Matthew Simpson (born March 30, 1990) is an American goalball player. Simpson represented the United States at the 2016 Summer Paralympics 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 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."[1]
While he was a devoted fan of baseball in general and the Atlanta Braves 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.[1]
