Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes

Home
United States
Silver Spring, MD
Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes

Providing visually impaired adults and youth with recreational and athletic opportunities in the Metro Washington area.

The Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes (MWABA) is an organization of blind athletes and their sighted friends who believe that recreational and competitive sports opportunities should be open to everyone, regardless of their ability to see. We will be holding educational and fun programs for blind and visually impaired youth and adults from Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia to discover new sports or practice familiar ones in an open and welcoming environment. Our mission also includes teaching blind athletes the physical techniques and body movements that they may not have had a chance to learn through physical education classes, and we also want to share with educators the best way to teach athletic and kinesthetic skills to the blind and visually impaired population. MWABA events are all about trying new things, meeting new friends, staying or becoming fit, and having fun! We want to support one another and ourselves in achieving a fit and active lifestyle.

09/05/2026

This past weekend, our Youth Club gathered to play Blind Soccer. We are so grateful to Kevin Brown and Antoine Craig for leading the instruction. Kevin is a former and Antoine a current member of the US Blind Soccer Team. Antoine made the trip with one of his Richmond coaches and two teammates to help out. The kids were also able to learn from pro soccer player Cole Hellert. They learned how to dribble, pass, shoot, and communicate and at the end competed in a fun game along with the adult players and coaches. Each youth participant was able to take home their own official blind soccer ball. Thank you to everyone who came out for this event!

07/25/2026

MWABA will be tabling and doing tandem biking and goalball demonstrations at the International Adaptive activity day at Mason Neck State Park in Lorton, Virginia on August 1st from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will also be an All-Terrain power wheelchair, EnChroma glasses and a viewing scope, adaptive archery equipment, birding, and the RightHear app.

07/07/2026

It’s been a very fun and adventurous few months for MWABA. We hosted our first bike camping trip of the season at the Marsden Tract campground in mid-June. We biked from Bethesda along the C&O Canal there and back. We had so much fun biking, hiking, swimming, cooking, chatting around the campfire, and of course, laughing. We loved having an opportunity to create new memories together and learn new skills. We had several first time campers who enjoyed learning how to pitch their own tents and build a fire. Join us for our next camping trip in Prince William Forest in August!

06/30/2026

Thank you to the Washington Blind Hockey Club for welcoming our youth club to their 10 year anniversary celebration this past Saturday! They offered our participants a Learn to Skate/Try Blind Hockey opportunity and invited us to watch their competitive game against players from the northeast and stay for a celebratory dinner. Thank you for all of your efforts and for being so welcoming. Congratulations on 10 years of success!

06/25/2026

MWABA sent three tandem teams to the Bikepacking Roots Mon Forest Summit! We had a wonderful time biking on the Greenbrier River Trail, camping, leading a workshop, doing tandem demonstrations, and eating lots of ice cream! We enjoyed beautiful weather, connecting with new friends, and learning about bikepacking. Thanks Nicole van der Wal for the great photos!

06/09/2026

MWABA is ordering a new batch of “Tandemonium” Bike Jerseys! Sign up here by June 15th if you’d like to place an order: https://forms.gle/DeM5N81tEHhrmYM7A We'll get both short and long-sleeve jerseys if there’s enough interest. The jersey is yellow and light orange, with the blue, red, and white MWABA logo on the front. The back has pink cherry blossoms, says "Join the TANDEMONIUM at gomwaba.org!" and has the Terrapin bike store logo. The sleeves have tandems on them and the sides say gomwaba.org. Short-sleeve jerseys will probably cost between $45-$55 each, and long-sleeve jerseys will probably cost between $55-$65 each. Jerseys are available in men's and women's fits, and in sizes from XS-4XL.

Terrapin Bicycles is sponsoring our jerseys and is offering our dues-paying members a 20% discount on parts and accessories (not labor). If you’re interested in using the discount, email [email protected] and we’ll share your contact information with Terrapin.

05/25/2026

Check out MWABA’s latest Athlete Spotlight on MWABA founder, Karla Gilbride! Learn about why Karla founded MWABA, how MWABA has grown, and the impact that blind sports has had on Karla’s life. gomwaba.org/2026/05/20/athlete-spotlight-karla-gilbride/

05/18/2026

MWABA recently partnered with Master Gloria DuBissette of DC Black Dragon Martial Arts for a self-defense workshop for our May Youth Club event. Our 6 youth participants learned fundamental stances and basic blocking and strike and kick techniques from Master DuBissette and her daughter Mickey. It was a great learning experience for our club. The event was at the Rita Bright Family and Youth Center which also hosting a free Good Neighbor Day community event, so our participants and their families were able to enjoy music, games, and food after. Thank you to Gloria, Mickey, and the folks at Rita Bright for having us!

05/10/2026

MWABA has had a jam-packed spring! We hosted the Capital Cherry Blossom Goalball Classic Tournament, held our first 2026 youth club event, went on a nature walk at Roosevelt Island led by a master naturalist, did the second annual blind bird-a-thon with Birdability and the DC Bird Alliance, celebrated National Trails day by biking on the Capital Crescent and C&O Trails to check out the Marsden Tract campground for our June tandem bike camping trip, trained new tandem bike captains with Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), did our tandem bike camping skillshare, and Thursday and Friday night bike rides! Join us for our Spring Social, yoga, tandem biking, youth club, goalball, and more! And visit us at the Bethesda Bike to Work Day on Friday to try out a tandem!

03/07/2026

We had a great time at our bike maintenance workshops getting our tandems ready for tandem season! We replaced a shifter, chains, cables, and bar tape, and adjusted brakes and shifters. Thanks to REI for hosting us and to the foreseeable future foundation for paying for our bike tools! Join us for Thursday and Friday night rides starting on March 12th and our captain training on April 23rd! Also check out our new T-shirts and a photo from the Montreal goalball tournament!

Address

Silver Spring, MD
20910

Website

http://gomwaba.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes:

Want your school to be the top-listed School/college in Silver Spring?