Smyrna's Simpson named USABA goalball ambassador

Smyrna native Matt Simpson, a two-time Paralympian, was announced as one of 16 individuals who were selected by the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes to serve as ambassadors for the sport of goalball.

The USABA was recently certified as the national governing body for goalball.

“Goalball became part of the Paralympics in 1972 and has been contested at every game since then,” Simpson said. “There are world championships and many other tournaments around the world. Of course, we play domestically with club teams all over the country, and we have our men’s and women’s national teams that are selected to go represent the USA all over the world.”

Simpson, a graduate of Whitefield Academy, helped the U.S. finish fourth in the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo and win silver at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. He also earned a bronze medal in the 2014 International Blind Sports Federation world championships.

“I’ve been really fortunate and blessed that I’ve been able to get to represent the USA all over the world,” said Simpson, also an associate with the Sidley Austin law firm in Washington. “I’ve gotten to play goalball on five different continents. Getting to put on the red, white and blue is definitely a huge honor.”

The USABA goalball ambassadors will help spread awareness of the sport’s programming and initiatives, along with helping raise funds to assist American athletes with visual impairments, and to promote programs that the USABA offers.

“In the big picture, we want to reach every kid who doesn’t know, like, ‘Hey, being blind is not a sentence of some sort of life.’ There’s no limit on what a kid can do who’s blind,” Simpson said. “We want young kids to be able to see role models and opportunities that they don’t not know exist.”

Simpson said it is also a great opportunity for parents who have kids who are blind, as it can help them find an opportunity for their kids who may be uncertain about their future.

“When you have a kid who’s blind at a young age, you don’t know what their life is going to look like,” Simpson said. “You don’t know, ‘Are they going to be able to be educated?’ or, ‘Are they going to be able to have a career?’ Creating a dream for a kid to be a Paralympian is a great thing.”

Simpson said there are many opportunities of showing blind athletes the opportunities that are available through playing goalball.

“Showing kids that the lessons of sport and the benefits of sport are attainable for everyone, especially young blind children — for far too many disabled, and especially blind, kids, those lessons are not thought to be available, because they don’t think that sport and recreation are within their reach,” Simpson said.

Simpson said he was inspired goalball — a sport similar to handball, where a bell is embedded within the ball — through a camp with the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes when he was young. Now, after representing the United States at the highest level, he hopes to inspire others to find a dream of their own.

“I found goalball through the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes when I was probably 10 years old,” Simpson said. “I didn’t know what my life might look like as a person who’s blind. I didn’t know what opportunities were out there, but when I found goalball and had that immediate dream, goal and desire of becoming a Paralympian, that was a total game-changer for me. It showed me to dream big and showed me what the possibilities were.”