{"id":9644,"date":"2026-09-17T08:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=9644"},"modified":"2026-09-17T08:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:31:15","slug":"from-first-practice-to-first-goal-sam-betts-takes-on-college-and-blind-hockey","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=9644","title":{"rendered":"From First Practice to First Goal: Sam Betts Takes on College and Blind Hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Podcast Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Music}<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: Would you ever want to try hockey? And I was like, I would like, I would try it. Like, why not? And I was kind of just in like a time of my life where I was just kind of trying new things, kind of pushing myself out of my comfort zone a little bit. So I went for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this really something I would want to do or like? What is like a career in this look like? Like was able to talk to people who had like internships and that kind of thing. So honestly, just think like, yeah, getting involved and talking to people probably would be my biggest suggestion. And also hockey obviously was something I got involved in, which I would recommend I at least suggest giving it a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Jeff Thompson, and today in the studio we have someone that I’m excited to talk to because she plays blind hockey for Minnesota. And that got my attention right away. But she’s also going to college at the University of Minnesota. Samantha Betts. Samantha, welcome to Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Hello. Thank you for having me. This is going to be fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Let’s skip all the college stuff. Let’s go right to blind hockey. No. I’m kidding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Okay. Yeah. The fun part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Yeah. Why don’t you introduce yourself? Who is Samantha Betts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>You can call me Sam. I play for Minnesota blind hockey. I am a B4, so that means I’m visually impaired. I was born with congenital cataracts. And then I had those removed. And when they removed the one from my right eye, there was like complications. So I kind of just lost vision in that eye. But they were able to successfully remove the one on the left eye. So I can still see out of that one. But I also developed Glaucoma in both eyes, so I’m also missing some peripheral vision in my left eye. I don’t know, like the exact visual field of that or anything, but I also have, I think I don’t remember all of them. I have a couple other eye conditions like nystagmus, astigmatism. So my acuity is like 20\/70, give or take. If it’s like a good or bad vision day. So that puts me at the B4 level because I think that’s visually impaired up to about 2200. And I like to play forward. Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah, B4 then b3 once you get to the B2, you’re talking defense and then B1 is goalie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, we have some B1’s that play defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Oh yeah,. I mean, there are those there are those people that are just out there doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah. Like echolocation type stuff they’re doing out there, I don’t know. I respect them a lot. I don’t know how they do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>It’s really neat because in blind hockey you have the puck that makes the noise. And the first time I saw that puck and rattle it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Sound of Blind Hockey puck rattling}<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was like, wow, that’s a big puck. And wow, that’s loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam:<\/strong> Yeah, yeah, it’s really neat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff:<\/strong> I mean, I played and I still remember the game we were in where the puck went along the boards and stopped, and everyone froze for a minute because there is no noise, no nothing. It wasn’t too long before they all found it, but there was a moment and I thought, oh my gosh, no one can see it. No one can find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, I feel like that happens a lot. It either it stops or like another thing I just like about blind hockey that I find funny is like the puck will like go into the net, but like, no one knows if it went in. So then everyone kind of just looks at each other. They’re like, did that go in or did it not go in? And then, and then eventually it’s like a really late reaction because the ref will be like, oh, it did. And then everyone celebrates like a minute later. I don’t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Yeah, it’s really neat, but it’s really fun. I remember the first time I went out there, it just changed everything. I was like, I can play a competitive sport again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>What was it like for you when you first joined?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, I had a very similar experience because I was never able to do like contact sports because of my vision. I had experience doing endurance sports like swimming and then Nordic skiing a little bit. So it was really cool to when I first was able to get out there. I remember I first heard about it towards the end of my senior year. So like May of 2025, because Nick Hadfield was my TVI at the time. So he’s kind of like, you know, the guy of blind hockey, right? So in our last meeting, he told me about it, or he was just asking about what clubs I was going to do in college. And I mentioned a couple. But then he, like, in a joking way, said, would you ever want to try hockey? And I was like, I would like, I would try it. Like, why not? And I was kind of just in like a time of my life where I was just kind of trying new things, kind of pushing myself out of my comfort zone a little bit. So I went for it. And then about a week later, I went to my first practice. And yeah, I just immediately kind of fell in love with it, just skating around. And then also when I got the puck was my favorite part. When I got to hit the puck, I was like, this is so cool. Like, because I knew how to skate a little bit because I grew up in Minnesota. So I probably, I would say I skated on the pond like, I don’t know, once a year or so. So I could skate forward and stuff. But I never really did, you know, much stickhandling or anything like that. So that was just like, cool. And then I got to do a half ice scrimmage, my first practice too. So we had like