads and eye shades. Most of the players were girls and we were almost all wearing flip-flops. Therefore, pretty much all of us played shoeless, a practice that would result in some embarrassing moments.

After we were all outfitted, we needed a scrimmage game starter. I wasn't a starter, but when I came into the game, our team was losing and they thought putting me in the center would solve things. Big mistake, guys!!! I was fine for about the first thirty seconds. Then, it was my turn to roll the ball. I stood up, backed up to take my roll, and tripped. The ball rolled smoothly down the court, but sadly, so did my face. No one laughed, except me, and for that, I was both happy and relieved. I felt like a fool, but at least I was a fool having fun.
Our team still lost, but it was fun nonetheless. At one point, the ball was passed to me, and in waiting for the game whistle, we got a delayed game penalty. It was really fun though.

I am now a high school graduate so playing Goalball with my team is virtually impossible, unless I want to do it on the national level. But for me, Goalball is a hobby and I love it. Being there that night reminded me of how much I'm going to miss my old high school game.

A Sports Night at the Slam!

Hello to all readers!
Once again, it is Tomi journaling directly from the one and only, extraordinarily slammy Youth Slam! Well, a lot of people do slam into me with their trays during meals, but perhaps that's a story for future article.

We had a sports night two days ago, and I thought I'd record my experience.
Each of us was assigned to a sport based on our top five choices, which we all selected during registration.

I was assigned to goalball. As a longtime goalball player, I already knew how to play this sport.
Readers who are not familiar with Goalball can watch several YouTube videos like the
U.S. VS. Japan competition <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MLbC3er2Fc>
But I will also explain the sport.

We went to the Armory, the loud, echoing building where we had our dance. The goalball field was set up there. Tactile tape on the floor outlines the three wings (Left, center, and right) on each side of the court. Each team consists of three players, so a total of six are required to play.
Our group was divided into two subgroups: Those who already knew how to play goalball and those who didn't. I was part of the players group, so for us they recapped ball blocking techniques.
Goalball is a special sport because you use your body a lot to block the ball. In addition every player is blindfolded. When you are blocking, you must carefully observe where the ball is rolling. You throw your body to either the left or right, depending on where it is coming from. Protecting vital body parts such as your face is also important, so you can shield your head with your hands. If you do not block the ball, it scores a goal by rolling and staying in the field. Sometimes the ball bounces out of bounds simply by hitting something like your leg, and that is still considered a block.

On the other side of the room those new to the sport learned how to throw the ball because that task is also quite an experience. A highball is one that is thrown too high and flies across the court. When throwing, it's important to face the field and throw as if you were bowling the ball, sort of rolling and throwing at the same time.

Although we had time to play for only half an hour, Goalball gets very intense, with fast throws and blocks. It's a fun sport, and I encourage both blind and sighted readers to check it out and play on a team if one is in your area. One future project I'm considering is setting up more teams across my city. I believe that both blind and sighted players would enjoy this sport equally. It's fun and intense!

Exercise and Fun While Learning

Baltimore, Maryland - During a morning event in the Health and Recreation center of the University of Maryland college park, blind students participated in a sports track through which they learned to exercise in fun and educational ways. The track, which is part of the Youth Slam organized by the National Federation of the Blind, engaged students in many fun sports activities on exercise machines. And some of these machines provided new ways to access sports information nonvisually.
For example, each student was given a talking pedometer, which helped them keep count of how well they are doing. Rachna Kashwani, a mentor at the event, says that this "helps encourage them to exercise in a more interactive way.". "it makes them feel curious and more motivated to exercise. They could keep track of how much work they have done and maybe store a record of their highest step count."
As Corina exercised on the elliptical, she could keep track of how many steps she has taken by simply pushing a button on the pedometer. "4125 steps", the quiet yet understandable voice of the pedometer stated.
"In the end we added all the steps our pod took and then the steps of the entire class in general", she said, slightly out of breath from the workout. "it's not a competition at all, it's simply fun to know how much we all have walked. Although, I am trying to beat Portia - so far she has walked more than i!"
On the opposite side of the room, Ashley is using balls to stretch on. "it's very fun and relaxing!" She says, laying her back on the ball.
There are plenty of machines in this room. From weight machines and bikes, to arm exercising and muscle building tools, this track truly concentrates on presenting sports in a fun and interactive way, not something many blind students get exposed to.
Education is also a key in the track. After completing their exercising, students came to a classroom to talk about their experiences. Instructors also gave them exercising tips. "after you do your ten minute cardial workout, it's important to cool down. That will work on your flexibility."
Before leaving the center and heading back to the bus, a student was heard saying "this is a fun track! I love sports!" excitedly, and we could tell that he was looking forward to the events which are to come in the future.


Stacy Leigh Cervenka
Legislative Assistant
Office of Senator Sam Brownback (KS)
303 Hart Senate Office Building
Phone: (202) 224-6521
Email: stacy_cervenka at brownback.senate.gov<mailto:stacy_cervenka at brownback.senate.gov>