The Eyes Free Sports Podcast

In Episode 160 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we meet Jacob Kaplan, a member of the U.S. men’s cerebral palsy national soccer team and audio describer for blind and visually impaired sports fans. During the conversation, Kaplan talked about:

• His early years
• His disability and how it has impacted his life
• How he got into playing soccer
• His journey to making the U.S. men’s cerebral palsy national soccer team and his experien...

In Episode 159 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we visit with three members of the Running Guides team at Guiding Eyes for the Blind – Jolene Hollister, Jenna Rovelli, and Sky Foshay. This team oversees the training of guide dogs that are trained to run with their blind or visually impaired handlers. During the conversation, they discussed:

• The history of Guiding Eyes for the Blind and the programs the organization offers
• Th...

In Episode 158 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we meet Dr. Wellington De Luna Vazquez, a professor at the University of Tampa and has served as head coach of the Puerto Rican national men’s goalball team for several years. During the interview, Dr. De Luna Vazquez spoke about:

• His personal background
• His education and research on blind sports
• His current role as a professor at the University of Tampa and classes he teaches
• ...

In Episode 157 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we feature a roundtable discussion with four members of the U.S. national women’s blind cricket team to highlight the recent T20 Women’s Blind Cricket World Cup. We welcome back Abey and Drew Finklea and meet Asanda Pavlacka and Meghan Whalen. During the conversation, they talked about:

• The format of the 2025 T20 Women’s Blind Cricket World Cup in India and Sri Lanka
• What it wa...

In Episode 156 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we visit with two members of the U.S. national blind soccer team, Alvaro Mora Arellano and Ethan Kunes. During the interview, they talked about:

• Their personal backgrounds and visual impairments
• How they learned about blind soccer
• Getting the opportunity to play for the U.S. national blind soccer team
• Their recent experiences competing in some international blind soccer tournam...

In Episode 155 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we meet Dr. Claudia Folska from the Denver, CO area. The highly accomplished tandem cyclist, business owner, and woman of many other talents talked about:

• Her early years
• Her visual impairment
• Her educational journey
• What inspired her to launch the Eyecycle nonprofit to help connect sighted and blind cyclists
• Her rides across the United States and from Pakistan to China
• The key...

In Episode 154 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we welcome back Murray Elbourn, a longtime adaptive athlete who has worked for major adaptive sports organizations in Australia and the United States. He originally appeared on Episode 116 of Eyes Free Sports. During the conversation, Elbourn spoke about:

• Being elected as president of the U.S. Blind Tennis Association (USBTA)
• Updates on blind tennis around the U.S. and where so...

In Episode 153 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, our guest is Mark Ivy, a beep baseball player with the Oklahoma Lookouts and standup comedian. Mark originally appeared on Episode 133 of the podcast. During this conversation, he talked about:

• An overview of the Oklahoma Lookouts’ 2025 season in the National Beep Baseball Association (NBBA) and their run at the World Series
• His experience competing in the beep baseball all-sta...

In Episode 152 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we discuss a recent climb of nearly 50 individuals with disabilities up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. We are joined by two members of the group – Drs. Conchita Hernandez and Sachin Pavithran – who were two of three visually impaired climbers in the group. During the conversation, they discussed:

• Their visual impairments
• Their personal and professional backgrounds
• Their backgr...

In Episode 151 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, our guest is Tanveer Ahmed, a multisport adaptive athlete who is originally from Pakistan and now resides in New York. During the conversation, Ahmed discussed:

• How he lost his eyesight playing mainstream sports
• His experience competing in blind archery and blind cricket in Pakistan
• Moving to the United States where he’s pursuing even more adaptive sports
• His experience at the ...

In Episode 150 of the Eyes Free Sports podcast, we learn all about blind cricket. Our guests are two siblings, Abey and Drew Finklea, both of whom have been instrumental in bringing blind cricket to the United States. During the interview, they talked about:

• Their childhood
• Abey’s visual impairment
• How they were introduced to blind cricket
• Read more