WBSC Academy: Baseball for the Blind technical course for coaches now available, introduction course re-opened

WBSC Academy: Baseball for the Blind technical course for coaches now available, introduction course re-opened
10/05/2021
WBSC is offering the coursework in both English and Spanish.

The WBSC Academy has added new tools to boost the development of Baseball for the Blind, publishing the first part of a technical course for coaches as well as making available the introductory course to the discipline to the public.

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- Federations participate in Baseball for the Blind introductory course

The introduction course targets WBSC's National Federations. It aims to introduce the participants to the history of the discipline and the basics of the game: rules, field specifications and equipment required to play. The course also lists some recommendations to introduce and grow the sport at the national level.

Tom Nagel, the chairman of the WBSC Paralympic Commission, will hold the course in English. Nagel, the French Blind Baseball Association (ABBF) president, is a pioneer of the discipline in France.

Eva Trevisan of the Italian Association Baseball for the Blind (AIBxC, a WBSC Associate Member) will run the course in Spanish.

Trevisan is a former Olympic softball player playing baseball for the blind as a sighted assistant.

The technical course targets mainly coaches. However, the seminar is also open to anyone with baseball or softball experience, including active or former players. In addition, the course highlights the benefit that blind and visually impaired people receive through baseball.

The course teaches how to introduce players to the basics of the game. The first part expands on the teaching of baserunning and sliding.

Parts two and three, to be released in the coming months, will focus on fielding, throwing and hitting. Pat Ahearne, a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher and a National Pitching Association Level 5 Master certified coach, will hold the course in English.

Ahearne has extensive playing and coaching experience in the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

The lecturer in Spanish will be Giacomo Reina of the Italian baseball for the blind club, Milan Thunder Five.

Reina is also a member of the AIBxC international relations group for the promotion and growth of baseball for the blind.

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