Canada's 2015 Parapan Am Games promo

Parapan 101: Powerlifting

Powerlifting is considered by many to be the ultimate test of strength. The sport made its debut at the 1964 Paralympic Games in Tokyo (the 2nd Paralympics). Powerlifting was originally exclusive to men with spinal cord injuries. Powerlifting now has male and female competitors with a wide range of disabilities. Powerlifting has been part of the Parapan Am Games since it began in 1999.

The objective is to lift the most weight. Competitors are required to lie on an official bench with their head and body in contact with the bench, and their legs and both heels extended throughout the lift. Three attempts are given to perform each lift. The heaviest "good lift" (within the weight class) is used for final placing in the competition.

Powerlifting is the only discipline with 10 different weight divisions. According to the Canadian Paralympic Committee, athletes draw lots to determine the order of weigh-in and lifts.
 
Results from 2011 Parapan Am Games

You can click here to view the results of the men’s and women’s powerlifting events.

Venue for 2015
 
Hershey Centre (aka Mississauga Sports Centre), 5500 Rose Cherry Place, Mississauga, Ontario.

 

Parapan 101: Swimming

Swimming is one of the largest and longest-standing sports for athletes with a disability. Para-swimming has been part of the Paralympics since the first official Games in Rome in 1960. There are several para-swimming competitions around the world, and the sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Rules for para-swimming are adapted from the International Swimming Federation (FINA). There are some differences. Para-swimmers can either stand or sit on a platform before diving in, or they can start their race in the water. Blind and visually impaired swimmers often have people called "tappers." These tappers stand at the end of the pool and use a pole to tap the swimmers when they approach the wall, indicating when the swimmer should turn or end the race. Blind and visually impaired swimmers are required to wear blackened goggles, so they can compete at an even level with partially sighted swimmers.

Results from 2011 Parapan Am Games

You can click here to view the results of the men’s and women’s para-swimming events.

Venue for 2015
 
CIBC Pan Am/ Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House, 875 Morningside Avenue, Toronto,
Ontario.

   

2014 Paralympics in Review

Another Winter Paralympic Games came to an end on Sunday, March 16, and everybody on Team Canada has returned home. Canada had a strong showing at these Games, winning 25 medals (includes 10 Gold), and finishing third place in the medal standings.

Among the stars was veteran Paralympic skier Brian McKeever. He won three gold medals in his three individual events. He also became the first Canadian Winter Paralympian to win 10 gold medals in a career.

Sit-skiing veteran Josh Ducek won gold in the super combined and silver in the downhill. Ducek would go on to be Canada's flag-bearer in the closing ceremony.

Mac Marcoux made his Paralympic debut by winning three medals, including a gold one in the giant slalom. It was also exciting to see Mark Arendz win silver in the biathalon. The visually impaired biathlete collected Canada's first medal of these Games. He went on to win bronze in the 12.5K three days later.

The most surprising moment may have been Chris Klebl. The alpine skier took gold in the men’s 10K sitting cross-country race. It’s surprising because almost no one predicted the 42-year-old Paralympic veteran would win after having come up short in his previous two Winter Games.

The curling team returned to claim another gold medal in one of Canada's most popular sports (the first being hockey, of course). Their victory proved to the world once again that Canada has the best wheelchair curling team. They entered as defending Paralympic champions and as world curling champions.

The most bittersweet moment for many was when the sledge hockey team was forced to take home a bronze medal. While it still counts as a moment to be proud of, expectations were high that they would win gold. Their popular rivals Team USA claimed gold when they beat Norway (who claimed silver). Canada’s Adam Dixon scored four goals, the most goals of the 2014 tournament.

Canada’s other medalists of these Games were Caleb Brousseau (bronze), Kimberly Joines (bronze) and Chris Williamson (bronze) for their respective alpine skiing events.

The Paralympics are back, this time with expanded coverage

The 2014 Winter Paralympics begin next Friday, March 4 in Sochi, Russia. What is significant about these games is that it will, for the first time, receive more extensive coverage, including live TV broadcasts!

The CBC and Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) are providing most of the Canadian coverage between March 7 and 16. Yahoo Canada Sports and Sendtosports will handle live Internet streaming of the games. There is also an unconfirmed report that Sportsnet may also provide some coverage.

A broadcast deal was recently struck with the Canadian Paralympic Committee in response to viewer dissatisfaction over the extremely limited attention given to the Paralympics in past years. This deal means that more than 65 hours of television broadcast and up to 350 hours of digital streaming.

The official Paralympics website offers live streaming at http://www.paralympic.org/news/watch-sochi-2014-paralympics-livestream-trailer. Alternatively, you can also watch them live on its YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/ParalympicSportTV. It presently has 23,811 subscribers (as of March 2).

NBC is providing coverage of the games for the first time ever in the US. A huge outcry occurred in the disability community when it ignored the 2012 London games two summers ago. Network executives at the time wrote a message with a dismissive tone suggesting that there was little or no viewer interest in the Paralympics. Channel 4 in the UK, however, provided acclaimed, though mostly pre-recorded, coverage that was syndicated internationally.

