Blind Phys Ed professor teaches Texas college students about Beep Baseball

From the Denton Record-Chronicle in Texas:

While blindfolded, kinesiology students at Texas Woman’s University tried their hands at games similar to air hockey and baseball Oct. 12.

They competed by following the sounds of rattling and beeping balls and baseball bases that buzz.

The games were part of a presentation on games for the visually impaired taught by former U.S. Paralympics and Olympic athlete James Mastro. His presentation continues Oct. 13.

Mastro, a TWU alumnus, is a physical education professor from Bemidji State University in Minnesota. He’s taking a one-year sabbatical to travel to camps, universities and conventions around the world to teach adapted physical education students and future coaches how to play games for the blind.

Mastro was born blind in his right eye and lost his sight completely as a teenager.

He earned a doctorate in physical education from TWU in 1985, and he has represented the U.S. in both Paralympic and Olympic events. Mastro said he’s been lucky for the opportunities afforded to him.

For future blind athletes to have the same opportunities, he said, people need to teach them the rules of play.

“I believe a person should have a complete life, and a complete life to me is participation in sports and athletics, which is oftentimes overlooked for those disabled,” Mastro said.

Mastro told students how he lost his sight but went on to compete and win medals in wrestling, judo, and track and field.

He taught students about two games for the blind: Power Shootout, a combination of air hockey and pingpong, and Beep Baseball (pictured), in which the ball beeps and bases buzz to direct players.

Then the students were blindfolded to compete.

Mastro said he wanted the students to experience games unfamiliar to them so they could one day coach youths for competition. He said he enjoys working “with students that are eager to learn and interested in something new.”

Dr. Ron Davis, an adapted physical education professor at TWU, studied with Mastro in the 1980s. Now, he teaches an undergraduate kinesiology course on sports for the disabled.

He said Mastro’s presentation shows that there are sports for everybody and that a disability doesn’t have to be a limitation.

TWU student Izzy Babe, who plans to work in corporate fitness training, said what she learned from Mastro will be of great help. Babe said the class forced her to use all of her senses and to pay close attention — lessons that will help disabled people she may assist.

“I actually loved it because you think outside of the box,” she said. “Going through the motions helps you realize what they [the visually impaired] realize.”