Five-year-old Russell Dorn was one of the first players to participate in Kansas City’s Beep Kickball games, an adaptation of kickball in which the balls and the bases make different sounds to help kids with vision problems navigate the field. Now 11, Dorn is still hearing the beeps, the hollers and cheers from parents and coaches. He's itching to take his turn at home plate.
“I think it's a really fun game to play, it's awesome,” Dorn said at a tournament on a recent sunny, September morning.
Dorn has a condition known as albinism, in which the body makes little or no melanin, the pigment that colors the hair and skin. The condition also affects development of the eyes and can create vision problems. Dorn’s eyes are acutely sensitive to light, which makes it difficult for him to see his way to the field.
The audio adaptations have allowed Dorn, and dozens of other kids who are legally blind or have other visual impairments, to enjoy the exercise, collegiality, confidence and sportsmanship inherent in team sports.
Since its Kansas City debut in 2018, the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired, Alphapointe, The Whole Person and the Kansas State School for the Blind have turned Beep Kickball into a month-long tournament each autumn. Participation has skyrocketed 61% this year over 2023.
Organizers say they’re filling a void left by public schools that don’t have the resources to offer younger students the same robust schedule of extracurricular activities their sighted classmates enjoy.
Scott Coder with Alphapointe said Beep Kickball helps kids form healthy habits while also building a sense of community.
“We want to get them outside and show them that they’re capable,” he said, watching the excited group of kids on the sidelines and on the field. Coder said 28 children have signed up so far this year, the most they’ve ever had in Kansas City's program.
What is Beep Kickball?
In 2010, Judy Byrd was a volunteer with the Atlanta Beep Baseball team and noticed all the players were older teens, even adults. She wanted to create a sport for visually impaired kids that they could easily learn.
Beep Kickball has now spread across North America and the nonprofit Beep Kickball Association sells the noise-making equipment to schools for the blind and visually impaired nationwide. All staff are volunteers and profits go to fund Camp Abilities, a week-long educational sports camp for visually impaired children. Kansas City has had Beep Kickball tournaments every year.
The game is a modified version of the kickball game for sighted people. It uses specialized equipment — a ball that emits a buzzing noise and bases the give off a beeping sound once a volunteer flips a switch.
Kids are blindfolded with black eye masks to level the field among a group with differing degrees of impairment. After kicking the ball, the person must reach the base before someone on the opposing team finds the ball and lifts it above their head. At that point, the runner is out. There are only two bases in the game, with six innings and three outs per inning.
Part of a broader curriculum
The game is a way for CCVI to implement its Expanded Core Curriculum. ECC has nine different educational elements, including sensory efficiency, assistive technology, orientation and mobility, social interaction, self-determination, independent living and career education.
Connor Uptegrove, a spokesman for CCVI, said the goals are meant to help children navigate adult life, regardless of their ability to see. They get life lessons, he said, in peer interaction, environment navigation and the spirit of competition.
He said the kickball games address the recreation and leisure element.
“There’s a huge, huge need for individuals who are blind and visually impaired and have multiple disabilities to really have a chance to grow some confidence that's going to propel them forward,” Uptegrove said. "Team sports provide this in a unique way.”
CCVI estimates there are approximately 1,400 blind students up to age 21 in Missouri and around 900 in Kansas. Many are under-diagnosed at schools that do not cater to kids who have vision problems.
“We find and screen and evaluate them to be able to get them that proper diagnosis and get the interventions that they want,” Uptegrove said.
Most of the Beep Kickball volunteers are current and former educators.
After the game on Saturday, students returned to the classroom to break down what they learned.
One may voice his frustration that he missed a turn at the plate. Others will point out their own struggles. Through the debrief, volunteers gather feedback and data they can then integrate into their classroom lesson plans. CCVI's aim is to prepare children for less restrictive environments where their vision limitations do not hold them back.
Measuring success
Success is hard to quantify, Uptegrove said, but CCVI tracks how well its students advance through normal sighted tasks and activities.
For example, 19-year-old Isaac McBurney graduated from CCVI and was a former Beep Kickball participant. McBurney was born 26 weeks premature which caused him to have something called “retinopathy of prematurity," in which retinas do not fully develop.
“I can see a little bit, like, I can tell you're standing there, I just can't really tell very many details about you,” McBurney said.
McBurney said he was left out of high school gym activities growing up. Beep Kickball gave him the opportunity he missed in school. He's now a volunteer at the tournaments.
As a young adult, McBurney decided to challenge himself physically. In June, he participated in the MR-340, a canoe and kayak race from Kansas City to St. Louis on the Missouri River.
With the help of his partner, he completed the race in a matter of days, a demonstration of strength to himself, but more importantly, to others.
”I just wanted to show people that blindness is not the biggest thing in your life and that you can accomplish things through vision loss,” he said.
Russell Dorn has taken inspiration from McBurney and hopes to pursue other activities.
"Blind Soccer seems kind of interesting. I've done it once," Dorn said. "I did regular kickball, and I didn't know how to play. So that's something”
Mary Rose Bushland, an 18-year-old volunteer, now coaches Beep Kickball with her father. After seven years, she’s pursuing other sports like swimming and track. She is also one of two key members of the band known as The Spin Rockers back in her home state of Texas.
In 2024, the band won Artist of the Year from Texas Art Spark, a nonprofit that operates at the intersection of arts, education and disability.
“In anything you do, whether it's Beep Kickball or not, (we want these kids) to try hard, play hard, and have fun,” Bushland said.
