Zimbabwe's visually impaired radio cricket commentator can sense it all
Who says blindness is a curse? While many people would feel that not being able to see the world around you is a curse, a Zimbabwean commentator has turned the odds in his favour despite the setback of not being able to see. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dean-c53369 DU Plessis was born with
a tumour in both the eyes and his parents were informed by the doctors that he would not be able to survive beyond infancy.
At the tender age of six, his parents felt that it was time for them to send him to school however Zimbabwe lacked proper facilities to deal with children with blindness so they decided to send him to neighbouring South Africa. As the bowler comes in to
deliver the ball and it strikes the bat, the announcer on the radio exclaims that it is going to clear the ropes. His acute sense of hearing has helped him make his way into the world of cricket commentating. Cricket was always his passion and he fondly recalls
how in school he used to listen to the commentaries of different commentators on the radio.
Somehow, he managed to listen past the sound of firecrackers along with the cacophony of thousands of cricket crazy spectators. He followed series by ensuring that he tuned in to all the sound effects of the game. In the 1992 World Cup, Zimbabwe managed
to clinch a historic win over South Africa and later won a match against a top cricket playing nation England, in Harare.
Du Plessis stated that he “was already hooked.”
Eavesdropping on other commentators along with focusing on his hearing skills has helped him overcome his lack of vision. He delivers in such an elegant, flawless manner that many of his listeners are absolutely unaware of the fact that he cannot see. He
claims that he hears the power and the direction the shot has been hit in, he listens to the ball whizzing and spinning, he could decode the movements of the players through their sound and grunts.
He can pick up emotions on the field such as anxiety, excitement or frustration. He then takes the assistance of score keepers to keep track of the runs being scored in an innings.
Talking to the reporters, he said that he has to ensure that he is totally accurate. "I'm generally spot on or very close. I think I have a pretty big hard drive in my head."
He is a former telephone operator and now works as the media editor at the national cricket governing body headquarters in Harare. He can read Braille manuscripts however realizes that with the advent of mobile phones and computers, punched Braille manuscripts
have almost been rendered obsolete.
"He is not inhibited nearly as much as you would expect, his memory for the scores and his match summaries are absolutely astonishing", exclaims veteran award-winning http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 sports writer John Kelley.
Du Plessis says that his ultimate dream is to work for an international sports channel but he said that as soon as they learn that he is visually impaired they tend to back off. Despite the setback, he has managed to share the commentary box with some of
the world’s most renowned commentators in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and Asia. He has earned great respect from his colleagues.
Du Plessis said that he can identify renowned cricketers through their signature sounds, like former Australian cricketer Shane Warne who he claims had identifiable body movements along with verbal grunts that formed a part of the cricketers' 'signature'.
He also claimed that other sportsmen from cricket have audible “signatures” as well.
“He's unique. On air, you can't tell he's blind. Only a circle of cricket followers know he is", said Dave Emberton, a Zimbabwe broadcast news reader.
In the words of Paula Coelho, ‘You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one; each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle,’ and Du Plessis just goes on to prove that
he is in fact just another miracle who has been long ignored by many who doubt the blind man.
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