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Episodes
Eyes Free Sports explores sports and recreation activities for blind and visually impaired individuals.
Episodes
Saturday Aug 06, 2022
Saturday Aug 06, 2022
In Episode 69 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, Neal McDonald, a.k.a. “Neal Dawg,” joined the conversation. A longtime beep baseball player himself and current advocate and commentator on this adaptive sport, McDonald discussed:
- His personal background and how he suddently went blind
- How he got into beep baseball and his career highlights
- An overview of the major offseason moves around the National Beep Baseball Association league before the 2022 season kicked off
- His initial thoughts going into the 2022 NBBA World Series in Beaumont, TX
- A recap of each round of the World Series and his thoughts on how everything shook out leading up to the championship game
- Recapping the championship game between the Indy Edge and San Antonio Jets
- Looking ahead to the 2023 beep baseball season
- His YouTube Channel and what inspired him to start a show on beep baseball
Learn more about beep baseball and the National Beep Baseball Association at http://nbba.org/.
Check out The Beepball Blues Show on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ_HllNIoY5xLnhMVwVVGbQ.
Saturday Jul 23, 2022
Saturday Jul 23, 2022
In Episode 68 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we chat with Krista Giannik, an entrepreneur in the PR and writing space who also happens to be a versatile adaptive athlete. During the interview, Giannik spoke about:
- Where she was born and grew up
- Her visual impairment
- Her education and early career
- Her current small business – Wise Words That Matter, and what inspired her to become her own boss
- How she got into adaptive sports, specifically snow skiing and water skiing
- The adaptations of snow and water skiing for the blind
- How sports have positively impacted her life
- Advice to the blind and visually impaired on the benefits of participating in sports and recreation
- Her contact info
Check out her business website at http://www.wisewordsthatmatter.com.
Explore the programs offered through Third Eye Insight at http://thirdeyeinsight.org.
Learn more about the Leaps of Faith (LOF) Adaptive Skiers program at http://lofadaptiveskiers.org.
Check out Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports at http://vermontadaptive.org.
Saturday Jul 09, 2022
Saturday Jul 09, 2022
In Episode 67 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we visit with Jasen Bracy II, a visually impaired football player from California, along with his dad, Jasen Bracy. The father and son discussed:
- Jasen’s childhood and visual impairment
- The long journey of dealing with his diagnosis and ultimately several medical procedures he had to endure as a youngster
- His education and getting into playing sports
- How he has played mainstream baseball and some unique adaptations to make the sport accessible to him
- How he got into playing mainstream football and how his dad has supported him with “live audio description” in his helmet
- His dad’s approach to describing his surroundings while his son is on the field
- The positions he has played on both offense and defense
- Their messages to visually impaired kids and their parents about having a “can-do” attitude when it comes to being successful in sports and life in general
Saturday Jun 25, 2022
Saturday Jun 25, 2022
In Episode 66 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, our guest is Sensei Devin Fernandez form New York. A visually impaired martial artist who runs a nonprofit providing adaptive sports, Fernandez spoke about:
- Where he was born and grew up
- Sports he played as a kid
- His education and ultimately getting to run his own small business
- A freak accident that happened to him while on the job, temporarily blinding him
- Being diagnosed with a visual impairment and his adjustment to vision loss
- What inspired him to get into martial arts and why he decided to teach these practices to the blind and visually impaired
- The programs and recreational activities Third Eye Insight, his organization, offers
- Why there are so many benefits for people with disabilities to experience sports and recreation, and how the general public benefits from seeing these activities as well
- His guide dog named after a candy brand and how she has benefited his life in so many ways
- How people can learn more about his organization
Learn more about Third Eye Insight at http://thirdeyeinsight.org. Contact Devin via email at senseidevin.thirdeyeinsight@gmail.com or by phone at 631-445-3464.
Saturday Jun 11, 2022
Saturday Jun 11, 2022
In Episode 65 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we feature a Yin-style yoga session with Jillian Ricks. You might remember her from Episode 57 of our podcast. Jillian is a visually impaired certified yoga instructor from Tennessee, and she was generous enough to record this fully described yoga session for our listeners.
Learn more about her health and wellness business, Jillian’s Healing Arts Center, at http://www.jillianshealingartscenter.com. Contact her at jillianshealingartscenter@gmail.com.