two defense and then three forwards, and I was one of the forwards. And I remember it was like so fun. And then after that one practice, Nick was like, oh, there’s like a tournament in Chicago in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>The Windy City Showdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, the Windy City Showdown. So that was in 2025. And he was like, do you want to go to it? And I was kind of like, you know, I’ve been to one practice. I don’t really know. I had never even watched hockey. Like I knew absolutely nothing about hockey at all. But I was like, I’m not doing anything so sure. So I went to that and I remember I got out on the ice the first time, and we’re kind of skating around, and I just see all these people from like all across, like I’m talking to people and they’re like, oh, this person’s from Ohio. All these people from like Boston or like Colorado. And I was like, this is so cool that we just all came together at this one place. And then the game started and I had like, no idea how any of the positions or anything work when the coaches said, oh, Sam, your left wing. And I was like, I first thought in my head was like, I have no idea what that means. Like I didn’t even know what that meant. And so I just kind of skated out there. Eventually people were tapping their stick about where I should go, and I eventually figured out where to go. And to be honest, the first game when I was playing, I was kind of scared because of it’s pretty like male dominant. And I feel like a lot of the guys are really like big, kind of older than me. And then they’re all skating so fast. So I think at first that was really intimidating and intimidating, and also because I didn’t really know where to go on the ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I think eventually after that game, and then even in that second game or the second game of that tournament, I scored my first goal. And then I think it was with an assist from Setsuka, who’s one of the another girl who plays another one of the few girls who plays and she plays for team USA. And I remember that was just like so fun, too. And then throughout the tournament, I was also able to like talk to all these like guys who I thought because in high school, it’s like all the hockey guys are kind of douchey. And I think of them as like not really nice people, you know? So like, so that’s kind of how I thought of like hockey guys. So that’s why I kind of intimidated me at that first tournament. But then when I was at some of the like social stuff, I was actually able to like meet these people and talk to them. I’m like, okay, wait, they’re actually all kind of like nice people. And like, we’re all just here to have a good time. And it’s more about like community than competition. And I think that is what kind of made me come back for the next season that started in September and then go to like, we had another tournament in Boston in November and then another one. We went to Canada in March, and then we obviously had Hendy Fest in May and then Chicago again last July. So with each tournament, I just feel like I fall more and more in love with it and like the community. So yeah, that’s awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>I remember the first time I had contact, I know there was no checking, but you can surely fight for the same square footage, like when you’re both going for the puck and you’re on different teams, you can fight for that space a little bit. There’s no real checking, but there’s a lot of contact…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff:<\/strong> …that just so happens. So once I came out of that, that I was like, I love this game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely ran into people a lot. My first, my first couple games, I was definitely down on the ground a lot. But I kind of learned to like that part of it. So I agree with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Yeah. So in college, you’re in college now, you’re in your second year of college and you’re going for mechanical engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff:<\/strong> Wow. What led to that decision?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Honestly, since like, I remember searching up careers in like eighth grade and I had always really been into math and science and building things. And just like the other options, like I kind of wanted like a job that wasn’t like typical and like at a desk. So I feel like that kind of ruled out business. And then I like looked at the other ones, like being a doctor. I was like, I didn’t want to go through medical school, that kind of thing. So it kind of just led me to engineering. So throughout high school, I took a lot of math and science courses to kind of like, see how much I liked that and see if that was really something that I enjoyed. And I noticed that I did really like doing my math and science homework compared to when I would have to do something like history or like reading something for English. Like I did not enjoy doing that. So I originally wanted to do aerospace engineering because I was really interested in like rockets and planes and stuff like that. I just thought it sounded really cool. But then I eventually chose mechanical because I started to grow a big interest in kind of the more biomedical and civil stuff as well, like example, like biomedical. I’m interested in like prosthetics or like even like assistive technology or doing stuff with like, even like at a cellular level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then civil engineering, there’s like infrastructure, like I thought the idea of making places more walkable or like improving, like transportation, like being able to do something like that would be really cool. And the thing with mechanical, it’s a very broad major that you can pretty much leeway into any type of engineering. So I’m not really sure exactly which one I want to do yet. So that’s kind of why I picked that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I knew that I had picked kind of the right one my senior year of high school when I took a, it was like this introduction engineering class, and I got to work with a partner and we got to actually like, we engineered like a part of a prosthetic for it was like a fishing hand thing. And I just thought that was really cool. And I was like, okay, yeah, I’m in the right field for sure. And then I came to the U of M and started doing these like actual, like proper engineering classes and getting these like hands on skills and deeper like technical skills. And I was like, I’ve really enjoyed it so far. And I’m actually kind of excited when I look at my class schedule. So yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>So