Phil Galli
Contributor | 2015
Hometown: Hillsborough, New Jersey
Phil Galli began volunteering in Para track and field and swimming when his oldest daughter, Jessica, was injured in a car accident and became interested in Para sport at a young age. He began his coaching career working with Jessica as she moved along the pipeline to her first of four Paralympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and then expanded his involvement by volunteering as a coach with a youth program in New Jersey, the Children’s Specialized Hospital (CSH) Lightning Wheels. He remained a volunteer coach with the Lightning Wheels until he retired and relocated to Cape Cod, MA in 2018. During his time as coach, he helped five athletes reach USA Elite Paralympic status.
In 1996, Phil became a USA Swimming official and in 2002 he became a certified USA Para official with USATF and he remains an active official for both nationally and internationally. Annually, Phil officiates and serves as track, field, or meet referee at many Para track and field meets across the country including 3 meets in New Jersey (Tri-State Games, CSH invitational, and Masons Meet), the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association Regional Games in Chicago, IL, the Turnstone Endeavor Games in Ft. Wayne, IN, and the BlazeSports America Track and Field Meet in Atlanta, GA. For the past 8 years, he has served as Track and Field meet referee at the Move United Junior Nationals (formerly the Adaptive Sports USA Junior Nationals). In 2018 Phil was honored to receive the USATF President’s award, for working with the USATF Para committee to run the USATF Para Youth Track and Field Championship. Finally, Phil serves as the meet referee at the Adaptive Track and Field USA Adult Championships, yearly and has served as the field or track referee at the Department of Defense Warrior Games from 2016 through 2019. Internationally, Phil has been a member of the International Amputee and Wheelchair Sports Federation (IWAS) International Games Committee, since 2015, running multi-sport competition all over the world. In this capacity Phil serves as the Para Swimming Meet Referee. To date, Phil has run World Para Swimming events in Russia, Portugal, Ireland, UAE, and England. He also works as an Para official at major long distance road races including as Para Ref for the elite athlete division of the New York City Marathon from 2012, where he documents the rules and assigns the elite athletes starting positions and as the Para Referee at the Peachtree Road Race in 2019.
Phil has served as Chairman of Adaptive Track and Field USA since 2008. He Chairs the US Paralympics’ Para Officials Committee, which developed and currently manages the Level 1 USATF Para Officials Training course and test. This course/test has certified over 400 USATF Para Officials since 2013. Phil delivers this training annually at the USATF Convention and at other meets and officials’ meetings. Phil serves as a resource for event directors and serves as the national lead for track and field at Junior Nationals. He has served on the local organizing committee for three Junior Nationals (2001, 2008, and 2015) and on the local organizing committee for one IWAS Youth World Games (2008) held in the USA. He has served as a member of the IWAS Games Committee since 2015. Phil has dedicated his time and energy for over 20 years to the sports of Para track and field and swimming. He is athlete-centered and he has dedicated his officiating and coaching careers to improving the number and quality of Para Track and Field and Para Swimming opportunities in the USA for Para athletes.
