Give Paul a Hand to Paraclimbing World Championships!

The first sport I ever played was soccer on my elementary school team at St. Pius X. In middle school I—the kid with one hand—quit soccer to play baseball. This winter I went to my first paraclimbing competition and finished in first place. Please join me on my ongoing mission to prove that hands aren’t as important as people think they are.

Until recently, I had never seen myself as an athlete. I’m just a high school English teacher who started climbing because it was something fun that made me feel capable in my body as I never had before. As I started meeting other disabled climbers, people started telling me that I was good, that I should compete. I decided to give it a go, found a coach, and started to train.

Turns out those climbers were right! This March I competed in the USA Paraclimbing National Championships in Oakland CA and took first place in my category, earning a spot on the USA National team. It’s an honor that means I’ll be able to represent the US alongside other incredible athletes at Paraclimbing World Cups in Europe and in and at the Paraclimbing World Championships. It's been a great delight to return home and get tell my students “Hey, you remember how you had a sub last week while I was competing? Well guess what, I’ll get to do it again in South Korea!”

I’m honored to be on the national team, but it presents a new challenge beyond hauling myself up a wall by one hand. but international competition is mostly a self-funded endeavor in which I must pay for my training and travel, but the salary of a rural teacher in the US was not calculated with international travel in mind. My ultimate goal is to compete in the Paralympics in 2028, which makes for a lot of training and travel over the next three years. I’m so grateful to everyone who’s already made it possible for me to make it this far, and I’m excited to see how far I can go with your support.