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User:RightCowLeftCoast/Sandbox/Scott Leason

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Scott Leason
Personal information
National team2018 USA Surfing National Adaptive Team[1]
Born1956
Chicago[2]
Military career
AllegianceUnited Sates
Service / branchUnited States Navy
Sport
Sport
  • Surfing
  • Triathalon
  • Wakeboarding
  • Water skiing
Achievements and titles
World finals
  • First place, 2015 World Adaptive Surfing Championship[3]
  • First place, 2018 World Adaptive Surfing Championship[4]
Regional finals
  • First place, 2018 Malibu World Wake Association Regional Championship[5]
National finals
  • First place, 2016 USA Adaptive Surfing Championships[6]
  • Second place, Tricks, 2016 USA Water Ski[6]
  • First place, 2021 Nautique World Wake Association National Championships[7]

Scott Leason is a blind American athlete. A veteran of the United States Navy, Leason lost his eyesight and sense of smell after he was shot during a robbery. After several years of living blind, Leason took up sports becoming an award winning surfer, wakeboarder, and water skier.

Biography

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Leason grew up in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach, where he use to surf;[6] he began to surf at the age of 10.[4] Leason served as a signalman, in the United States Navy for seven years, and had been assigned to the USS Tripoli (LPH-10).[6] By 1992, Leason was divorced and was unemployed, following his loss of his job in construction; moving in with his father in La Quinta, California, he hoped to become employed by the city.[3]

Robbery and living blind

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At the age of 37, Leason was shot in the head during a robbery while working as a clerk at a Circle K.[8][9] The 9mm bullet missed his brain, but severed his left optic nerve and exited through his right eye socket.[4] This led to a surgery which resulted in the loss of both eyes.[8] Leason also lost his sense of smell due to being shot in the head.[10] The robbery occurred on Independence Day, 1993.[6][11]

Initially, after learning skills needed to live being blind, Leason trained to be a self-defense instructor, but was unable to find employment in that capacity.[4] He then attempted to advance academically, but was unsuccessful in that endeavor.[4] Leason began to use drugs and alcohol to coup with his anger;[8] due to this he ended up being in a conservatorship, and living in an assisted living care facility.[4] As of 2017, Leason resides in City Heights, San Diego.[12]

Athletic career

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At the age of 50, Leason began to turn his life around, beginning his athletic career.[8] Leason began to train at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center.[6] In 2009, Leason began to be trained how to use technology to live independently at the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center; in 2012, Leason began to utilize VoiceOver on a iPhone 5 which he received from the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center.[6]

In 2011, Leason competed in a triathalon in San Diego.[13] In 2015, Leason completed the Ironman 70.3 in Arizona; that same year he won the International Surfing Association World Adaptive Surfing Championship.[3] In June 2016, Leason competed in the USA Adaptive Surfing Championships in Oceanside, California; he became the first blind champion of that competition.[6] Later in 2016, he competed in the USA Water Ski competition in Harmony, North Carolina; he earned second place in men's tricks.[6] In 2018, that year he was ranked first in the United States, and fifth in the world, in adaptive surfing;[14] that year Leason was a member of the United States National Adaptive Team for USA Surfing.[1] That same year, Leason competed in the Malibu World Wake Association Regional Championship, earning first place in the adaptive standing division, being the first blind competitor to do so;[5] the regional championship occurred in Caldwell, Idaho.[15] Also in 2018, Leason was part of a team which completed the Ironman 70.3 in Oceanside.[8] In July 2021, Leason competed in the Nautique World Wake Association National Championships at Winter Haven, Florida.[10][16]

References

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  1. ^ a b "USA Surfing Names National Adaptive Team Members". USA Surfing. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  2. ^ "Scott Leason". Challenged Athletes Foundation. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Kragen, Pam; Peattie, Peggy (9 December 2016). "Blind surfer aims for the perfect wave". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Waldron, Ben (30 May 2018). "Agents of Change: The Swami's Blind Surf Event". Surfer. New York: A360 Media, LLC. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Scott Leason Wakes History". Malibu Boats. Malibu Inc. 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
    "Scott Leason becomes the first blind wakeboarder to compete in the WWA". Surfer Today. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Blind veteran catches second wave with a surfboard and iPhone". Apple. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  7. ^ Blind Wakeboarder, Scott Leason, Thanks the Wakeboarding Community For Their Support. San Diego: Mission Bay Aquatic Center. 2 November 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e Li, Johanna (26 April 2018). "Man Blinded by Gunshot in Convenience Store Robbery 25 Years Ago Competes in Ironman Race". Inside Edition. New York: CBS. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  9. ^ Haberman, Douglas (27 April 1994). "Trail ordered Robert Louis Hogue slaying". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, California. Retrieved 7 November 2021 – via Newspaper.com.
    Zevely, Jeff (18 December 2017). "San Diego's blind surfer lives life with eyes wide open". KFMB-TV. San Diego. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
    "Eyes Wide Open". KFMB-TV. San Diego. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
    Winkley, Lyndsay (16 September 2013). "Blind surfers hang ten at Carlsbad clinic". Courant. Hartford. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  10. ^ a b DaSilva, Staci (23 July 2021). "Blind 65-year-old shooting survivor prepares to wow crowds at Winter Haven wakeboarding championship". WFLA. Tampa, Florida. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  11. ^ Mullins, Hannah (31 March 2016). "Near-death shooting motivates vet for Ironman". KGTV. San Diego. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  12. ^ Woolsey, Brittany (6 June 2017). "Blind surfers ride the waves in Carlsbad". Encinitas Advocate. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  13. ^ "Del Sol Lions support blind athlete competing in San Diego Triathlon Challenge". Del Mar Times. Del Mar, California. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Family learns life lessons at adaptive surfing event". Ramona Sentinel. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2021 – via San Diego Union-Tribune.
  15. ^ "Blind athlete makes history at wake competition in South Idaho". Idaho State Journal. Pocatello, Idaho. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
    "Blind athlete makes history at wake competition in Caldwell". Idaho Press. Nampa, Idaho. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  16. ^ Suarez, Ken (23 July 2021). "'Out there I am free': Blind wakeboarder to compete in national championships in Winter Haven". WTVT. Tampa Bay. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
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