[Sportsandrec] Beep Baseball Regs

Fri Jan 2 21:18:38 UTC 2009

Hi Jennifer,
I play with the group sponsored by the Telephone Pioneers of America and 
most of the volunteers work for Verizon.  We are not competetive although 
score is kept.  So I have not participated in tournaments.  But
I hope you have enough players to go to the tournament in Las Vegas.  That 
sounds exciting!  I heard of the
world series but did not know beep ball had regional tournaments.  Did you 
say they are listed on the NBBA website?  If so, I'll see if there is one 
near me and come observe.

You said
"The only assistance a
baserunner gets is the sound of the buzzing base, which he must locate/run 
to/contact himself."

  Oh!  So the regular rules don't permit verbal instruction from a sighted 
person?
Well in our game someone runs alongside the player and gives directions if 
needed.  Most of us, including me, don't go straight to the base.  The sound 
source is not enough so that's why someone watches saying "left" and "right"
I think its hard to run straight to a target without seeing what you're 
running to.
Does a coach or someone call out what field position the ball goes to?  In 
my game they do.  When your position is called you listen and locate the 
ball in the field.

You said
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."

We have the same problem.  Its not a small city but blind people are a small 
part of the population; those who want to play are even a smaller number.
Does your team do anything to get the word out about your need for players? 
Do you have a range of ages?  Ours have a number of ages playing.  Also 
although the announcement goes out to teachers of the vision impaired and 
the disability part of the rec department, I am not sure the word is spread 
about our playing.
So part of the problem stems from blind people not knowing what resources 
are out there.  There is a blind bowling league looking for members too; 
I've thought of joining but it takes a long time to get there and back.

I think we modified the rules to make it funner and to accomodate the 
multiple handicaps as well.  So its interesting to  clarify the real rules.
Good discussion.
Ashley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jennifer Boylan" <jaboylan at gmail.com>
To: <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 1:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] Beep Baseball Regs

> 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!)
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