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.

[2] 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.

He entered the spinal injury ward at Royal Perth Hospital in 1954 for rehabilitation, where he was trained in sports by John "Johno" Johnston.

[2] When Ponta began his competitive career, he played several sports, in common with most paraplegic athletes at the time.

[3] 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.

He and teammate Bill Mather-Brown won a gold medal in Foil Novice team at the wheelchair fencing event.

[9] At the 1964 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Ponta competed in Class 2 Men's swimming in the 25 m breaststroke event, where he failed to medal.

Ponta coached several medal winning Paralympic athletes including Louise Sauvage and Priya Cooper.

[10] Ponta was influential in developing junior wheelchair sports in Western Australia and the rest of the country.

[10][12] He is described by the Western Australian government as having devoted his life to the Wheelchair Sport Association as a coach and role model.

In 2003 and 2004, he coached athletics competitors Bruce Wallrodt and Bryan Stitfall, who had won a Western Australian Institute of Sport scholarship.

Organisations such as Australian Athletes With A Disability credit Ponta with being a driving force for the development of the sport in Western Australia.

[19] Shortly after his stroke, he tried to get admitted to the quadriplegic centre in the Royal Perth Hospital Shenton Park Campus.

Several high-profile individuals tried to intercede on his behalf including Sue Ellery, Louise Sauvage and Bill Mather-Brown.

[23][24] In 2011, he was one of the first people to be inducted into the Australian Paralympian Hall of Fame, along with Louise Sauvage and George Bedbrook.