when did you get hooked up with State Services for the Blind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>I first got connected with them, I would say at the beginning of 2024 because I wanted to do the summer transition program, summer camp. So I got connected with them and I did that camp. And throughout my senior year, they helped me a lot with kind of like college stuff like picking which college I want to go to and connecting with the Disability Resource Center here at the U of M, which has been like extremely helpful to me with converting my tests and stuff to a larger font and giving me a place to take tests with extended time, which I feel like is really helped me do better in my classes and stuff like that. They’ve also helped with getting like technology that I need. Like my computer is from State Services for the Blind, which I use literally every day. I’m on it right now. Also my monocular. And they also, I think the biggest thing they do is help with like financing college. So then I’m able to focus more on my academics than working or stressing about the costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>You know, having a good disability service office takes a lot of anxiety away from how am I going to do this? How am I going to test? How am I? So it’s really nice that you connect it up with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Who’s been your biggest advocate or mentor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>You know, it’s hard to pick like one. Exactly. But like, I feel like different parts of my life have had different mentors or advocates. But I would say right now, especially when it relates to kind of blind hockey would be my cousin. Her name is Jamie, and she’s kind of gotten really involved with the whole Minnesota Blind Hockey team. She’s like came to most of the tournaments with me. And then she’s also recently became our social media slash event coordinator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>And I’ve got something from her just lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: social media, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she’s been kind of like doing a lot on that. And I think it’s been really cool how she’s been able to kind of because I think the social media was an area where they could have like and events was an area where they could have improved. And I think they’ve been doing way better at that. And it’s really been like helping kind of expand the reach of like Minnesota Blind ockey and then also helping host these events. Like we just had a rock climbing event a couple weeks ago. And then next, I think we’re talking about doing like Feed My Starving Children or bullying. And it’s just like such a cool way to have like our team connect outside of the ice, which at least my first year on the team, we didn’t get to do much of that. So I think that’s really cool that she’s taking the step to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>We just did an event at Every Meal. It’s kind of like Feeding My Starving Children, but Every Meal, and a bunch of us went there, and it’s very accessible because you don’t have to measure anything. It’s just basically putting nonperishable goods into bags real fast. And it was really exciting. It was SSB, some of the staff and some students and their families all came and we filled up a line plus. Pretty cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, that’s really cool. We’ll have to do that one, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Going back to Minnesota Blind Hockey. How can someone find out more about that? I mean, now that your cousin’s got the social media, unless they stumble upon that, how would they find it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, I think social media is the best place. We haven’t quite figured out the Instagram yet. So I think Minnesota Blind Hockey, Facebook. And then also we have a website. I think if you just search up like MN blind hockey website, there’s some information on there. I think the best way, if you want to get involved, would probably be emailing people who are like emailing or management, which I don’t know the exact emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>I can look it up and get it. I’ll probably get Nick’s email address or something like that. One of them, I’m sure a few of them probably get them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, yeah, that’s probably the best way if you have any questions about it or we have our first, I think the season starting pretty soon. I think in a few weeks we have our welcome back barbecue that’s on the 2020 7th of September, so anyone is welcome. Anyone who’s interested is welcome to come to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>So what kind of assistive technology? You mentioned a monocular. Is there anything else like CCTV or any magnification that you use?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Honestly, I just do most of it on my phone and my computer. I’m able to pretty much just take a picture of anything and just zoom in. And especially with my computer because I got like a one with a pretty big screen, which I’m really like. So I’m able to zoom in on anything that I need, which is usually what I do. Yeah. The monocular I more so used for like sports games. Like if I go to like a wild game or something or like maybe occasionally I’ll use it for, for other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>But honestly, I had one and I would check the bus that was coming down the road. I would try and pick up the bus number off of it with a monocular. And at school when I was going to college, I tutored math. I loved math and science, and I tutored math, and I had a big, large screen and I would use it in black and white contrast. And so when tutoring, it looked like I had a big whiteboard or a big chalkboard, and all the students would be sitting there staring at my screen and I would be using it because I needed it. But they were using it because now I could teach multiple students all at once, like showing them algebra or calculus or something, you know, and just draw it out. It was really handy. I quickly went through math fast because I knew my eyesight was deteriorating a little bit. So I thought to myself, I want to get through this quick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>I think math is something that once you’re in it, you got to stay in it and keep grinding away at it because it all supports the next thing you’re learning as you’re going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah for sure. It’s hard to like take a break from it because then you forget everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>So