Blind soccer: Louisiana Tech’s Cody Kirchner explains how the game is played

Blindness isn’t something that’s slowing down Louisiana Tech student Cody Kirchner in his quest to take athletics to an Olympic level.

He was recently selected by the U.S. Association of Blind Athletics as one of nine athletes to compete on the 2024 USA Blind Soccer Men’s National Team. The team will begin international competition this fall and will compete in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. Contending athletes were asked to fly to California on their own dime for tryouts.

“I hopped on a plane and flew to San Diego in December 2019, and I fell in love with (soccer) from the very first day,” Kirchner said. “It has been the best sport I’ve ever played in my entire life.”

Blind soccer is played with a bell in the ball so the athletes can keep up with where the ball is on the field. Goalies for both teams are sighted. Athletes are required to shout “GOY,” Spanish for “I am coming,” if they are attacking or it’s a foul. The players wear goggles to ensure all of them have the same level of blindness.

“What makes blind soccer different, and in my opinion better, is that it doesn’t restrict your athleticism,” Kirchner said. “What a lot of blind sports do is take away the really difficult stuff. There are no rules that make blind soccer easier. It comes down to who is the most skilled.”

A native of Oklahoma, Kirchner, 34, became a Tech student because of a unique program at the university that caters to the sightless. He is in training to be a mobility instructor in Tech’s Professional Development Institute on Blindness.

“I will be teaching blind people how to travel, cross streets and get around in the world they live in,” Kirchner said. “The only program in the world that’s taught this way is at Louisiana Tech.”

Kirchner has been blind for most of his life after suffering from retina cancer as a toddler. He had his left eye removed when he was 2-years-old, and the right when he was 3.

“Blindness doesn’t affect you like a lot of people think it would. It’s just a matter of getting the right training — and I’ve been fortunate to get the right training,” Kirchner said. “There’s a training center here in Ruston for the blind. They train you how to cook, how to clean your house, how to get around, how to do all kinds of different things. I was fortunate to have parents who allowed me to be a kid, quote ‘normally.’”

It's helped Kirchner’s adjustment that he comes from an athletic family and that he has competed for several years in blind sports such as goalball and beep baseball. He also wrestled in high school. He’ll report to a camp in June in Chula Vista, California to begin his training with seven additional blind athletes and the two sighted goalies.

Meanwhile, he’s looking for soccer players in Ruston who will help him with his workouts or who are interested in starting a new team.

Kirchner can be reached by email at ckirchner898@gmail.com.

Jimmy Watson covers Louisiana sports for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: La. Tech’s Cody Kirchner makes USA Men's National Blind Soccer team