Man's plea to launch blind baseball team

A man who plays blind baseball for Team GB is urging visually impaired people to help him establish a team in the East Midlands.

Steve Smith, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, has retinitis pigmentosa, a rare hereditary condition that left him blind and unable to drive or continue working as a mechanical engineer.

The 47-year-old, who took up visually impaired sports while waiting for additional support, said he wants to set up a blind baseball team in Long Eaton as the nearest clubs to him are in Hartlepool, Preston, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool.

"The nearest team around here is Sheffield, so we are looking to set a team up in Long Eaton and create our own community," said Smith.

Smith told the BBC he was diagnosed with the condition when he was a child, and his eyesight started to deteriorate significantly in October 2024.

Retinis pigmentosa is an inherited eye condition that affects the photoreceptor cells responsible for capturing images from the visual field, according to charity Retina UK.

The charity said people with the condition experience a gradual decline in their vision because two types of photoreceptor cells responsible for capturing images die.

Smith said he started playing visually impaired sports while waiting for white cane training, which Derbyshire County Council said could take up to a year to access.

The father-of-two, who received white cane training in September after a 12-month wait, said he began training with Sheffield Strikers blind baseball team and now plays matches for Hartlepool Monkeys.

He was also part of the Team GB Blind baseball squad that won a bronze medal in October's Blind Baseball International Cup in Italy.

The side played alongside countries including Italy, Cuba, USA, Czechia and Chinese Taipei before reaching the semi-finals and securing a medal.

"That was an amazing week," said Smith.

Now hoping to start a team in Long Eaton, Smith said an American baseball coach based in Nottingham is willing to help, but all he needs now are players.

"People with vision loss are hard to find and playing a visually impaired sport gives you a whole community," said Smith.

He added: "I don't get paid for it but I love playing sports and meeting other visually impaired people.

"You instantly have a connection with everybody because everyone is going through sight loss."

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