I went to state services for the blind too, and that’s where I first started getting my, back then it was cassette recorders or whatever you need and stuff like that. They evaluate through assessments. And I’m sure you went through assessment to see what kind of what computer or other types of equipment that would help you out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah, I got another thing. I forgot the exact name of it, but it’s something I can put papers under that I like if I can’t see them and it’ll like, magnify them and put them on a screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff:<\/strong> Oh, really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam:<\/strong> I think it’s similar to what you were talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Like a CCTV. We used to call them back in the olden days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Now they’re just digital magnification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>It’s like that. But like I think a smaller, more, I don’t know, portable version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Oh really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah. I’m forgetting the name. I wish I knew the name, but yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Yeah, there’s a bunch of them out there. But that’s what’s nice about State Services for the Blind. You can go in and get an assessment and check out some of the equipment, and then The Low Vision stores right down the road so you can go try them out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Mhm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>And portability that that didn’t happen back in my day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah. I’m able to fit it all in my backpack pretty much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>So yeah, that’s pretty neat nowadays that that is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>So you said September 27th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yes. That’s the welcome back barbecue that we have, which is just it’s more like an information meeting to. And then our first practice is the week after the next Sunday. So I think that’s like October 4th, which I’m really excited. I feel like we’ve got a lot of new people. It seems like that are coming. We might have up to ten joining the team, so or at least trying it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>So is that up in Blaine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Up in Blaine super rink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>All right. That’s good. I might have to go to that barbecue. Barbecue sounds good right now. It’s getting near lunchtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>All right. What advice do you have for anybody else that is thinking about their college career? That might be, like you said, in 11th grade and looking ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>I think the biggest thing I’ve done throughout high school and college is just like getting involved with my community. Even in high school, like I mentioned, like taking the step to like take that intro to engineering class. And then also I did other volunteering clubs. And then even especially in college, I’ve joined like the Society of Women Engineers, which has allowed me to really connect with people and like talk to upperclassmen in my major. So when I was first coming in, I was able to talk to them and be like, is this really something I would want to do? Or like, what is like a career in this look like? Like I was able to talk to people who had like internships and that kind of thing. So I honestly just think like, yeah, getting involved and talking to people probably would be my biggest suggestion. And also hockey obviously was something I got involved in, which I would recommend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Thanks to Mr. Hatfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>That’s awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>I at least suggest giving it a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>So Sam, thank you so much for coming on to Blind Abilities, talking about Blind Hockey and your college journey that you’ve been on. So thank you very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam: <\/strong>Yeah. Awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Music}<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff: <\/strong>Be sure to check out and subscribe to the Spectacle newsletter and learn about all the upcoming events and opportunities, and be sure to check out the numerous podcasts on the news for teens page, and you’ll find the links right in the show notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out more about all the programs at State Services for the Blind, contact Shane.DeSantis@State.Mn.us <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s Shane dot d-e-s-a-n-t-i-s at state.mn .us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

{Music}<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab and find out what they can do for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live. work. Read. Succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Music]  [Transition noise]  –<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we share-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we see<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Through each other\u2019s eyes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Podcast Summary: {Music} Sam: Would you ever want to try hockey? And I was like, I would like, I would try it. Like, why not? And I was kind of just in like a time of my life where I was just kind of trying new things, kind of pushing myself out of my comfort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9311,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9644","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rcRg-2vy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8414,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=8414","url_meta":{"origin":9644,"position":0},"title":"Minnesota Wild Blind Hockey: Passion, Community, and Opportunities on the Ice and announcing a Career Networking Event for Blind Students","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"September 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Podcast Page Full Transcript Brady: We've gone to Pittsburgh for what they call a diversified hockey festival. I've gone to St. Louis. I've gone to Fort Wayne for a fall classic. I've also gone to Chicago.\u00a0 Jeff:\u00a0Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson. 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