South Pasadena blind man has vision for a Beep Ball team

SOUTH PASADENA, CA (FOX 11) - The man your about to meet believes in no limits. He's on a mission to make his beep ball team world champions, but first they need a place to practice.

If it were Wednesday, you'd see a bunch of young people in the field playing Beep Ball - a softball sized ball that has a beeper inside for the visually impaired.



30-year-old Darren Keepers is totally blind and has been since the age of 5. To him, blindness is just an obstacle -- another hurdle to jump -- and he's had more than his fair share. Besides his blindness, his voice is whispery. During a surgery, his vocal cords were paralyzed.

He tells FOX 11's Hal Eisner that he's creating the first Southern California Beep Ball team. A visually impaired person listens for a beep coming from the ball as they prepare to swing the bat or catch a ball: the louder the sound, the closer it's getting.

His coach says Darren's vision is far past the San Gabriel Valley. He'd like to build this through the state of California and form a league.

His team, The San Gabriel Panthers, needs help. They practice at Orange Grove Park on Wednesdays, but he and the coach says that's a bad time to gather people, since many come from long distances to practice, and volunteers are generally working at that time.

They'd like to have a place to practice on Saturdays, whether it's a field, a back yard, or a park (even though parks are usually crowded on weekends). All they need is 200 feet x 200 feet of nice grassy level ground to play on.

If you could help, they'd love to hear from you. You can find them here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PantherBeepBall
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PantherBeepBall
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pantherbeepball

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Group photo by Derek Vaughan, SouthPasadenan.com