[Sportsandrec] Beep Baseball Regs

[Jennifer Boylan]

Hi Ashley and List!

My internet's been down for 2 days so I was anxious to get back here and see
where the discussion was going!  Thank you for your valid points and
illustrations.  Ashley, I think that's so cool that you have a team and am
curious where you play/live?  We're trying to get a regional tournament
going in late April in Las Vegas, and there are others in Chicago, New York,
Kansas and other places besides the World Series which will be in Stockton
in '09.  All regional competitions should be listed on the NBBA site by
early March.  My team plays in Stockton, California (about 45 minutes from
Sacramento).  We have seven regular players and some that come and go.  Our
traveling team has a serious, competitive focus but we allow any and all
interested in the sport to come out and give it a whack!  As Ashley so
accurately pointed out, there are a range of coordination levels and
multiple-disabilities that can accompany blindness and as we are a small
city the population is a limited pool to draw from.  This pool is further
limited to blind people who actually want to get out there and play and/or
have the time to devote to practice and honing their skills and are not
limited by a mindset of low self-expectation.  Our first team was barely
scraped together with the six players necessary, including a partially
deaf-totally blind player who had the character makeup and confidence to
make us a team.  He stayed with us for two years until marriage and weekend
employment monopolized his time and attention, but was inspirational to the
rest of us.  We had to modify slightly for him in another way since he
couldn't discern which base (1st or 3rd( was buzzing.  We implemented a code
for him which was "Go, go!" for first and "Run, run!" for 3rd.  This worked
until we got too excited and shouted the wrong phrase!  One casual player
only has the use of one hand so coaches worked on a modified, one-armed
swing for him.  Coordination, attention-spans and auditory processing
problems are just a few others we've taken in stride and we go with the flow
in some cases, proud to maintain our local identity instead of recruiting
"All-Stars" from around the country as some teams do to get the winning
edge.  We have a few players or potential players that commute from
Sacramento, Santa Rosa and Calaveras County and are open to dedicated
players from anywhere, preferrably in California since those are more likely
to travel regularly to our field to practice with us and get to know how our
team works together.

I will try to address a few other questions.
Our season runs from Jan-August with fundraising and promotional activities
and team meetings continuing year-round.  Late Jan-February we take
advantage of the shelter of batting cage space to workout and develop our
swings and strength with tee practice and whatever else we can do that
doesn't require grass and unlimited space.  March we take the field and
practice one to two times a week.  May through the end of August we continue
practices and playing community  exhibition games and compete in the World
Series the last week of July/first week of August.  The only assistance a
baserunner gets is the sound of the buzzing base, which he must locate/run
to/contact himself.  Like I said, softball has six innings as does beep
baseball  not because we couldn't endure nine innings of play physically but
so the game won't last too long.  A six inning game already takes one and a
half or more hours to complete and we may have to fit in three games a day
and move from field to field in a tournament setting without loads of lag
time.  I wouldn't say playing 3 2-hour games in July In houston, Texas's hot
humidity-fest can be pulled off several days in a row by a bunch of
wimps!The only rule which I might concede was unnecessary is the spotter's
call of what zone number he believes the ball will enter after being hit.  I
definitely want the spotter out there to prevent major collisions, since the
goal is to keep everyone up and playing and we don't want someone going to
the ER if it can be helped.  A lot of the time the spotter's call isn't
accurate or is too late to be useful anyway, and we (the blind fielders)
communicate and listen and get the ball unaided by sighted hints.  Maybe
this rule is to keep the spotter awake out there and feeling involved?

Anyway, this discussion is very interesting to me and I can't wait to check
out the rest of the posts.
Mike and Kelly, I particularly liked your stories and shared them with a
teammate who loves the sport and his independence as much as I!  Happy New
Year filled with your favorite activities!
Jennifer
(No clever lyric included!)