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At the invitation of IWBF and Motivation
Romania, I attended the trials of a prototype low cost sports
wheelchair for use in low income countries. In my role as
Development Officer for IWBF Europe, I know from first hand
experience that the availability of affordable sports chairs is
one of the major barriers to participation in many countries,
particularly in Eastern Europe.
The User Trials
were conducted alongside specialised camps in wheelchair tennis
and wheelchair basketball. The wheelchair tennis camp was
delivered by the ITF’s development officer Mark Bullock and the
wheelchair basketball camp was delivered by myself. In total, 16
athletes participated in the sport camps and all showed
remarkable progress in such a short space of time. The camps
also provided drills and exercises which the Romanian coaches
can use in their own training sessions.
4 of the athletes
were female and 2 of these have been invited to attend the
Women’s Camp being organised by IWBF Europe in Malle, Belgium,
in June 2008. The possibility of a Romanian Team entering future
competitions was also discussed and we hope that this can be
arranged in the near future.
Following the
sport camps, Motivation Romania organised a press conference
alongside a visit from the UK Trade Minister Lord Digby Jones,
followed by a demonstration of wheelchair tennis and wheelchair
basketball for the media. Unfortunately, the rain started about
10 minutes before the demonstration was due to take place on an
outside court but the demonstration was quickly re arranged in a
sports hall close by.
Motivation’s
design team will now use the results of the user trials to
finalise the design and produce a further prototype which
Motivation Romania will test to ensure the design is ready for
production.
The sports camps
worked very well and I hope that we can do more work in co
operation with ITF. Mark has already visited Motivation Romania
a number of times and I hope that IWBF Europe can also develop a
long term relationship with Motivation. They are very keen to
develop wheelchair basketball in Romania and will also work
closely with the Smiles Foundation who are based in Oradea,
close to the Hungarian border.
Maurice Hammerton
Development Officer
IWBF Europe
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