Page 44 - Mobility Management, December 2020

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Good Sports: Resources to Get in the Game
Challenged Athletes Foundation:
Assistance for people with disabilities who want to participate in sports. Support takes the form of equipment grants (for sports wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs,
etc.), training camps and clinics, and athlete mentorship. Challenged Athletes Foundation supports athletes at all ability levels, from recreational to elite and Paralympian. (858) 866-0959; www.chal- lengedathletes.org
International Paralympic Committee:
The COVID-19 pandemic postponed the
2020 Summer Paralympic Games till Aug.
24, 2021, in Tokyo. Approximately 4,400
elite athletes are expected to compete in
539 medal events ranging from boccia
and cycling to wheelchair basketball,
wheelchair fencing, and wheelchair rugby. www.para- lympic.org; https://tokyo2020.jp/en/
International Tennis Federation: The UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour comprises more than 150 tournaments in 40 countries. Annual prize money is nearly $3 million. Includes Open and Quad divisions of competition. www.itftennis. com/wheelchair
National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA):
Injured World War II male veterans began playing wheel- chair basketball at Veterans Affairs hospitals in the mid- 1940s; women began playing in the 1960s. Today, the NWBA comprises more than 200 teams in the United States and has seen wheelchair basketball grow and flourish inter- nationally. (719) 266-4082; www.nwba.org
They Will Surf Again/Life Rolls On Foundation: The orga- nization was founded by competitive surfer Jesse Billauer, who was one of the top 100 junior surfers in the world when he sustained a spinal cord injury in 1996. Billauer went on
to become a two-time World Adaptive Surfing Champion and a four-time U.S. National Adaptive Surfing Champion. Dedicated to helping people with disabilities experience the adventures of surfing and skating, Life Rolls On celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021. (424) 272-1992; www.liferollson.org
U.S. Electric Wheelchair Hockey Association:
A member of Disabled Sports USA, this association supports PowerHockey, played in power wheelchairs, and helps local communities to start their own teams: powerhockey.com.
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The Canadian Electric Wheelchair Hockey Association (www.cewha. ca), founded in Toronto, supports PowerHockey in Canada.
U.S. Quad Rugby Association: The wheelchair sport made famous by
the 2005 Murderball documentary is played with a volleyball or a rugby ball and owes its fast pace to the rule that the ball must be bounced or passed between teammates at least once every 10 seconds. The U.S. Quad Rugby Association’s apt tagline is “Changing lives one hit at a time.” usawr.org/
U.S. Power Soccer Association: Played in a gym on a regulation-sized basket- ball court, power soccer requires a
power wheelchair, a guard for the chair, and a 13" soccer ball. A team can have four players on the court at any one time. The U.S. Power Soccer Association supports recreational teams that play non-competitively, as well as non-conference teams that do play competitively, and conference teams that play at the sport’s highest levels. www.powersoccerusa.org
USA Boccia: A sport that can be played by able-bodied players and players with disabilities, boccia is a throwing game, with leather-like balls being thrown or rolled onto a court. Players are sorted into divisions based on the level
of their disabilities, which determines the support they can receive while competing. Competition courts are 10'x6', but recreational courts can be of any size. USA Boccia supports athletes playing at the local, regional, national and inter- national levels. usaboccia.org
Wheelchair Fencing: Governed globally by the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation, wheelchair fencing, also known as ParaFencing, is a Paralympic sport and one of the oldest wheelchair sports. Athletes compete in foil epee (men and women) or saber (men), and their wheelchairs are secured to the floor during matches. Wheelchairs are set at 110° angles rela- tive to the center line of the piste, where the matches take place. The distance between fencers is determined by arm reach: The fencer with the shorter arm reach is given the choice of the distance being his/her own arm reach or the arm reach of his/her opponent. The Tokyo Paralympics will feature men’s and women’s individual events, plus epee and foil team matches. wheelchairfencing.iwasf.com m
MobilityMgmt.com
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
WHEELCHAIR RUGBY: DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM/IMAGESOURCE