BSNZ are pleased to announce that the Board of Directors (BOD) have appointed Thomas Coysh as a co-opted board member. The BOD recognised his passion for sport for both physical and mental well being, and acknowledged that his lived experience of vision loss is vital for our work, providing valuable insights for our organisation.
"My name is Thomas, I’m 24 and I was born with retinitis pigmentosa. I have always been an avid sportsman, so when my vision deteriorated in high school the thing that hit me the hardest was that I thought I had to cease my involvement in sports. I kept active but I was always longing for something more fulfilling, until I was introduced to Blind Sport NZ and the wonderful world of adaptive sports. From there I discovered and fell in love with adaptive skiing, where I am now pursuing a pathway to high-performance downhill racing, recently being selected onto the Paralympics Para-Sport collective. Notable achievements include volunteering as crew for the Spirit of Adventure, becoming the first blind person to complete a 21 day Outward Bound course, and spending a month sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.
The main reason that I joined the board is that I want everyone to be able to experience at least the same level of fulfilment through sport that I have, if not more. My goal is for sport to be equitable, so that anyone can participate irrespective of age, vision, or physical ability."
Get to know a little more about Thomas from a BSNZ 2021 Spotlight here, and follow his journey with Para-alpine Skiing 'The blind skiwi' facebook page here