Saturday May 28, 2022
Saturday May 28, 2022
In Episode 64 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, our guests are Kyle and Sean Borah, two visually impaired athletic brothers from the St. Louis, Missouri area. Both have been very involved in the adaptive sports of blind hockey and beep baseball over the past few years. During the conversation, they talked about:
- The same retinal condition they both have
- Their childhood growing up in the St. Louis area and their educational journeys
- Sports and recreation they participated in as kids
- Their college experiences attending Webster University, the degrees they earned, and their current jobs
- How Sean Borah’s comment on a Facebook live video led to establishing the St. Louis Blues Blind Hockey Club
- How the adaptive sport of blind hockey works and the rules of the game
- The positions they have played in blind hockey and what they enjoy most about this adaptive sport
- The Gateway Archers beep baseball team and their beep baseball careers
- An award Kyle Borah won for his beep baseball performance and a special message from a well-known St. Louis Cardinals player he received
- Other adaptive sports for the blind they have tried and would like to do more
- Their musical interests
Follow Sean Borah on Twitter at http://twitter.com/real_parmesean. Email him at seanborahz@gmail.com.
Follow Kyle Borah on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kyleborah.
Learn more about the St. Louis Blues Blind Hockey Club at https://www.stlbbhc.com/.
Learn more about the Gateway Archers beep baseball team at https://mindseyeradio.org/programs/beepball-program/gateway-archers/.
Saturday May 14, 2022
Saturday May 14, 2022
In Episode 63 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we visit with Michael Stone, a highly accomplished visually impaired endurance athlete who has competed in over 200 races in his life. He has also gotten into skiing and the biathlon in recent years. This is Part 2 of our conversation. During this segment, Stone spoke about:
- His perspectives on using different types of tethers and other methods of running and swimming with guides
- What inspired him to get into adaptive winter sports like skiing and the biathlon
- How the biathlon works for blind and visually impaired skiers
- His other recreational interests and how he does them as someone with a visual impairment
- His recent goals to help expand the availability of accessible mindfulness and meditation platforms to the blind community
- The relationship with his guide dog from Guiding Eyes for the Blind and how he can both run and ski with his dog
Saturday Apr 30, 2022
Saturday Apr 30, 2022
In Episode 62 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we visit with Michael Stone, a highly accomplished visually impaired endurance athlete who has competed in over 200 races in his life. He has also gotten into skiing and the biathlon in recent years. This is Part 1 of our conversation. During this segment, Stone spoke about:
- His early years growing up in the Midwest
- His visual impairment and relatives with the same condition, as well as research being done on degenerative retinal conditions through the Foundation Fighting Blindness and other organizations
- Why he has a positive outlook on having low vision
- Mainstream sports he competed in while he was visually impaired but before he was formally diagnosed, and when he realized it was not safe for him to do certain activities without a guide
- How he got into adaptive sports and the adaptive sports and recreation activities he competed in early on
- His perspective on the blind runner-guide relationship
Check out Stone’s book, Eye Envy: Perspectives into Vision Loss, on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Envy-Perspectives-into-Vision/dp/1427646740.
Saturday Apr 16, 2022
Saturday Apr 16, 2022
In Episode 61 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, our guest is Justin Holland, a blind bodybuilder, beep baseball player, and YouTuber. During the conversation, Holland chatted about:
- His early years, family, etc.
- Sports he played when he was fully sighted
- Losing his vision suddenly and his specific eye condition
- His guide dog from Guiding Eyes for the Blind
- Getting into adaptive sports
- His bodybuilding career and adaptations as a blind bodybuilder
- His beep baseball career
- His YouTube Channel and awareness he has raised about blindness and adaptive sports
- Future goals in sports, career, etc.
- How people can follow him online
Follow Justin Holland on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/justinnhollandd/.
Check out his YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/justinhollandfitness.
Contact him via email at justinhollandfitness@gmail.com.
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
Saturday Apr 02, 2022
In Episode 60 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we meet Dan Berlin, a highly accomplished endurance athlete and entrepreneur. Berlin talked about:
- His early years and diagnosis of a visual impairment
- His education and early career
- Getting into adaptive sports and endurance activities
- How he has found guides for running, swimming and cycling and what makes a successful team
- His experience competing in marathons, including the 2013 Boston Marathon and the bombing of that event
- His experience competing in triathlons
- Running in the Grand Canyon and some other cool places he has run in or summited around the world
- Why he started Team See Possibilities and what the mission of the organization is
- His experience working with blind youth and adults around the world, including helping to provide more access to education and adaptive sports
Learn more about Berlin’s organization, Team See Possibilities, as well as an overview of his many adaptive endurance adventures at http://www.teamseepossibilities.com/.