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AIRS was formed and is led by community volunteers, most of whom are University of Georgia graduates or students.

UGA multimedia feature

Ah spring. The smell of leather gloves. The crack of the bat. The beep of the baseball?

Yes. As spring looms just a few weeks away, Athens’ first Beep Baseball team is looking for people to practice with members of its Beep Baseball team on Saturday, February 23.

Athens Inclusive Recreation and Sports (AIRS), a non-profit organization that provides adapted sports activities for people with disabilities in the Athens area, encourages interested UGA students, faculty or community members, with or without disabilities, to come practice with its team from 1-4 p.m. at Smith Field, 1570 Old Epps Bridge Road in Athens.

AIRS was formed and is led by community volunteers, most of whom are University of Georgia graduates or students. The organization provides recreation and sports programming to promote greater wellness and quality of life for its participants and their communities. It is inclusive of all individuals and all abilities, regardless of limitations, with the goal of expanding understanding and recognition through adapted activities.

“Our team will have to compete with elite competition when we start regional tournament play later this season. So it would be great if we could get UGA students and faculty members to come out and play with us,” said John Dunne, marketing consultant for the group and a master’s student in sport management and policy in UGA’s College of Education.  “We will work to provide lunch to those who participate. We can also provide community service hours to those who need them.”

Beep Baseball is played with 6 fielders (generally a first-baseman, third-baseman, shortstop, left fielder, right fielder, and center fielder) and 1 or 2 “spotters” from one team, and the pitcher, catcher, and batter from the other team. Fielders and batter are blindfolded. There is also a Designated Hitter and Designated Fielder. They must also be legally blind in most cases. Catcher, pitcher, and spotters do not wear blindfolds and are usually sighted, although there have been a few who are partially blind. The ball beeps and is a modified, and oversized, softball. The bases are blue, nearly 5 feet tall, and have mostly foam interior with the electronics that cause it to buzz steadily when a switch is thrown. They are each placed 100 feet from home plate and are in the equivalent positions to first and third bases in regular baseball.

Games will be played on a home-and-home schedule among the five Georgia teams – Athens, Augusta, Atlanta, Columbus and Albany. There will be additional games with teams from the Carolina League.

A tournament will be held the first weekend in March. The season will run through the middle of July. The World Series of Beep baseball will be in Columbus beginning July 29. It will be a week of intense competition concluding with a World Championship game. The defending champions are the Taiwan Homeruns.

AIRS is also organizing several other adapted sports activities including Power Soccer. program

Over the last year, AIRS has been developing a variety of adapted sports programs which include:

• Power Soccer
• Beep Kickball
• Goal Ball
• Kayaking
• Wheelchair Basketball
• Wheelchair Tennis

Tuckston United Methodist Church has generously donated the use of their gym for wheelchair sports practice, Tom and Barbara Smith of Athens have provided the use of Smith Field for Beep Baseball practices and games for the season. Equipment has been donated and even designed and built by members of the board, and other helpers in the community.

AIRS Director Roger Keeney has been actively involved and playing Beep Baseball for 37 years. He organized the Atlanta Eclipse team in 2010, and helped initiate teams in Columbus and Augusta, and many others across the U.S. and abroad. He has a master’s in therapeutic recreation and has done post graduate at UGA.

Other AIRS staff members include Kim Keeney, program coordinator; Ron Seerley, accountant and chief financial officer; and Harris Blackwell, manual chair sports.

AIRS board of directors includes Neil Hefner, chair; James Mooneyhan, vice chair; Ron Seerley, treasurer; Kevin McCully, secretary; and Anne Morrison, Nancy Vara and Sherrie Truelove.

AIRS welcomes people with and without disabilities to participate in their programs. The group is currently recruiting volunteers and players in each one of the sports listed above. For more information, visit: www.airs-ga.org/