Programs
Power Soccer
If you use a power wheelchair, this is your sport. It was invented in 1982 by a group of athletes in Vancouver who were looking for a competitive team sport that combines strategy, power and quickness. Having found nothing to suit their needs, they created their own sport. It is a simple, hard-driving, straightforward game. It's played on a regulation basketball court with a goalie and three forwards on each side. The object is to outscore your opponents by driving an oversized 18 “soccer ball across their goal line. The rules are similar to soccer and equipment needs are minimal. The wheelchairs are outfitted with plastic foot guards in order to protect the athlete's feet and to provide for a surface to control the ball.
Some of the benefits of participating in power soccer are increased cardiovascular endurance and upper-body strength, increased mobility skills and increased use of different muscle groups.
Goalball
Goalball is a highly competitive sport played three-against-three, indoors on a gym floor, primarily by blind and visually impaired athletes. It is played from the local school-gym level on up to the Paralympic, 'Team USA' level internationally.
Games are usually quite competitive and exciting to watch. There are two teams playing against each other, with one on each end of a 60x40 foot court. All players are blindfolded to make the game fair. This is due to varying levels of sight among players. Some are legally-blind, some are totally blind. The blindfolds ensure equality among players.
The object is to roll a three-pound goalball, which is like a heavy basketball, past the opposing team without them stopping it. It is their job to block that ball at all costs. The ball has bells in it that allow the players to listen for it. When they hear the ball coming towards their end of the court, they dive, usually head-first, towards it hoping to block it with their body and stop it. They often slide back and forth on the floor, using their bodies to block the oncoming ball. If all three players miss the ball and it goes past them or over them and then over the back line, it is considered a goal. The team with the most goals at the end of two 10-minute halves wins the game.
The players use cord or thin rope taped to the floor, or other similar tactile markings, to orientate themselves as to where they are on the court.