Bells and whistles: Visually impaired students play soccer at U.S. Sports Academy

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A special clinic put on by a former graduate of the United States Sports Academy taught the visually impaired how to play soccer.

“To come back here and put on a clinic for blind soccer, it’s amazing, it’s wonderful,” said Head Coach for the U.S. Men’s National Paralympic Blind Soccer Team Ryan Lazaroe.

Coach Lazaroe put on a blind soccer clinic at his alma mater.

He said he graduated from the U.S. Sports Academy in 2009 with a bachelor’s in sports coaching and said he had two major goals for the clinic on Friday.

“It was to spread that awareness to just let people know we do have a national team that number one you can play for if you are visually impaired, and number two another team USA that you can root for when the time comes,” he said.

The Spanish Fort High School Soccer team was invited to the clinic to learn how to play blind soccer as well as help coach students from The Callahan School for the Deaf and Blind.

Varsity Head Soccer Coach at Spanish Fort High Jason Bauer said he was surprised by some aspects of how it’s played.

“It was surprising that the ball moves as quickly as it does,” Coach Bauer said. “I think that it would be a lot harder to move it with just sound.”

The soccer balls have bells inside of them so players can follow the sound of the ball and there are also guides on the field to give directions.

The Spanish fort team didn’t just help but got the chance to learn the game from a different perspective by putting on eye covers and playing blind.

“I think once you put those eye shades on and you kind of experience what these blind athletes are doing, it kind of freaks people out because they’re used to playing sighted soccer but talking with the players and the coach…the communication aspect is just on another level,” said Coach Lazaroe.

Dyland Gaynor plays soccer for Spanish Fort and he said being a guide was a lot harder than he expected.

“When you’re not aware of your surroundings it’s very hard to tell them ‘turn 90 degrees or turn all the way around’ cause they really don’t know where they are,” said Gaynor. “Or when you say ‘go straight’ they don’t know where they’re really going so you have to be very specific in how you’re telling them to move because they really have no idea what they’re doing themselves…you’re just guiding them.”

A student at The Callahan School for the Deaf and Blind admitted she was hesitant to kick the ball at first.

“I kind of didn’t want to do it but when I saw other people doing it I was like ‘You know what? I might as well do it myself’,” said Torreigh Williams. “It was kind of easier than what I expected honestly.”

Coach Lazaroe was named head coach just a few months ago but he already has a big vision for his team.

“A big goal for us is to be ranked number one in the world as a new national team so after playing Japan and England, we’ve accomplished that so we’re just waiting for January 1 to see where we fall in the world rankings,” he said.

Coach Lazaroe said his goal is to proudly represent the country at the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles.

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