2019 Open De France Showdown, Tours
152 images Created 3 Jun 2019
The first time I had heard of this sport was when I was asked to cover this particular event.
Showdown is a little bit like table-tennis adapted for people with visual impairments. Although I'd go further and suggest it is very much like air-hockey, too, as the aim is to score a goal at your opponent's end of the table.
Very often when shooting blind-sports silence is a prerequisite so that the athletes can hear what is going on; where the ball is, when a race is about to start, etc. Showdown has to be the noisiest blind-sport I have ever photographed! The hard ball full of lead shot makes a 'rattling noise' but it also makes an incredible cracking sound when it is hit or rebounds off the sides of the table. Indeed so much noise is created that matches are carried out in individual rooms / sports halls so that the players can figure out what's going on on their own table!
For quite an unassuming sport to first look at it is, in fact, super intense, super loud and super fast!
Showdown is a little bit like table-tennis adapted for people with visual impairments. Although I'd go further and suggest it is very much like air-hockey, too, as the aim is to score a goal at your opponent's end of the table.
Very often when shooting blind-sports silence is a prerequisite so that the athletes can hear what is going on; where the ball is, when a race is about to start, etc. Showdown has to be the noisiest blind-sport I have ever photographed! The hard ball full of lead shot makes a 'rattling noise' but it also makes an incredible cracking sound when it is hit or rebounds off the sides of the table. Indeed so much noise is created that matches are carried out in individual rooms / sports halls so that the players can figure out what's going on on their own table!
For quite an unassuming sport to first look at it is, in fact, super intense, super loud and super fast!
