Podcast Summary:
Envision Blind Sports is expanding to Minnesota—and that means more chances for blind and low vision youth to move, compete, and discover what they’re capable of. In this episode, Jeff talks with Minnesota Regional Manager Ricky Ties and Program Director Jillian Stringfellow about how adaptive sports build confidence, independence, and real community. From wrestling, goalball, and beep baseball to kayaking, swimming, and a jam-packed summer camp with 25+ adaptive sports, Envision focuses on exposure—helping kids find something they love and carry that confidence back into school and life. Ricky shares how sports helped him grow as a visually impaired athlete on the world stage, while Jillian highlights how families, volunteers, and local partners make these opportunities possible. The message is simple and powerful: get out of your comfort zone, try something new, and discover what’s possible. Fear less. Do more.
Related Links:
To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.
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Full Transcript
Intro Clip: Envision. Are you ready for camp?
{Crowd Cheers}
Jeff: Welcome to Blind abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson. Today, I’m excited because in the studio from Envision Blind Sports, we have Envision Blind Sports Minnesota Regional Manager, Ricky Ties. Ricky, how are you doing? And welcome to Blind Abilities.
Ricky: I’m doing great, Jeff. Thanks for having me.
Jeff: And from the headquarters of Envision Blind Sports, we also have Envision Blind Sports Program Director, Jillian Stringfellow. Jillian, welcome to Blind Abilities.
Jillian: Yeah, thanks for having us.
Jeff: Well, thank you both for being here. And thanks for taking the time to come on the blind abilities. Ricky, I’m going to kick it to you first. You gave me that call, and you gave me the great news. Envision Blind Sports is expanding to Minnesota. Why don’t you fill us in.
Ricky: Yeah. So they’ve been working out of Pennsylvania for a while now, and we connected at their camp last summer. And since then, they’ve decided they wanted to expand a little bit to a few other places. So I am excited to be the regional program manager for Minnesota to start getting Envision Blind spots going over here.
Jeff: Yes, I love that. Jillian, can you give a little history on Envision Blind Sports and what it’s all about?
Jillian: Yeah, absolutely. Envision Blind Sports became a nonprofit in 2017. Our executive director is Wendy Fagan, and she’s been in the blind sports world for over 30 years. She was actually part of the 96 coaching team for the women’s goalball on the USA team, and she has been everywhere from the elite level down to grassroots and just loving, providing opportunities for individuals who are blind or visually impaired to be active. And her and her husband moved back to Pennsylvania, and she started working as a professor and offering opportunities for volunteer for the students and just giving kids and adults in the area opportunities to be active. We used to have a program called VIP Sports, and we would run our annual sports camp, and then we would do like maybe two clinics a year, like a fall and a spring just to, you know, get kids out and active. And then in 2017, she was like, you know what? We could be doing more like, this population just does not have access to the same type of opportunities that everybody else has when it comes to, you know, sports, outdoor recreation, physical activity. And so she said, let’s make it into a nonprofit. And that’s when it became Envision Blind Sports. And now we offer year round programming anywhere from 1 to 2 activities a month. And as Ricky has mentioned, 2026 is a really big year for us because we’ve always programmed within the state of Pennsylvania, mostly western PA is where we’re based out of and some things in Ohio as well, and then random pockets when people ask us to. But we really decided to expand. And so now we have six new regions, and we’re looking forward to providing even more opportunities for even more people, from Minnesota East. We’re really excited.
Jeff: I like that creeping towards Minnesota, Western Pennsylvania, then Ohio, now Minnesota.
Jillian: Yep.
Jeff: Gillian, I was checking out your website, EnvisionBlindSports.org, and I saw the summer program, which is happening this summer, July 12th through the 18th. Participants come in from across the United States, and I saw that there was over 25 adaptive sports available to participants.
{Crowd cheers}
Jillian: Yeah. So at envision, you know, we’re a true grassroots program is how we see ourselves. And we’re all about exposure. We never kind of fit into a pocket of any one sport. We want people to find something they love and our kids to find something that they love, and either go back to their communities, schools and advocate to participate or just, you know, lifelong wellness is the goal to find something they love to do forever. So Wendy and I, especially with camp, we like to jam pack the schedule so that our kids get exposed to as much as possible. You know, as I mentioned, we do stuff year round. We have a really large ski program, which is fantastic. We do a lot of outdoor adventure. We do specific sports clinics, but camp is really our largest program. Last year in 2025, we hit record numbers with camp and we had 85 kids from about ten different states come, which is really great. Our farthest girl actually comes from Hawaii, which is fantastic. And so with having that large number of athletes, you know, we’re just like, okay, let’s get them in. Let’s spend the week just getting them active and trying out different things. So yeah, we do over 25 different sports at camp depending on the year. I like to change it up, you know, so that the kids get exposed. You can’t you can’t put everything in, you know, into a week, but we definitely try to. So the kids wake up in the morning, we feed them. They do three sport rotations in the morning. They eat lunch. They do three sport rotations. In the afternoon, I feed them dinner. We do another activity, so we definitely keep them busy. We do everything from, like I said, we do a lot of outdoor recreation and adventures, so we do a full water day, whether it be kayaking, canoeing, sailing, paddleboarding, we do all the blind sports. So, you know, beep, baseball, goalball, things like that. And then we have all traditional sports that are adapted. So we do a full track meet, we do a swim meet, we do wrestling and judo and again, you name it, we’ve probably done it and it’s really exciting for the kids. We have a really great volunteer base as well. I think last year we had 57 full time counselors, which is insane in a good way. We have support for our athletes getting from A to B, you know, participating and being successful in the sport opportunities. And so it’s really grown over the years. I think in 20 again, Wendy could probably correct me on this 2006 I think was her first camp. And I think she had 16 athletes and now we have 85. So we’ve grown exponentially.
Jeff: 85 students. Wow. That’s great. I mean, your inaugural year, what, 16 students? That’s pretty good.
{Crowd Cheers}
Jeff: Ricky, what are your goals and plans for expanding Envisions adaptive sports programming to Minnesota?
Ricky: Well, as of right now, this first year, there’s two different things we’re working on. One is we want to do three different day camp activities. We haven’t completely decided what they’re going to be. I’m thinking my first one in the next couple of months, I’m going to try to put on a wrestling camp because that’s what my background is. And it feels like the easiest way for me to start. And it’s also something that I know that any kid with vision problems can still do that pretty easily without a ton of adaptation. So we’re gonna do that and then two more camps throughout the year. Another part is education, which would be anything from going to schools or different organizations and explaining how sports have helped my life, being visually impaired and teaching people about the importance to get visually impaired people into blind sports. Along with educating them on how to best help them do that. And I think also I’m hoping to be a resource for one on one with either parents or students, whether they need a little motivation to try something new, or they need some advice on how to get into something or even needing to communicate with. Maybe they wanted to try a new sport, and I could communicate with a coach and maybe help him be a little more comfortable dealing with someone who’s visually impaired, who maybe he’s never thought about having to teach or coach before.
Jeff: Yeah, Ricky, I was really excited when I heard that you were bringing Envision Blind Sports to Minnesota, because we do have beat baseball, but, you know, it’s mostly adults. I’m talking older adults. And then we have blind hockey, which does reach down into five year olds all the way up to adults as well. It’s just exciting to see that there’s going to be some new energy surrounding the involvement of youth into adaptive sports.
Ricky: Totally agree.
Jeff: I’ll throw this out to both of you. How does adaptive sports impact. Confidence, independence and community for blind and low vision athletes. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Ricky, you were a wrestler on the world team, right?
