Team USA blind soccer player helps develop youth sports program
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Oseas De Leon (right) playing blind soccer. Photo: Courtesy of Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Oseas De Leon started playing soccer at 3 years old when he lost his eyesight. Now, at age 45, he's living out his dream as a member of the USA Blind Soccer Men's National Team.
Why it matters: De Leon, a senior technology specialist at Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, helped the nonprofit launch its new blind soccer program to teach children the sport.
How it works: Blind soccer, a Paralympic sport since 2004, is played between teams of visually impaired players and two sighted or partially sighted goalies, using special balls that make noise when they're kicked.
- Blind soccer uses a smaller goal and pitch, bordered by "kick boards" denoting what's inbounds.
- Team USA will make its Paralympic debut in 2028.
What they're saying: De Leon, who moved to Miami from Guatemala in 2000, tells Axios he had been practicing soccer by himself when he got the opportunity to try out for Team USA in 2023.
- "The game is in my head. I visualize the field. That's the kind of training that I have."
Meanwhile, De Leon is a project consultant on Miami Lighthouse's new youth soccer program, funded by a grant from the Children's Trust.
- The program teaches children as young as 1 year old – and adults as old as 21 – how to play.
- Miami Lighthouse added a mini soccer pitch to its campus earlier this month.
- Virginia Jacko, CEO and president at Miami Lighthouse, tells Axios the nonprofit developed its own curriculum for young students.
The bottom line: De Leon says it's important to expose children to outdoor activities at a young age so they get used to physical interactions.
- Jacko says blind children are sometimes over-protected by parents but should be treated like their sighted peers.
- "Sighted kids are gonna fall, sighted kids are gonna get a bloody nose. What's wrong with a blind kid?"
What's next: De Leon says Team USA has several tournaments this year and he's not stressing about whether he'll make the 2028 Los Angeles games.
- It's an honor to be on the team now, playing with guys in their 20s and 30s, he said.
- "I'm enjoying it year by year, month by month, day by day. It's incredible."
