Matthew Simpson (born March 30, 1990) is an American

goalball Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a visual impairment, vision impairment. Participants compete in teams of three, and try to throw a ball with bells embedded inside it into the opponents' goal. The ball is throw ...

player. Simpson represented the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

and won a silver medal. He will represent the United States in the 2024 games in Paris.

Early life

When Simpson was about a year old, he began moving his eye in unusual ways. The doctors who first examined him believed it was a condition he would grow out of, but once he started sitting unusually close to the family television, his parents suspected a more serious condition. When he was 4 years old, he was diagnosed with a degenerative retinal condition that would eventually leave him blind. In later years, Simpson would consider learning about his diagnosis that early to be a blessing in disguise, telling an interviewer for a

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

publication in 2019, "As a kid, you don’t really think about it. You don’t dwell on it. You kind of get used to the idea of what your life is going to be like." While he was a devoted fan of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

in general and the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

in particular, he realized that playing it would not be an option due to his vision impairment. He first turned to swimming and running, but took to goalball once he was exposed to the sport at a summer camp at age 10. Upon returning from camp, he told his father that he would play goalball in the Paralympics. At the time, there was no goalball program in the Atlanta area, but his father started one with the help of the Georgia Blind Sports Association.

Education

Simpson graduated from

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

in 2012, after which he worked in Colorado for the United States Association of Blind Athletes. After winning a silver medal at the

, Simpson attended the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

and graduated in 2020. He currently works as an associate for

Sidley Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational corporation, multinational law firm with approximately 2,300 lawyers in 21 offices worldwide. It was established in 1866 and its headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Chicago Loop, Loo ...

Career

Simpson first made the United States national team in 2011 while a student at Washington and Lee, going on to represent the US at the

Parapan American Games The Parapan American Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes with physical disabilities held every four years after every Pan American Games. The first Games were held in 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico. The 2003 Parapan American Ga ...

and win silver medals in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. He represented the United States at the

and won a silver medal. He will again represent the United States at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Matt 1990 births Living people American male goalball players Paralympic goalball players for the United States Paralympic silver medalists for the United States Paralympic medalists in goalball Goalball players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Goalball players at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Parapan American Games silver medalists for the United States Parapan American Games medalists in goalball Goalball players at the 2015 Parapan American Games Goalball players at the 2019 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Parapan American Games University of Virginia School of Law alumni Washington and Lee University alumni People associated with Sidley Austin Sportspeople from Atlanta