| Articles provided by Paul Ponchillia,
PhD
Professor, Western Michigan University
Department of Blindness
and Low Vision Studies Coaching
Athletes with Visual Impairements AccesSports:
A Model for Adapting Mainstream Sports Activities for Individuals with Visual
Impairments An Aerobic
Exercise Class for College Students with Visual Impairments (Author:
Linda Powell / Susan Ponchillia, Ed.D) Athletes
with Visual Impairments: Attributes and Sports Participation An
End-of-Lane Signalling Device for Swimmers Who Are Visually Impaired Paul
is a friend and supporter of what The Blind Judo Foundation is about and promoting
Judo among the blind and visually impaired community.
PAUL PONCHILLIA,
Ph. D.
Enshrined September 28, 2000
Before the hunting accident that
took his sight at age 30, Paul Ponchillia was a high school and college athlete.
After he discovered the vigorous competitive sport of goalball, he was more determined
than ever to stay involved in sports despite his blindness. He is or has been
a competitive goalball player, track and field athlete, and a cross-country skier.
He took first in the totally blind category in the 1986 Michigan Ski for Light
ski race and had numerous first, second and third place finishes in state, national
and international tournaments. The vice president of the U.S. Association of Blind
Athletes was a USABA nationals star in track and field (discus and shotput) and
in the 50-meter event. As a Western Michigan University professor, Ponchillia
developed a course called Teaching Sports and Physical Education Activities to
Visually Impaired Individuals. He has also developed instructional videos aimed
at teaching parents, teachers and coaches how to teach blind students goalball
and its strategies, and hundreds of children benefit from a program he initiated
in 1988, the annual Sports Education Camp for Visually Impaired Youth.
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