SeeSaw Club

When people think of sports, they imagine sports as something they watch on TV or a huge sports stadium full of cheers and screaming. However, spending an entire day in the Showdown-cup game room will provide a completely different insight, that sports can also be experienced through sound.  The first thing I noticed when I walked into the room was the constant rhythm of balls rattling across the table, bats striking the ball, and teammates quietly communicating with one another. At first, they were just background noises. But as the competition went on, those sounds began to tell a story. Every swing of the bat reflected the athletes' passion, determination, and the countless hours they had spent practicing. My role was to oversee the competition and guide visually impaired athletes throughout the day. Since I stayed in the game room the entire time, I naturally started paying more attention to what I could hear instead of what I could see. Listening to every hit, every roll of th...

I recently participated in a volunteer event featuring hand cream and diffuser crafting activities. We were given a set of materials and amples of various scents to add to the base of the hand creams and diffusers. Volunteer assistants helped the visually impaired participants choose the scents they liked by reading out the name of the scents, and helping them smell it. There was also a proffessional instructor helping us through the process, recommending us specific combinations and helping us craft the items. As a result, the activity went very smooth overall, and it was a quite an unique experience for all of us.

On May 30th, I participated in an art workshop with the visually impaired, in which we made hand cream and defusers. I got paired with a very extroverted and funny grandmother whose sense of humor seemed to align almost perfectly with mine, making the experience deeply enjoyable and memorable.  The part of this workshop that really stood out to me was when we chose the scents we would use. Her sense of smell seemed incredibly acute as she was able to remember and differentiate which scent was which with accuracy and speed, showing how much people can adapt their different strengths to engage in an activity.   Through our minute conversations and shared laughter, I clocked her personality early on, which made us connect better and gave the activity more meaning overall. It was truly an extraordinary experience. 

 On May 30th, our club gathered to help the visually impaired create hand creams and defusers. They both had something in common; they both required our sense of smell. Despite being visually impaired, participants were very sensitive to the scents and the small differences each had. My partner and I were working as a team to bond in the process of choosing scents and working together to drop them inside the small bottle. This activity not only helped us create defusers and hand creams; it helped us realize the importance of smell. Despite the blind people having difficulty seeing what was done, they were still able to participate with their sense of smell, which was very impressive. Also,  during this activity, I bonded with the woman I partnered with. When she found out that I had trouble with cold hands and feet, she introduced me to different ways of massaging and keeping myself warm. She was able to turn the cold into heat through her massaging skills. Later on, I found o...

During this activity, I worked with visually impaired individuals to make oil hand cream and air freshener. While the activity itself seemed simple, it became a valuable learning experience that helped me better understand the importance of accessibility, communication, and inclusion. Throughout the process, I learned how important it is to provide clear verbal instructions and explanations. Since many participants relied less on visual information, I had to think more carefully about how I communicated each step. This experience made me realize that activities often designed with sight in mind can be adapted so that everyone can participate fully and independently. One of the most memorable parts of the activity was choosing and mixing different scents. As scent was such an important element of both the oil hand cream and air freshener, everyone was able to express their own preferences and creativity. It was enjoyable to see how each person created something unique while sharing thei...

Coming back to my second WILL-SEESAW Showdown Cup, I definitely felt less panic and more presence.  What stunned me the most was what happened during the breaks between rallies and matches. Every time we had a timeout, I would ask my visually impaired partner what I was doing wrong and what skill I should use in the next turn. Each time, he was able to explain exactly what I could fix like the small changes in angle or bat positioning. It astonished me every time that even while playing in complete darkness, he understood the angles and dynamics of the game more acutely than I did. However, something about his mindset stood out even more. Despite understanding the game at such a deep level, he never seemed to obsess over the score or focus on every little mistake. Instead, he consistently encouraged our team to keep playing the way we did and simply enjoy the game. His priority was not the result or perfect; rather, the experience and joy itself.  His attitude ultimately ...