[SportsandRec] Introduction

Sun Sep 15 20:30:11 UTC 2019

Hi everyone. I am a participant in Ski for Light, which is an organization that pairs a vision impaired and and a sighted person to go cross country skiing. We meet every year for a week in a different location and enjoy some time on the snow. Pairs ski in parallel tracks, with the guide teaching and giving directions while skiing next to the blind or VI person. The website for Ski for Light is www.sfl.org.
This year, we are skiing in Casper Wyoming in mid-February, which I know is a fair distance from you. I believe you live in Pennsylvania. SFL has regional groups that host both winter and summer activities and there is a group in Northeast Pennsylvania.  You can find it here: https://www.sfl.org/events/regionals/#NPRSFL 

Also, a group of us developed some exercise materials to help people prepare for skiing. Of course, they are general and can be used for any type of fitness and conditioning. They include tips for the beginner as well as more advanced exercises. You can find them here:  https://www.sfl.org/new/resources/ 

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Bonnie O'Day

-----Original Message-----
From: SportsandRec <sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Caitlin Best via SportsandRec
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2019 2:52 PM
To: Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Caitlin Best <bestca21 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [SportsandRec] Introduction

Ashley,
Thanks a lot for all the info. I actually follow the National Beep Baseball Association on Facebook. Unfortunately, in Northeastern Pennsylvania, we don't have a beep ball team. I believe the closest to me would be either Philly or New York City, which by bus would be about 3 to 4 hours away. A family member and I will begin a walking/running routine tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that. My area doesn't have a lot in the way of  good public transit/paratransit, and Uber and Lyft tend to cost a lot in my area since it's so spread out. I'll look into purchasing a beep baseball though. I could always end up playing by myself if need be. I should also mention, ice hockey is so fun, but blind ice hockey teams are again pretty far away from me in NYC. I could get back into ice skating/rollerblading which I haven't considered until right now. I did find a site to adapt a volleyball and found out that many schools for the blind in Japan offer blind volleyball. I need to find out more about that to see how accurate the site was since I have a few Japanese friends who are blind and attended schools for the blind.
I'll look into getting a tether as well. Unfortunately, stand-alone bikes aren't very friendly to me and i end up getting motion sick, which I wonder if I'm the only one who has that problem?
Again, I appreciate all your advice.
Cheers,
Caitlin

On 9/15/19, Ashley Bramlett via SportsandRec <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Caitlin,
>
> I hope you find a sport you like if you are interested in that but 
> definitely exercise regularly.
> I wanted to add to my comments from earlier. I think you would like 
> beep baseball given your prior interest in soft ball. If there Is a 
> team nearby, give it a try. It’s a game for blind players and athletes 
> who wish to compete can go to the World Series. The National Beep 
> Baseball Association is www.nbba.org. If there is no organized team 
> nearby, you could still buy a beep ball and play informally with 
> friends if you have some. I grew up playing a recreational form of 
> beep ball; we did not really play by all the rules but had fun and 
> they did keep score. We also hit the ball from a tee instead of a 
> pitched ball. I did not have the coordination for pitched balls so 
> this worked best for me. Real beep ball is more strict though and 
> played with pitched balls. Also they give you four tries to hit the ball and if you cannot do it, you strike out.
>
> You’d have better success finding a running guide than finding a beep 
> ball team.
> Running can be fun and you can do it for a fun sport for yourself or 
> compete. I know a few blind half marathon runners. I know a blind guy 
> or two who have completed triatholons.
> You can hold hands of your guide or use a flexible connecting rope 
> type thing called a tether. A tether can be a rope or lanyard or belt, 
> just something flexible.
>
> Here are websites to check out about blind running.
> Vision Aware
> https://www.visionaware.org/info/everyday-living/recreation-and-leisur
> e/sports-and-exercise/running-2805/1235
>
> Access to Fitness: Running Techniques
> https://www.nchpad.org/110/856/Visually~Impaired~~Blind~~and~Deafblind
> I hope you are able to find something you enjoy and meets your goals.
>
> HTH,
> Ashley
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: Kociaba Fitness via SportsandRec <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Sep 14, 2019 6:44 PM
>>To: 'Sports and Recreation for the Blind Discussion List'
>> <sportsandrec at nfbnet.org>
>>Cc: Kociaba Fitness <kociabafitness at gmail.com>
>>Subject: Re: [SportsandRec] Introduction
>>
>>Hi Caitlin,
>>First welcome to the list.
>>My name is Bill Kociaba and I am a personal trainer in south florida 
>>and am totally blind.  I have been working both in person and long 
>>distance with blind and partially sighted clients for sevral years.
>>I would be happy to do anything I can to help you.  You can contact me 
>>off list at kociabafitness at gmail.com Just to be clear I am not looking 
>>for business just offering to help if I can.
>>Bill
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: SportsandRec [mailto:sportsandrec-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf 
>>Of Caitlin Best via SportsandRec
>>Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 6:33 PM
>>To: sportsandrec at nfbnet.org
>>Cc: Caitlin Best
>>Subject: [SportsandRec] Introduction
>>
>>Hello everyone,
>>I am new to the list, but not to the NFB. I hope you all are doing 
>>well. I have recently gone to the doctor and was told I need to start 
>>dieting and exercising more regularly. When I was younger, I used to 
>>play softball and volleyball with partial vision, however now I only 
>>have light perception. I'd like to get back into the sports I played 
>>when I was younger or perhaps start running or any other type of 
>>exercise really. I'm open to any and all ideas.
>>Thanks for your help and I look forward to talking to you more.
>>Cheers,
>>Caitlin
>>
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