Ricky: I was on the world team. Yeah, I’ve been dealing with working on team USA for a while, over a decade. I can share a little bit of my experience. I have retinitis pigmentosa and I grew up visually impaired and was involved with sports ever since I can remember, and it is a way to feel a little more normal, which is what we want. We know that if you’re visually impaired, your life is not going to be the same as the average kid. You’re going to have some challenges, but with sports you you can try and at least give them opportunities to experience things that the average kid gets the chance to experience. And with that, in sports, there’s a lot of life lessons to be built there, and you can learn how to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. That’s like a muscle. The more you do that, the more you do more uncomfortable things, the easier it is to do it again. And then all of a sudden, you’re not really afraid to take risks and you’re not afraid to try new things. And that’s important when it comes to building independence, which can be a challenge when you have a disability. And then the other main thing is being part of a team or a group of people that are doing the same thing. Sometimes when you’re disabled, there’s not the opportunities to build relationships and make friends. And this is a great place where you can do that. Some of my best friends are, you know, I wrestled all the way through, played some other sports, wrestled in college, coached wrestling, and then over a decade doing judo on the Paralympic side and have made tons of relationships and friends and Opportunities kind of built a social group through that, which can be a challenge if you’re not getting yourself out there.
Jillian: Yeah. And I was going to say to build off of what Ricky said, I think that he says it so beautifully, having experienced it. And I think that we see this with a lot of our kids that come to camp as well. I am super passionate about sports and physical activity, you know, as is Ricky, when I was growing up, you know, I had all the opportunities. I could go to my local recreation center and sign up for soccer or basketball and things like that. And I think being able to provide these opportunities for these kids because it’s a part of childhood. Right. And the more that we expose them to getting out of their comfort zone and showing their parents, hey, you know, your child can do this just like your other children who don’t have a visual impairment or just like their peers in school. I think the better just to provide them with that sense of independence and confidence. You know, there’s a lot of interpersonal skills that you gain as a child and as an adult. I feel like from participating in sports, and I think that’s what we’re trying to do at envision, too, is let’s empower these kids, let’s instill confidence and independence in them just by providing them these Providing these opportunities like, wow, look what I can do. I never thought I could paddleboard and now look at me. And I think it’s been really great to see that come out in some of our athletes because like I said, I feel like I gained so much from being an athlete when I was growing up. And I think these kids, especially in our adults, just deserve that same opportunity to get the fulfillment and the benefits from being active.
Jeff: Yeah, that lived experience and what you’re sharing are awesome. I skated with the US blind hockey team for a couple years, and I played with the Minnesota Wild blind hockey program itself, and it was just amazing to see these kids out there, young, young kids out there skating and giving it their all. And the thing I really noticed was it was the parents that obviously got the kids ready, drove them to the arena, watched the two hour, hour and a half session, helped take their skates off and equipment, carry their bags and stuff and bring them home. We’re talking about a 4 or 5 hour commitment for this opportunity for them to be involved in an adaptive sport, right? So I’m really excited when I read on your web page about the family commitment and how you reach out to the family and get them involved as well.
Jillian: Yeah, I mean, as you both know, blindness and visual impairment is a very low incidence disability. And so a lot of our kids are spread out, you know, they’re not in all in the same area. And so, you know, that kind of the push behind what we’re doing with this expansion to Minnesota and some of these other states is, yeah, what we’re doing in Pennsylvania is fun and great. And it’s really, you know, year round. It’s really great for the kids that are within 2 to 3 hours from us. Right. But it’s unreasonable to think that parents are going to come all the way from Minnesota to Pennsylvania. It’s it’s just not feasible for them to come for a three hour event or even a day event. And that’s why camp has been so beautiful, because, hey, drop your kid off for the week. Come get them at the end of the week, right. It’s it’s bigger bang for their buck. And so that’s what’s really great. And we’re excited about for this opportunity with expanding is these people don’t have to drive far right. We’re trying to hit more pockets of people so that it is easier, you know, with the crazy life schedule of parents and kids and other siblings having to go do things as well. And hopefully, you know, we reach more athletes that way.
