Since 1987, Israeli adults with visual disabilities have been enjoying lawn bowls – an outdoor sport played with a one-kilo ball aimed toward a target – as part of the all-volunteer Israel Lawn Bowls Association for the Blind. “Among sports for the blind, lawn bowls has the largest number of participants in Israel,” says Sarah Shapiro, a retired immunology researcher from Haifa who has managed the Israel Lawn Bowls Association national team since 2003 and just completed a six-year term as president of the Israel Association for the Blind. Paired with sighted coaches, about 50 players meet on Sundays at lawn bowls clubs in Haifa, Ra’anana, Ramat Gan and Kiryat Ono.

Thanks to the league’s affiliation with the International Blind Bowls Association and the International Bowls for the Disabled, serious contenders compete overseas with the support of donors including Toto-The Israel Sports Betting Board and the Ministry of Culture and Sports. Despite their relatively small contingent, the Israelis always do well in competition. Most recently, Israeli blind lawn bowlers earned five medals at the 2015 International Bowls for the Disabled’s international competition in New Zealand. (via Israel21c)

[Photo: Alex Goldsmith / YouTube ]