“Sportastic Wheelchair Sports”

All kinds of sports need great power, strong endurance, and physical excellence. The weak and disable don’t have the rights to play any sports until Paralympics was created.

The Paralympic Games are the Official Olympic Games for athletes with physical, mental or sensory disabilities. Sir Ludwig Guttman organized a competition for World War II veterans with spinal-cord injuries in England in 1948. The movement went international when the athletes from the Netherlands joined in 1952.

There are so many sports featured in Paralympic Games such as the Wheelchair Sports. There are six popular Wheelchair Sports like the Wheelchair Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby, Wheelchair Fencing, Volleyball (Sitting), and Boccia.

Wheelchair Tennis is an impressive sport that enjoys great popularity during the Paralympic Games. To compete at a high level successfully, athletes must develop technique, stamina persistence, speed and reflexes. Among Wheelchair Tennis athletes, a Paralympic medal is considered as the highest recognition.

One of the most fantastic and popular sports of the Paralympic Games is Wheelchair Basketball for its unique style, the quick flow of the game and the endless action wit constant attacks to the basket and “man to man” defense.

Wheelchair Rugby began in Canada in 1977. Although it is a relatively new sport for people with disability, it is developing rapidly throughout the world. Wheelchair Rugby is a combination of the pace, regulations and skills required in Basketball and Rugby. The games are held on a basketball ground, and the ball used is similar to the one used in Volleyball.

However, Sitting Volleyball first introduced in 1956 and is one of the most important team sports for athletes with disability. The differences between Paralympic and Olympic Volleyball are minimal. Specifically, in Sitting Volleyball, the dimensions of the court are smaller; the ‘fillet’ (net) is lower, and the athletes play sitting down.

Fencing is a sport that calls for adaptability, inventiveness, good organization, and patience. In order to master it, the fencer spends long hours practicing. The athletes in Paralympic Fencing are those with locomotor disabilities. They compete on wheelchairs. During about the wheelchairs are fixed to the ground. This nevertheless allows the fencer the freedom to execute rapidly alternating movements.
Boccia is a competitive sport that is played by individuals, pairs or teams of three. Boccia is a sport for people with cerebral palsy and other locomotor disabilities who are wheelchair users, on both recreational and competition levels.

Paralympic Games unlock the gap between the normal and immobilize people. Wheelchair Sports are really an inspiration to show inequality and nothing is impossible if we can only believe in our own inner strengths.

by: Christeen Gae D.Padilla