Jeff: Well, there’s a perk, drop your kids off for a week. How can families, volunteers and local organizations get involved or support Envision’s mission?
Ricky: Like Jillian just said, the first thing when it comes to families is if you have someone in your family or know someone that has a vision problem, then spread the word about what we’re going to be doing here. It’s on the families to get the kids out to the activities. Envision’s been doing this for a long time, and it’s a great organization that knows what they’re doing, and we have the best interest in helping out your kids in a lot of ways, using sports to do that. So just trusting that it’s going to be an investment, it might be a drive. Even if we’re here in Minnesota, it’s still spread out and they might have to drive a little bit, but it’s not as far as it could be. And we’ll try to spread around as well, but give them the opportunity to come try some new things. They’re going to appreciate it. It’s going to benefit them. Not every sport is going to be for everyone. But just trying something new, like I said earlier, is going to build that confidence from something uncomfortable. As for volunteers, Jillian just said that we had over 50 full time volunteers and that was for a week camp. And that’s a necessary thing that we’re going to lean on, because when you’re teaching someone that doesn’t have the site to be able to learn something, you just need more one on 1 or 1 on two instruction, where these volunteers can relay what is being taught and give more hands on attention, which can make the learning process a lot easier and can help us get a lot more into a session and keep everyone safe. As for organizations, obviously it takes money to do this. We always appreciate if people can financially help or help volunteering or connected to what I was talking about earlier about educating. Like if you have an organization that’s interested, I would love to come talk to you guys about my story with sports and what Envision’s story is and what we’re all trying to do. And yeah, organizations want to know more about that. I would love to come in and speak with them and educate them on the importance of what doing blind sports and outdoor activities is for a group of kids that are really starving for new experiences.
Jillian: I was gonna say, even to piggyback off of that, too, Ricky said it well,, like, we’re a nonprofit. We’re a volunteer based organization. You know, outside of myself, our boss, and, you know, a few regional program managers, everybody else’s volunteers. And we’re super blessed because I think, you know, in 2026, I don’t know if this is like big volunteering time, but I think that what we provide at camp and what we do at other events, I think, you know, you meet our kids and you meet our community, and I think people fall in love with it. And so we’re truly blessed to have people return. And that’s what we kind of want to do in Minnesota is provide, you know, Ricky’s going to be making his Envision Blind Sports community out there as well. And so volunteers are obviously a key, most important part of our organization. We like to say we really value partnerships and community. At Envision, you know, we don’t have a home base. We don’t have a gym. We don’t have a facility. We’re about connecting with the community and other organizations like Ricky said. And so working with a paddleboarding guy or linking up with a university, that’s what’s important to envision as far as making those connections. And I think I love that we do that because I think it just educates even more people that wouldn’t even know about how to adapt or anything about blind sports awareness. Those two things are key to us as an organization.
Jeff: Jillian, can you tell me a little bit about your journey through Envision Blind Sports? What was it like to see where you came in, got involved volunteering, then part time, and now you’re full time? Let’s hear a little bit about Jillian’s journey.
