Wasilla student earns invite to Paralympics Academy

June 1, 2007

By Hannah Guillaume/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - Being blind hasn't stopped a Wasilla boy from becoming a nationally recognized athlete.

Richard Vaughn Beck, 17, is just one of 45 high school athletes in the U.S. to be accepted to the National Paralympic Academy at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The academy starts today.

Beck, who was named sports education camp male athlete of the year in 2006 by the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes, will receive sports training and mentoring from U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The U.S. Paralympics is a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee for disabled athletes.

&#8220If you give me a chance to play a sport that I can work with, and I can play, I'm thankful that I can play,” Beck said. &#8220The whole thing I want to go there to do is learn more sports.”

In May, he returned to the Valley from the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes Sports Education Camp with first-place titles in wrestling, shot put and goalball.

Goalball, a Paralympics event, is played by two teams made up of three athletes working to throw a ball into the opposing team's goal during two 10-minute periods. The ball has bells in it and competitors wear goggle-like blindfolds to even the advantage partially sighted players could bring to the court.

Beck's recent goalball performance as team center qualifies him to compete with the Michigan State team in nationals this October in Florida.

&#8220There's different ways to adapt to different sports,” he said. &#8220I love that there's actually a sport I can still play that's still fun.”

Beck played football and basketball before he began to develop tunnel vision five years ago. Today his vision is restricted to the point that he can only catch quarter-sized glimpses of what's going on around him.

He said competitions make him feel the way he did playing sports before he started losing his sight.

&#8220When I quit playing sports, there was nothing else,” Beck said. &#8220These sports and the ways to adapt gives people hope, and opens their eyes to new things that they never knew were there.”

Jacinda Danner, a teacher of the Valley's visually impaired and vision specialist for Camp Abilities Alaska, is Beck's coach. She is one of 25 coaches accepted to attend the academy nationwide and will be training to develop more local athletes like Beck for the

Paralympics.

&#8220He is the only high school level athlete that is Paralympic level right now - that we know of in Alaska. He is a very strong athlete and has always really enjoyed athletics. He's got a good sense of sportsmanship,” Danner said.

In 2002, Beck started on his Paralympic journey by attending Camp Abilities Alaska.

&#8220When I first started going blind, I felt like I couldn't play any sports,” he said. &#8220When I first went to camp, they showed me that they had all these different sports.”

He admitted that the first time he went to the camp he thought it &#8220would suck,” but then he said he loosened up and discovered that he really wasn't different than anyone else. He starting learning how to rock climb, play goalball and row.

&#8220It makes you fit in,” he said.

But Beck continues to stand out, whether it's learning how to drop into a half-pipe while skate boarding or being a much needed volunteer at Camp Abilities Alaska, July 9-14.

After the Paralympic Academy, Beck said he is considering joining a wrestling team and may take up tandem bicycling.

Contact Hannah Guillaume at 352-2250 or hannahguillaume@yahoo.com.