Northwest Association for Blind Athletes

PHOTO COURTESY OF NWABA.

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

“I think a lot of people get scared by the word ‘athletes’, and the first thing I always say is that I myself do not identify as an athlete,” laughed Sam Picciano, Idaho Program Manager for the Northwest Association for Blind Athletes. “We level our events from beginner to intermediate to advanced, and we have athletes from beginner to elite all mixed in. Our youngest participant is five years old and our oldest is around 85.”

The Northwest Association for Blind Athletes (NWABA), which hosts virtual events nationally, as well as in-person events in Idaho, Washington, Montana, and Oregon, pairs volunteers with blind athletes to make recreation safe and fun for everyone. e organization was started by CEO Billy Henry—who is legally blind—in 2007 when he was only 15 and wanted to participate in powerlifting with his friends. From there, the program grew to four different core programs. In Idaho, Picciano is focused on sports outreach, which engages the blindness community in seasonal adapted sports events like hiking, tandem bike riding, and skiing—Boise favorites that, thanks to the NWABA, are becoming more accessible for everyone.

From leisurely hikes to team sports, NWABA athletes compete in familiar activities and learn new ones alongside dedicated volunteers.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NWABA.

Some of the athletes that NWABA works with have been blind since birth, while others have become blind through accident or progressive vision disease. Picciano explained that there are athletes who have never seen the motion of walking up to home plate and kicking a ball, so they might begin with foundational concepts—or they might work with someone who hasn’t played kickball since they were 16 and fully sighted. “This winter, we partnered with Boise Adaptive Snowsport Education (BASE), and we had many of our adult athletes who had lost their vision later in life skiing again for the first time. It’s things like that that make this the best job in the world,” she said.

The reception in Boise, which is the newest office, has been warm. “Idaho is such an active state that we’ve just seen incredible reception for our programs,” Picciano said.

Sam Picciano, Idaho Program Manager, says that volunteers are a cornerstone of NWABA programming.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NWABA.

In fact, athletes are so dedicated that one even planned her wedding around their event cadence. And it makes sense—Idahoans are notoriously outdoorsy, and this area was hungry for the kind of programming that the NWABA is offering. “We found a need in the area, especially with the way Boise is growing,” explained Sue Warren, NWABA’s Senior Director of Development & Communications.

Part of that need is because blindness is the lowest incidence disability population, which means that there are fewer wraparound services after blind students graduate. “There isn’t much support after graduation, especially in recreation and leisure activities,” Picciano said. “So the athletes are 100% our biggest advocates and supporters, and then our volunteers. They have really just been coming out of the woodwork, really building a strong pipeline here.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF NWABA.

The Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind and the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired are the NWABA’s biggest blindness partners, often referring folks to their programming, but Picciano has been hard at work forging additional community partnerships. Right now, she’s in talks with Boise State University and a few local high schools and hopes to engage and educate younger generations. Picciano is excited about the program’s expansion for younger athletes as well as volunteers. “It’s really important to get kids with visual impairments involved as early as possible,” she said.

Before her Master’s program, Picciano says that she’d never even met a blind person, which is one of the reasons she and the NWABA are doing the work to educate around blindness awareness. “I think a lot of people want to do their part and they just don’t know what that equality looks like. We want to empower them,” she said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NWABA.

NWABA relies on support from volunteers to help provide safety, audio descriptions, skill building, and athlete support, and they’d love to hear from IdaHome readers. Visit https://nwaba. org/get-involved/volunteer/ to learn more about how to engage and provide these life-changing opportunities!