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IBGA Directors
True International Representation from Professional Businessmen
Garrett Slattery: Chairman
Garrett, a Professor in Actuarial Science at Stellenbosch University, has been visually impaired since the age of 10.
Garrett emigrated from the UK to South Africa in the 1970's (aged 12), and is married with a teenage son, Brendon. Brendon has guided Garrett in several blind golf competitions. Garrett has played golf for many years. He was one of the founder members of the South African Blind Golf Association (SABGA), and has served as their Honorary Secretary/Treasurer for a number of years. He has won the South African visually impaired title on a number of occasions, and is currently a member at the Stellenbosch Golf Club, near Cape Town in the Western Cape.
LEARN MORE ABOUT GARRETT SLATTERY
Mario Tobia: Vice-Chairman Admin
Mario has served as a USBGA board member since 2019.
Mario has dedicated the second part of his career to bettering the lives of visually impaired individuals in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area. He has worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Commission for the Blind for the past 20 years as a Training Consultant. His job responsibilities have included performing computer, iPhone and iPad feasibility studies as well as the evaluation, order processing, installation and training of hundreds of individuals using adaptive computer software and mobile devices.
Graham Coulton: Vice-Chairman Finance
Graham was born on 9 April, 1958 and is retired and was formally employed by the Office of Sport which is a division under the NSW State Government of Australia and he held the position of Program Coordinator - Motor Sport.
This is a unique position for a person with a vision impairment, as Graham administered two separate Acts under State Government legislation relating to the conduct of motor sport in NSW.
Graham commenced to play golf in 1994, in 1995, he played in his first Australian Open and since then he has now played in seven World Championships.
LEARN MORE ABOUT GRAHAM COULTON
Karin Becker: Director
Chair of the new Membership Growth Committee
Karin was born in 1972 in Austria and became visual impaired at the age of 21. She studied architecture and is now working in the management of a company which organises the provision of Personal Assistance for people with disabilities.
She started playing golf already visual impaired and had her first contact with blind golf in 2010 and became member of the IBGA in 2013.
Since 2014 Karin was the national secretary of Austrian Blind Golf.
For many years Karin is leading the blind and visual impaired committee at the Austrian golf association and trying to make golf more attractive to people with sight problems.
Andrea Calcaterra: Director
Andrea Calcaterra from Milan, Italy, belongs to a family who have been involved in golf for 4 generations. He started playing golf at the age of 9 and his handicap continually improved, eventually playing off 3.
In the late 1990s he lost his eyesight and stopped playing. In 2001 he restarted playing, initially as a joke but quickly realised he could play and enjoy 18 holes.
During 2003 he joined the Associazione Italiana Golf Disabili and in 2004 contributed to its transformation into the Federazione Italiana Golf Disabili. Since then he has been a member of the board first as director and in 2008 became Chairman of the Blind Golf Department.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ANDREA CALCATERRA
Gerry Nelson: Director
Representing Dr Handa
Gerry, a provincial Client Service Co-ordinator with Canada's National Institute for the Blind, was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan on November 9th, 1963.
At the age of 6 he was diagnosed with diabetes and became totally blind at the age of 25.
He is a provincial, Western Canadian and Canadian Open Blind Golf Champion and has taken part in tournaments in England, Scotland, Japan and the United States.
He is a past-president and current vice-president of the Western Canadian Blind Golf Association and is in his second term as President of Blind Golf Canada.
John White: Director
Representing Dr Handa
John, a retired banker, lives in Perth Western Australia. An active golfer, he has been a member of the Nedlands Golf Club for 40 years.
He first met Dr Handa in 1989 at the inaugural Australian Blind Golf Championship held in Perth. John became Dr Handa's representative on the IBGA board in 2008.
John Eakin
IBGA Handicap Secretary and Chair of the IBGA Handicap Committee
John is a member of Blind Golf England. John lives in Surrey, England, having been born in 1958 in Malacca, Malaysia. He has been on the IBGA board of directors since 2019.
John has been a Trustee of England and Wales Blind Golf (EWBG) for over ten years.
He is a member of Royal Ashdown Forest GC in Sussex, England. In 2014/15 he Captained his club, and remains a single figure handicapper.
Past Directors
Mr Yoshinori Ikezawa
Mr Ikezawa was born in 1959. He first encountered the sport of golf when someone asked 16-year-old Yoshinori to work part time as caddie at a distinguished golf course.
In those days in Japan, golf was rarely played by ordinary people and was considered by many as an opportunity for the rich to socialize. However, he was moved by the good manners and etiquette of the members of the golf club, and Yoshinori, who was practising Judo at the time, was intrigued by the similarities in spiritual ways between the ancient Japanese martial art and the Western sport of golf.
Yoshinori's future dreams include the realization of a tournament for all categories of eye sight and producing a world champion from Japan.
LEARN MORE ABOUT YOSHINORI IKEZAWA
Linda Port
Linda, who is a resident of Southern California, was raised in Washington State where her father (totally blind) was teacher, athletic director and ultimately principal of the Washington State School for the Blind. Linda regards her father as her inspiration and feels privileged to have grown up among the teachers and students at the School.
She learned golf at age 40 (while she still had most of her vision) and played on club teams for a few years in the early 1990s; she then returned to work for Ely Callaway (founder of Callaway Golf) as the project manager for his autobiography. Although low vision was a big factor in giving up golf for many years, she discovered blind golf in 2011 and by 2014 competed in the USBGA Open in Exeter, RI.
In November, 2016 Linda won the Ladies World Championship in Tokyo, Japan. Most of the time, her coach/guide is husband Fred.
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