When I was in elementary school, I got to play recreation wheelchair basketball and hockey. Not the sled hockey, but still on the ice, and still a lot of crashing. It is probably the best time of my childhood. I would go and play basketball with other people just like me. I don’t remember if we were all the same age. The organizer was an adult man, but I can’t remember any of the people. I just knew I loved it and I wanted to go every time. I also would get McDonald’s after it most of the time, so that was another plus.
Importance of Adaptive Sports
Organized sports and activities are common in childhood. I participated in school sports, but never felt more included than when I met kids around my age who looked like me using a wheelchair. Inclusion is important in regular sports. I liked playing with my classmates. I never felt different. Having adaptive sports is just as important. Adaptive sports allow for shared experiences and rules that fit for the use of adaptive equipment.
It’s a way to feel like you’re not the only one with a disability, others like you exist. As a disabled child, depending where you live, go to school and family and friend life, the exposure to other people with disabilities – adults and children may be limited. I feel it’s important that my parents chose to introduce me to adaptive sports and sent me to a camp with other disabled children in the summer for a couple weeks so I didn’t feel alone and I didn’t feel ashamed to be disabled.
Rules of Wheelchair Basketball
Wheelchair basketball is played on the same court as regular basketball. Wheelchairs are designed for the sport, with angled wheels to promote more stability, easier and quicker turns, and ergonomically allows the player to move faster. They are separate from every day use chairs – although recreationally, I used my regular chair. My wheelchair wheels were angled, but not as angled as a sports chair.
Some rules changes contain wheelchair specifications and legal dribbling in a wheelchair. The dribble rule is two pushes, one bounce or pass. This sport definitely requires arm strength, and luckily so does using a wheelchair.
Wheelchair basketball is so much fun to watch during the Summer Paralympics. Many countries have teams and the format works mostly like the Summer Olympics basketball tournament. There’s far more drama crashing and falling in wheelchair basketball than regular basketball, but has nothing on Wheelchair Rugby.
Wheelchair Rugby is terrifying but FUN. Highly recommend watching Murderball if you want to see the men and women who play wheelchair rugby. I am too much of a baby to hit and be hit all the time. Murderball itself can be its own discussion for another time.
The Paralympics
The Paralympics start the first week of March, and just like the Winter Olympics, I will be watching them most of my day every day until it concludes. Instead of basketball, the main sport of Winter Paralympics is sled hockey. I never played sled hockey, but I played in a wheelchair on the ice. It’s like doing donuts in a car during the first snow (not like I’ve been in a car that’s done that, but I would imagine that’s what it’d be like) The sleds are low on the ice, kind of like a luge sled but made for contact sport. Recommend watching a bit of it during the Paralympics this year.
Overall, adaptive sports get people with disabilities moving when most of our lives are more sedentary than those who can walk and use their entire bodies. They’re made by people with disabilities for people with disabilities so we can all have the same experiences no matter ability or age.