If you can’t see, you’re at a disadvantage in most sports, but it’s part of the relatively unknown sport Showdown. It can best be explained as a cross between air hockey and table tennis, with a ball instead of a puck. Today was the first Showdown tournament in the north of our country, organized by Showdown Association Cannonballs Assen.
And the players live up to the name ‘Cannonballs’, as was immediately clear at the start of the tournament. The ball, which is filled with ball bearings, is hit over the wooden table with rectangular paddles. And that sometimes happens with brute force. “It’s not a sport for the faint of heart,” says organizer Alwin Kempen.
16 participants from all over the country will participate in the tournament. It was held in the building of theater school Garage TDI. The organization hopes to organize more of these tournaments in the future to help the sport grow. Kempen: “Ultimately, our goal is for Showdown to become a Paralympic sport. That would be great.”
Kempen is also a referee and checks the players’ glasses before each match. They are blinded to give everyone the same handicap. Showdown originated in Canada in the eighties and is mainly played by blind and partially sighted people.
By the sound of the ball rolling, players know when to defend the goal and can estimate where and when to hit. “I like it very much. It goes nice and fast,” says Iris van der Zaag.
She is visually impaired and has a guide dog for the blind. “It’s nice that this exists because with other sports you have a bit of a problem with not being able to see. Because you play with people who can see and they sometimes have certain advantages. And with this sport it all makes It doesn’t matter because it’s by ear anyway.”
Watch how Showdown is played in this video: