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}} Francis Ettore Ponta (8 November 1935 – 1 June 2011) was an Australian Paralympic competitor and coach. He competed in several sports including basketball, pentathlon, swimming and fencing. A paraplegic, he lost the use of both his legs after a tumour was removed from his spinal column when he was a teenager. Ponta was a member of Australia's first national wheelchair basketball team, and is credited with expanding the sport of wheelchair basketball in Western Australia. At the end of his competitive career, he became a coach, working with athletes such as Louise Sauvage, Priya Cooper, Madison de Rozario, Bruce Wallrodt and Bryan Stitfall. He died on 1 June 2011 at the age of 75 after a long illness. ==Early life and athletic career== Ponta was born in the Perth suburb of Subiaco on 8 November 1935, as the eldest of nine children. In 1947 he moved to Geraldton because his father had a job there in the building trade. He attended Christian Brothers schools in Leederville and Geraldton. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, he injured his back while diving off a wharf in Geraldton, which aggravated a tumour in his spinal column. The tumour was diagnosed when he was 17 and after it was removed, he lost the use of both his legs. He entered the spinal injury ward at Royal Perth Hospital in 1954 for rehabilitation, where he was trained in sports by John "Johno" Johnston.〔 When Ponta began his competitive career, he played several sports, in common with most paraplegic athletes at the time. He competed in basketball, pentathlon, swimming and fencing. Ponta was a member of the first national wheelchair basketball team for Australia, formed in 1956, mostly composed of players from the spinal injury ward of Royal Perth Hospital.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Frank Ponta」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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