Ever wonder about getting more physically active or participating in a team sport? This episode aims to answer all your questions about sports participation for people who are blind. Our guest is Glen Wade, President of the Ontario Blind Sports Association. Glen established his love of sports as a young boy, and it was at the Ontario School for the Blind (now W. Ross MacDonald School) where he was able to try out and compete in many sports such as hockey, baseball, football, wrestling and goalball. He would go on to pursue goalball professionally, representing Ontario 12 times at the national championships, and was named to the Canadian team 4 times with 2 trips to the Paralympics in 1984 and 1992.
After several decades as an amateur athlete, he decided to turn his attention over to sports administration. He began assisting with events run by the Ontario Blind Sports Association (OBSA) in 2011, and was elected president in 2012. He attributes his success and quality of life largely to the lessons he has learned through sports, including drive, preparedness, persistence and leadership.
In addition to explaining how the sport of goalball is played, and learning about his sporting career, Glen gives some helpful advice on how to make sports like baseball, hockey and running accessible for children and adults who are blind.
Our guest host for this episode is Madeleine Sommerville. During her student occupational therapy placement at BALANCE, Madeleine was given the opportunity to conduct an interview on the topic of her choosing for the show. As a long-time soccer player and sports fan, she decided to bring these two passions together, and reached out to the Ontario Blind Sports Association, and before long she found herself sitting down with the President! Madeleine currently works as an Occupational Therapist in school-based rehabilitation services in Parry Sound Ontario.
Links:
Learn more about The Ontario Blind Sports Association by visiting their nicely designed Website.
Find Madeleine Sommerville on LinkedIn.
Email Glen Wade at glenw@rogers.com, OBSA program manager Richard Amelard at Richard@Blindsports.on.ca, and Executive Director Randa Gohary at randa@blindsports.on.ca.
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The show notes and transcription for this podcast can be found at BalanceFBA.org/Podcast.
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