COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — Beep baseball is giving visually impaired athletes an opportunity to compete across the country.
The Outlaws will host the Aggieland Tournament on Saturday at the Bryan Regional Athletic Complex.
The game looks a little different than traditional baseball, featuring a bigger ball and only two bases. But for athlete Justin Romack and his teammates, being a part of this team is where he found his community.
"You know, when I started playing this game, I didn't hardly know any blind people, and it felt really, really lonely, very isolating, and, you know, honestly, with this game, I connected with people who were living like me, who experienced the world like I do, and community and connection are everything. And so we go out there, we play hard, we come off the field, and you know, we share life together and it's a beautiful thing," Romack said.
The sport is just as much about having people who understand each other's day-to-day struggles as it is about competing on the field.
"I could talk about, uh, making a wrong turn while I'm, I'm walking on campus and people get that. They get that experience, they get the resilience that you have to develop, uh, going through that. And so we can come together, um, and we can kind of lean on one another through those situations. Uh, I've learned some of the, uh, the strongest problem solving skills by working with my peers on this field, on and off, right? And so, uh, I am a stronger, more confident, more capable blind person because of the community I share out here," Romack said.
For Romack and his teammates, playing beep baseball also makes up for lost opportunities.
"I didn't get to play competitive sports when I was a kid, you know. I had an eye condition that was really fragile. My eyes were really sensitive. I had about 100 eye surgeries before I finally lost my eyesight, and so we were very protective of my eyes, my head, you know," Romack Said.
"and so I didn't get to do a lot of team sports, and, you know, when kids, young people, Grow up doing, uh, competitive sports where you're a part of something bigger than yourself, uh, you, you start to learn how do I contribute to a group, how do I contribute to, uh, the end goal and so out here it's about communication, it's about collaboration, it's about, uh, pushing one another, motivation, uh, encouragement."
For more information about the team, visit their Facebook page.
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