The Inspiring Story of Metro Blaze Blind Athletes Bringing Blind Soccer To Fort Worth, TX

all right what's up blond socer Nation I got a special guest here I have been so fortunate to have the the pleasure of sitting down with John AKA moose uh in the of the national blond soccer team national team pool he has his own organization blond soccer team in Texas where I am now and I had an opportunity to play with him so I'm just going to ask him a couple of questions and let you guys get to know them and hopefully if you guys are in the area you guys can come out but John tell us a little bit about your organization Metro blaz B soccer okay so Metro Blaze blind soccer uh we started this about almost four years ago now me and Ricky cetta my co-founder um and so you know we started playing blind soccer and we were just trying to expand the sport and have a a team and uh resources for us to have around the area and hopefully we could get more more you know blind individuals more blind athletes wanting to play because it is a new sport to the United States so that was our goal and we we think we're doing pretty all right so we've been able to uh fi a team for a couple of tournaments we've had in the last couple of years here in Texas and you know we're having some practices getting some Outreach going and it's it's been uh it's been going pretty good so what part of Texas are you guys located uh so we're in the DFW area mainly Fort Worth Texas me and Ricky are really based out of Fort Worth but a lot of our players come from the whole DFW area yeah if they want to get a hold of you what's the best way to get a hold of you so the best way to get a hold of us is uh through our Facebook page Metro Blaze blind soccer or actually it's Metro blaz blind athletes of Texas now cuz we've expanded into a few more Sports and so also on Instagram Metro blazes blind athletes of Texas we have Tik Tok and you can also get a hold of me also on my page John Marquez uh AKA move Su blind athlete so I'll be out there as well those are ways to just get a hold of Metro Blaze yeah I wonder what was what what what got you guys started like initially what when did y'all like first was like all right we gonna play some blond soccer and create this team all right so really Ricky Rick's the one that got it going so he first started uh playing with usaba got soccer going he had been telling me he told me once he's like hey you need to do this we kicked the ball around and I told him how I used to play and it took me about another year or so CU I really didn't understand that blind soccer was about to become something you know more than what it was and so then I jumped in I got to go to Baltimore and you know what it was before that before we went to Baltimore yeah uh on the national team Camp yes before we had the national team camp in Baltimore uh me and Ricky had sat down after World Series and said hey this is what we're going to do and yeah we sat down with another friend of ours and pretty much you know came up with the Metro Blaze blind athletes and I mean Metro blaz blind soccer and it went from there and we just started playing found us a found us a location to you know we used a tennis court that that's working for us right now but we're working on getting a more permanent location yeah and yeah that's that's what we're doing and so basically you can play anywhere you just need a ball ah I mean if you have to yeah you make things happen so I mean ideally you want to have a nice field with walls and turf but right now it's what's working for us and it actually really does help worken our skills to practice on concrete yeah so so from Metro blind so Metro Blaze um from you guys perspective what do you what else do you guys think you need to really get you guys going up up off the ground uh we're trying to get as much recognition as possible and really that that's one of the main things because the more the more we get out there in front of people who don't know what the sport is and how the Sport's grow uh that that's really what's going to help because then you get more volunteers you get more really blind people who don't know that these resources are out there don't know that sports are just out there for them and and just people who are interested in in soccer in general and then they're like wow this is another form of soccer now I can come be a part of I can enjoy and then you know more will come like a sponsors and donors and people who are really interested and want to help grow the sport and volunteers as well so yeah what's your favorite blonde soccer moment H you know when we all got to play in that US Canada game that that felt pretty good I mean really solidify that it's not just practice anymore we're we're actually moving forward to playing a game moving forward to 2028 the par Olympics and la so that that was really pretty good moment all right lastly what's your pitch to any potential line athletes out there if they want to get started what's your pitch to them hey soccer is for everybody if you think you couldn't do it you think blind Sports weren't possible I'm living proof blind Sports is what got me from sitting down doing nothing it pulled me out of my shell and for a long time I sat down doing nothing thinking I was blind and I wasn't going to be able to do too much now i i play multiple Sports I helped start a a nonprofit organization for blind athletes and I mean really you can do it we can all do it let's just get up and make it happen all right blon sacker Nation this is it Metro blazes blond soccer out of Texas out of Fort Fort Worth Fort Worth Texas catch you guys later peace