The sport ambassadors’ role involves assisting the organisation in raising awareness for blind football programming and other schemes through digital content and in-person appearances.

David Brown is joined by fellow athletes Kevin Brown, Ricardo Castaneda, Bailey Martin and Casimir Werda as well as coach Katie Smith.

David Brown, Castaneda, Martin and Werda participated in a landmark event for the USABA with eight other athletes at the Maryland School for the Blind in Baltimore.

The organisation held its inaugural blind football talent identification camp, from April 8 to 12, after the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee verified it as the sport’s national governing body in January.

Sprint runner David Brown has competed in three Paralympics and his sole medal was gold at Rio 2016 in the 100 metres T11.

He was diagnosed with kawasaki disease as a 15-month-old child which resulted in glaucoma, an eye condition where the optic nerve is damaged.

The 29-year-old has trained at numerous blind football camps over the last year as he attempts to secure a second Paralympic gold at Paris 2024.

Kevin Brown, 50, participated in mainstream sports, such as football, during high school and college and he later used his talents to secure the pentathlon record for USA Track and Field and become a member of the US national blind hockey team.

He was determined as legally blind when he was seven years old due to a degenerative genetic eye disorder called one-rod dystrophy.

Castaneda has been an advocate for blind soccer for several years and is currently studying kinesiology in college with the ambition to become a physical therapist.

The 21-year-old was diagnosed with the rare eye condition pars planitis as a four-year-old, developed glaucoma and was blind by the age of 15.

Martin, a 19-year-old college student who is studying communications and sports relations at the University of Northern Iowa, became visually impaired as a teenager and she participates in beep basketball, goalball, swimming, track and now blind soccer.

Werda, who served for the US Army as a member of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 and lost his vision when an improvised explosive device went off, has also played goalball for several years.

Ohio Blind Soccer coach Smith started coaching the sport following a USABA blind soccer camp in 2018 and has since participated in various national development camps and clinics.

She also arranges other activities and recreational sports for blind competitors in the Ohio city of Columbus.

The Paralympic Games has featured blind soccer since 2004, but the United States has never sent a team to the event.

The USABA is targeting changing this at the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics by developing a national team to compete at its home Games.