What is the charity's mission?:
To enrich the lives of those who are visually impaired or blind through participation in a sport- beep kickball.

Why should your charity win?:
If my charity wins, I hope it will help my goal be realized sooner than later. My goal is to give every person who is blind or visually impaired the opportunity to share the benefits of playing sports on a team!

There are currently just three coed teams in Atlanta, but there is a desire to have many, many more. All we need are players of all ages and volunteers to help.

I hope this helps explain beep kickball:


Everybody remembers playing kickball in recess. And now, you can even play in an adult kickball league, unless -- you are blind. People who are visually impaired don't have those childhood memories because they were sitting on the sidelines- until now. Beep kickball is a new sport available to all ages who are visually impaired or blind- preschoolers, young children, teens, young adults and yes, even seniors!

Beep kickball is an adapted sport for the blind. The main difference is- they play with their ears, not their eyes! It is played with a ten inch soft foam beeping ball on a baseball diamond. There are only two bases, first and third, and they buzz. There is no pitcher, no running all the way around the bases and no throwing the ball.

There are six players on each team and they all wear blindfolds to equalize their differences in vision. The kicker kicks the ball and runs to the base that buzzes. If he tags the base before a fielder picks up the ball, he scores a run. But if a fielder picks up the ball before he tags the base, he's out. Three outs, six innings, game over!

Now, children can get the same benefits of playing sports as their sighted peers- camaraderie, exercise, teamwork and best of all, lessons in sportsmanship. But the benefits to this group go beyond the obvious. Movement has always been an issue for those who are visually impaired. But now, children will have an opportunity to develop agility at a very young age via kicking, running and fielding.

And adults, especially those who are newly blind, can benefit immensely from playing a team sport. They have the opportunity to do something they thought they would never do again- get outside and play sports. The weekly activity of being part of a team will help many aspects of their rehabilitation- redeveloping independence, sharing their situation with others going through the same thing and just plain having fun again.

This sport was started in Atlanta where you can play outside all year long. This summer, beep kickball is being played for the first time in dozens of camps for visually impaired children throughout the nation. It is our hope that this fall, the sport will spread to all the Schools for the Blind as well as all public schools, changing the age old problem of those with a disability sitting on the sidelines during PE.

And the biggest benefit to those involved in blind sports is one that transfers to everyday life, and it's a benefit that all ages enjoy- taking a risk and trying something new. They all say "If I can do this, I can do anything!" And they can!