[Sportsandrec] How Did we Play Them?

Sat Jan 3 03:55:19 UTC 2009

Well Pete,
In second, third, and fourth grades I played basketball at Sunnyside 
Elementary in Greene County Tennessee. I was a good rebounder and passer, 
even as a wee lad I liked to bang.
 Football was played in fifth through eighth grades at Doak Elementary 
school in Greene County. Sixth through eighth grades were played as a 
legally blind person, I did not realize that was a big deal until Mike 
brought it up here. I played offensive and defensive lines. There is some 
kind of award they named after me at my school started my 8th  grade year 
some business called a courage award with my name on it. My cousin, who 
played there, told me about some kid winning it and I said, "you're shittin 
me" "I thought that was something they made up on the fly" I never thought 
they would actually give it to anybody else lol. This is almost twenty years 
ago now. On offense I generally played center and was a good drive blocker 
much better than at pulling. On defense I played nose tackle  and was lined 
up directly over the center. I loved the nose as you watched the ball and 
just nailed the center. If you got just the right jump on the ball and 
really shot forward, you could drive the center back into the quarterback 
knocking both down. I played end before my vision worsened and moved inside 
as it decreased.
In seventh and eighth grades I played soccer at the YMCA on a team called 
the Chargers. I remember we wore green uniforms. I went to soccer because I 
wanted to participate in a second  sport and soccer seemed to be really 
doable with my vision at the time. I cared very much about blending in and 
being compedative even and maybe especially then. Those were really tough 
days, the going blind part. I loved soccer though and wish I did it as a 
little kid. I would have been much better than I was and I was pretty good 
even still lol. I played fullback, basicly defense, and centerhalfback, 
which is the distributor of the ball. Centerhalf was awesome as you play 
offense and defense and run up and down the entire field, it fits my hyper 
hand in all pots personality really well.
As I believe I have stated here before, one of the first ways I could tell I 
was losing vision was when in sixth grade and playing Little League my 
ability to hit sank like a drowning person who is weighted.
In high school at the Tennessee School for the Blind sophomore through 
senior years,  I wrestled, rand track, and swam. Wrestling was my favorite 
by far.  I wrestled 160, 171, and 189 depending on what parts of the season 
it was. How's that for giving weights Ashley lol? Sadly, I haven't seen 
those weights in many years though I wouldn't want to be lower than 189 
today.  I swam the 50 and 100 free, 100 butterfly, the 200 individual medly, 
and all three relays swimming fly on the medly relay. I threw shot, 
sprinted, and did jumps in track.
The things I liked most in all these were the competition but mostly the 
comradery. I loved the practices and the bus rides with my teams. I relished 
the work we put in and suffered together.
There's my bio,  what are some of yours?
"Those were the best days of my life" Summer of 69 Brian Adams
JSNM
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List" 
<sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 7:24 PM
Subject: [Sportsandrec] How Did we Play Them?


> Hello Karen and listers,
>
>    I hope I'm not the only one who participated in sports during my school
> years prior to the development of games like Goal Ball and Beep Baseball.
> Perhaps others should weigh in and share their sporting experience to
> enlighten us all. I think this would make a great article for 
> "Competition
> Corner."
>
>    Let me say publically that Karen is a wonderful person to work with. 
> She
> and I worked together last spring to make audio-only versions of the
> "Straight Talk About Vision Loss" video series produced by the Jernigan
> Institute available. Likewise Mary and I hope you had a blessed holiday
> season too. Now to eat some supper.
>
> Peter Donahue
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Karen Zakhnini" <kaycee510 at hotmail.com>
> To: <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 02, 2009 4:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [Sportsandrec] Adapting Sports for the Blind
>
>
>
> Hey there Peter,
>
> I completely understand where you are coming from, and, as I said, I agree
> with much of what you say.  I hope that you had a great holiday.  Please
> tell Mary "hello" for me.
>
> Karen Zakhnini
>
> "Was it something I said or something I did
> Did my words not come out right"
> Every Rose Has Its Thorn--Poison> From: pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net> To:
> sportsandrec at nfbnet.org> Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2009 18:07:57 -0600> Subject:
> [Sportsandrec] Adapting Sports for the Blind> > Hello Karen and listers,> 
>  >
> The only thing I'll say about it all is that my personal experience >
> playing conventional baseball with the adaptations made for blind players 
>  >
> prior to the development of beep baseball flies directly in the face of >
> everything that has been said. We had our share of injuries but never >
> received bad press over it. I went to the Oak Hill and the Perkins Schools 
>  >
> for the Blind. There we played all sports according to the rules for 
> sighted
> > players with only the adaptations necessary to accommodate byline 
> > players.
> > Some of these included running lines to guide blind track runners who
> chose > to use them, pitching baseballs on the bounce from the normal
> distance, > wrestling matches starting from a standing position with both
> opponents > touching fingers, metronomes placed on basketball hoops and
> archery targets > so blind players knew where they were, the use of 
> bowling
> alley rails to > help blind bowlers line up to throw the ball, inclines to
> allow > wheelchair-bound blind persons to bowl, I think you get the idea.
> Balloons > were also placed on the archery targets so the participant knew
> when they > hit it. They popped when struck by the arrows. And all of this
> before I > found the National Federation of the Blind.> > Thus the 
> comments
> I've made on this subject are deeply rooted in my own > experience. 
> Perhaps
> now It's easier to understand my shock and disgust when > this thread 
> began
> and the concerns coming out of it. While I'm still not big > on schools 
> for
> the blind for totally unrelated reasons I'm relieve to know > that they 
> did
> some things right. Now to finish up a Web Site. Happy new year > from Mary
> and myself.> > Peter Donahue> > >
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