Jillian: Yeah. It’s been, I’ll try to find the words to describe it. Wendy Fagan, our executive director, was my professor. When she wanted to get kids excited about blind sports, and I started working alongside her at the university. And I was like, well, it makes sense. Like I want to be a part of Envision. And so she hired three of us part time on top of our full time jobs. And it’s been that way for the last nine years, until this year, when we have grown so much to be able to say, okay, we want to hire full time. This is super important and this is something that we’ve this goal that we’ve reached. I don’t know if Wendy ever imagined it would get this big. You know, she just wanted to provide quality programs for people with visual impairments and have a good time doing it. And now I feel like we’re making this amazing impact on our community and surrounding communities. And to be in a position where I no longer I was a PE teacher for, um, kids with visual impairments here in Chicago, and I made the decision to quit that and support, you know, in our area, but become the program director full time. And I do not regret it one bit because I think it’s been, you know, in the nonprofit land, we’ve definitely had our moments, right? It’s not easy running a nonprofit between grants and funding. And, you know, some years you’re like, oh my gosh, are we going to survive? And but I think we have been persistent and I love our philosophy. I love how we approach things like we are go getters. We push limits. Our motto at admission, blind sports is, “Fear Less. Do More.” And we try to instill that within ourselves and our athletes. Like I said, we’re just trying to break these barriers and show these kids that anything is possible. And I think that’s why we have grown athlete number-wise. Especially even at camp, and to what we have now in 2026. And I think people are bought in. And again, I think that being active is super important to me and to be able to watch us spread it to even more people. And the joy and even showing these parents, I think, has been a big thing. Wendy and I talk about this all the time is, you know, you’re a parent and you end up having a child who has a visual impairment and you start to look at all these things that they need, like, you know, they have TVI and O&M and finding their services in school and outside of school. And I think that sometimes parents don’t know that we’re out here, right? And trying to educate them on. Hey, I understand your kid has a visual impairment, but let’s show you how they can do more stuff. And I think that’s been our biggest impact, I would say. And it’s really nice to have the community that we have now.
Jeff: Such a great point that you make about the parents. I mean, they become an advocate for something that they really did not know much about. And when they see Envision blind sports coming along really opens up a world of opportunity for their child, where they’ve been learning as they go. Envision Blind Sports coming to Minnesota is awesome. And these volunteers from the community I remember in Minnesota Wild Blind Hockey, there would be volunteers. A girl from the University of Minnesota was helping the goalie, and high school students coming and helping with the players and a gentleman who was over 70 years old. But he used to play hockey. He’s their volunteering. I mean, I’ve heard some people say it takes a village, but that’s what develops this community, this social network that you were talking about Ricky. It’s really awesome. I’m so glad that you all are coming to Minnesota.
Jillian: Yup!
Jeff: And check out the summer event coming up July 12th through the 18th.
Jillian: Our annual summer sports camp is July 12th through the 18th and that is in Erie, PA. We actually host it. We use Penn State Behrend facilities to host and do all the things.
Jeff: And for all those in Minnesota, Ricky, how can they reach out and find Ricky ties?
Ricky: Well, the best way right now would be to email me at RTies@EnvisionBlindSports.org. that’s sports with an S.
Jeff: I want to thank you both so much Ricky Jillian, for coming on to blind abilities and sharing with us about Envision Blind Sports. So thank you very much.
Jillian: Awesome. Thank you so much. This was great. We really appreciate it.
Ricky: Yep Jeff thank you. It’s great doing it again. Hopefully we can circle back in a year or so and see where we’re at.
Jeff: A year or so. Heck, I’ll be at your first event. You need volunteers, right?
Jillian: Fantastic!
Camp Volunteer: Envision, are you ready for camp?
{Crowd Cheers}
Jeff: Such a great time talking to Ricky and Jillian from Envision Blind Sports, and I love that motto, Fear Less. Do More.” Be sure to check them out on the web at EnvisionBlindSports.org And if you’re from Minnesota and want to find out more about Envision Blind Sports, get Ahold of Ricky Ties. Got his email link right there in the show notes. Let them know you’re out there and find out what Envision Blind Sports can do for you.
{Music}
Jeff: For more podcasts with a Blindness Perspective, check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com And if you want to leave some feedback, give us some suggestions. Give us a call at (612) 367-6093. We’d love to hear from you. I want to thank you for listening. And until next time, bye-bye.
To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact Shane.DeSantis at state.mn.us. That’s Shane dot d-e-s-a-n-t-i-s at state.mn .us.
(Music)
Jeff: Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab and find out what they can do for you.
Live, work, read, succeed.
[Music] [Transition noise] –
When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities