Photo - Kerith Waddington R ob Gaunt plans to hit them with his best shot. A member of Canada's national goalball team bound for the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta this August, the third-year psychology student is one of Canada's top shooters. Making his second trip to the games for the sport of goalball, Gaunt aims to help the fifth-seeded Canadian team go for the gold. Just back from a second-place finish at an international competition in Portugal, the team is pulling together mentally and physically, says Gaunt, who's been a member of the provincial goalball team for the last 12 years. It's a fast and exciting game that takes skill and strength to do well, but I'm confident we can pull it together and do well in Atlanta.
Players track the ball by sound and throw their bodies prone to block it.
The biggest bruises come not from lost games but from the ball itself, jokes Gaunt, who says he is nevertheless a huge fan of the sport. Spending two to three hours a day at the height of the season doing a mixture of cardiovascular work, weight training, endurance exercises and shooting practice, he believes cross-training is the best offensive in a game where defensive skills are paramount. Born legally blind, Gaunt says the blindfolds worn during the game are a real equalizer and that participation in the sport by sighted individuals is growing. A powerlifter with several world titles under his belt, he is also a co-ordinator with the sport and recreation club on campus that helps people with physical disabilities get access to facilities in the Athletics Centre. For Gaunt, balancing athletic and scholastic endeavors is his biggest challenge, but he finds them complementary in the skills they develop.