We will be blogging more about the 2014 Paralympics, including a TV guide-style listing.

A final TV schedule has not officially been released yet. We can tell you that CBC will show the Opening Ceremonies live on March 4, from 2-5pm ET.

Intro to Accessible Curling

Three months ago, I wrote about how wheelchair soccer is becoming a popular sport. Wheelchair curling may not be far behind, at least in Canada. Unlike with wheelchair soccer, there are several wheelchair curling clubs throughout Canada. Presently there are clubs and organizations in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

Wheelchair curling has its roots in Europe, where it was first played in the 1990s. The World Curling Federation (WCF) held its first wheelchair curling event in Switzerland in 2002. In 2006, wheelchair curling was formally recognized as a Paralympic event in time for the Paralympic Winter Games held in Torino, Italy. Today, wheelchair curling is played by athletes in more than 20 countries.

What distinguishes wheelchair curling from standard curling is that there is no sweeping (i.e. no brushes are used to help the rock slide further), curlers throw from their chair with a “throwing stick,” and team members position their chairs behind the thrower to keep the chair from sliding backwards.

The Ontario Curling Association (OCA) is a member of the Canadian Curling Association (CCA), which in turn belongs to the WCF. In Toronto, games are played from October to March at the Cricket, Skating and Curling Club. In lieu of a playoff period at the end of the season, a Bonspiel tournament takes place in Toronto every January. Other clubs throughout the province come to compete, with an awards banquet at the end.

The most recent Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championship for curlers with disabilities was played in Ottawa in March 2013. Some of the players from these Provincial Championship teams have competed at both the national and international levels.

Wheelchair curling was initially played mainly by paraplegics in manual wheelchairs, but now people with various physical disabilities using power wheelchairs or scooters are known to play. This includes Douglas Gebhart, who has cerebral palsy.

Gebhart has played wheelchair curling in the Toronto club since 2010. His interest in curling began as a child, when he watched the likes of Sandra Schmirler and Glenn Howard.

“My friend (Ian) invited me to play, knowing that I liked curling,” he says. “I played before the (2009-10) season ended, and I found l liked it. I immediately signed up the following season,” he says.

Gebhart also says he wanted to find a sport that didn’t involve a lot of physical contact. “When I was 12 years old, I injured my eye when someone threw a basketball at it during a wheelchair basketball game.”

His eye healed up, but he quit playing basketball and vowed to find a sport that was safer. “I promised that as an adult I would find a sport where I wouldn’t get easily hurt. Once I started getting into wheelchair curling, I have never looked back.”

When I went to a curling session recently at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, I was in awe over how the people played with their chairs on the ice. I also discovered you don’t have to have a lot of upper body strength to play. During a break in a game, I threw a few rocks, and they were all good attempts. Attending the curling rink helped me to better appreciate curling as a sport.

Power wheelchair soccer: the most prominent sport?

When I was younger, in the days before I took up power hockey, I briefly played power wheelchair soccer at my school, Sunny View. I remember playing it during gym class and occasionally over the lunch hour. I didn’t pursue it further because I found playing power hockey more enjoyable.
However, this sport has caught on in many circles internationally, and I am amazed to see its growth in the years since graduating from Sunny View.

Power wheelchair soccer is played with an average of four players per team on the floor (unlike in standard soccer where there are 11 players per team on the field). There are coaches and officials like in standard soccer games. All players have bumpers attached to their footrests, which act as footrest protectors. Bumpers also make it easier to ‘kick’ the ball. When I played I only used my plates and wheels to kick the ball. The ball itself is the size of a regular soccer ball.

Wheelchair soccer is a variation of association football. The wheelchair can be motorized (i.e. power chair) or manual, however you can’t have both types on the floor at the same time. Both power and manual wheelchair soccer is played in organized leagues in the USA.

In Canada, the sport has caught on in British Columbia and Quebec. There is one acquaintance of mine in Vancouver who has played power soccer for about six years. He tells me there are teams throughout BC who play competitively as members of the BC Power Soccer Association. To my knowledge, there presently aren’t any wheelchair soccer leagues in the province of Ontario.

Internationally, power chair soccer is played in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland and Australia. International rules have been laid out by the FIPFA (Federation Internationale de Powerchair Football Association), based in France, where the sport was introduced in 1978. According to the FIPFA, the concept of ‘power soccer’ was introduced in Canada in 1979.

I have read from more than one source that power chair soccer is the most prominent of all power chair sports. If this is true, how come it hasn’t caught on in Ontario, Canada’s most populated province?

The Canadian Electric Wheelchair Hockey Association (CEWHA) used to have a Vancouver Island division (I remember when it formed), but it folded a few years ago, partly due to the growth of power soccer.

I’m hoping this blog will stimulate interest and dialogue, especially for readers in Ontario. Power chair soccer can yield the same recreational and social benefits as power hockey (and other wheelchair sports for that matter). Perhaps attempting the sport at a school gym or local fitness facility could generate more interest in developing an organized league. The more sports there are for those of us with disabilities, the better.