After a spinal cord injury left my son, Walid, paralyzed in a wheel chair we both thought his days swinging a club on the golf course were over. One day while searching on the internet we discovered Anthony Netto and the chair he designed so that he could golf again after an injury put him in a wheelchair. This past September, my son's dream to golf again after a spinal cord injury took away his a
bility to walk in 2012, came true thanks to the Sunshine Foundation of Canada and Anthony Netto, founder of the Stand Up and Play Foundation and co-designer of the ParaGolfer. The experience of watching my son participate in a sport that he had assumed he would only enjoy as a spectator was truly priceless. The ParaGolfer gave my son the opportunity to stand up and play the game he so loves. The partnership with the La Costa Golf resort in Carlsbad, California allowed him access to a golfer's paradise and the chance to rub shoulders with other golfers as he fine tuned his swing on the driving range and championship golf course. Finally the mentorship and coaching of Anthony Netto, someone who did not allow his inability to stand become a barrier to playing golf, gave my son the opportunity to maximize his ability to golf as a paraplegic. From the realization of Walid's dream now comes an even bigger dream, a dream to make golf an accessible sport in British Columbia. The formula to make this possible consists of first of all getting the ParaGolfer on to courses throughout British Columbia so that they can be used by anyone with mobility challenges and then to maximize these local initiatives by creating a provincial group that advances golf as an accessible sport with a focus on golf schools, clubs, workshops and even tournaments.
