Joe Walsh, a visually-impaired athlete and native of Braintree, MA, holds degrees from Dartmouth College and UMass Amherst, and serves as President of Adaptive Sports New England. He is a two-time Paralympian in cross country skiing, and former Managing Director of Paralympics for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). Joe served on Team USA’s delegation staff at six Paralympic Games and as Chef de Mission at two Parapan American Games. He coached youth cross country skiing for 13 seasons, and was the first Paralympic athlete representative elected to the USOPC Athletes’ Advisory Council and Board of Directors. Joe served as Vice President of the International Blind Sports Federation from 2013-2017 and is currently a director of Move United.
Adaptive Sports New England
Adaptive Sports New England is a non-profit organization dedicated to making sports accessible to youth and young adults with visual or mobility impairments. They work with schools to create Para events in new and existing competitions and provide individual consultation on how to get involved with local leagues. They also offer specialized coaching and conduct programs in swimming, track & field, cross-country skiing, and wheelchair basketball. Learn more about Adaptive Sports here.
You can watch Joe present his work to the Weymouth Rotary Club below:
In 2019, Joe was honored with the Kara MacDonald Aspire Award by the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Read more about the Aspire Award here.