As Blind Week gets underway, one Kiwi athlete is not letting his disability get in the way.
26-year-old wrestler Clinton Hall cannot see his opponent and fights purely on instinct.
Hall lost his sight after an allergic reaction to penicillin when he was just two-years-old and is almost totally blind.
"I have just enough sight for a little bit of mobility, but not much," he says. "Like I can see you standing in front of me, but with absolutely no detail. Just like a shade, I just know your there."
Hall took up wrestling eight years ago and as far as he knows he is the only blind wrestler in New Zealand.
Hall is now the national Greco Roman champion and ranked second in the freestyle class. And Hall's opponents know not to take advantage.
"When I first started wrestling they used to, but not any more because I'm quite well known now," he says. "If they're smart they do. Got to be smart and know how to use the advantage."
And Hall does not compete in wrestling - he also coaches.
"I get them all to wrestle with me so I know what they're doing and not doing," he says. "And you know, if I think they're doing the technique wrong, I'll make them do it to me so I can feel what's going on."
Since he took over ten months ago, the class has more than doubled in size. And when Hall talks, the kids listen.
Hall has a very clear picture of what he wants in the future. He says eventually he would like to coach full time, but first he has a goal to qualify for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
3 News