William Kuzmin, an attorney at the law firm of Cohen, Placitella & Roth, has been volunteering as a team coach for the New Jersey Lightning. The New Jersey Lightning is New Jersey's first, and only, blind baseball team.
Sponsored by the Association of Blind Athletes of New Jersey (ABANJ), the Lightning provides blind athletes with an opportunity to play baseball. The goal of the AMANJ is to provide New Jersey's over 200,000 blind residents with the opportunity to play baseball.
"The NJ Lightning's stated mission is to empower blind and visually impaired athletes to play beep baseball as well as other sports," the statement says. "New Jersey Lightning also wishes to raise awareness for all of New Jersey's 290,000 blind and visually impaired residents."
"The team's further mission is to help the sighted community better understand the capabilities of the blind and visually impaired community."
"It is a privilege to be involved with the Lightning", says Kuzmin. "It's really an inspiration to watch these athletes not allow themselves' to be limited because of their visual impairments, but rather go out and compete at such a high level."
To learn more about The New Jersey Lightning, please visit their fan page on Facebook at, http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Jersey-Lightning-Beep-Baseball/ 122422584434827?ref=mf. The Lightning has been featured in a number of news stories, which can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg0EvMTV28Q
http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2010/05/meet_new_jerseys_blind_basebal.html
http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/news/2010-0617/Front_Page/Baseball_for_the_visually_impaired_comes_to_NJ.html
