Utah PE teacher helps blind student play basketball


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HERRIMAN — Coach Kathy Howa may be new to Providence Hall High School, but she comes with a wealth of physical education experience.

An educator for over 25 years, her goal is to make sure her students are motivated to stay active.

“If we do our job right, we can help our students find something they like and that they can do later on in life,” Howa said.

The physical education teacher said her biggest challenge came in January when she wanted to help a visually impaired student, Conner Green, get involved in playing basketball.

“I looked online and found a beeper we could put on the basketball hoop and also a ball with a bell in it and bought it,” she said. “Conner was able to learn how to dribble, then he was able to learn how to shoot just by getting the sound on the backboard.”

Green said it encouraged him to play with his classmates even though he had doubts at first.

“Coach Howa usually pushes me and tells me to keep going,” he said. “Basketball, sometimes I think I am not good at it and not good at dribbling, but Coach Howa says don’t give up.”

Howa purchased the equipment with her own money. She said watching Green’s transformation has made it all worth it.

Coach Kathy Howa is a physical education teacher at Providence Hall High School in Herriman. Her greatest challenges, she says, was helping a visually impaired student participate in basketball. Photo: Aubrey Clark, KSL TV
Coach Kathy Howa is a physical education teacher at Providence Hall High School in Herriman. Her greatest challenges, she says, was helping a visually impaired student participate in basketball. Photo: Aubrey Clark, KSL TV

“He inspires me. I don’t even look at it as a disability because he wants to try everything,” Howa said. “You would never know he was blind because his talents are far beyond what you would expect.”

Green said the purchases helped him disprove the myth that you need to see the ball to make the shot.

“I want to show them I can do this, it just has to be a different way,” he said.

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Ashley Moser
Ashley Moser joined KSL in January 2016. She co-anchors KSL 5 Live at 5 with Mike Headrick and reports for the KSL 5 News at 10.

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