Team USA blind soccer player helps develop youth sports program
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
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."