Wheelchair Soccer is a Growing Sport

posted on Nov 17 by Amelia in the Disability News, Wheelchair Sports category

If you’re looking for pity, you won’t find it with the wheelchair athletes on the indoor soccer field.  Wheelchair soccer is a full contact sport, and as many of the athletes note, it’s much more than a game.  Upon entering the field you have independence, confidence, and camaraderie that turns teammates into family members.  Everyone has their own story and reason to dwell on the negative more than the positive, but there is no time for that when you are focused on living and playing hard.

This past weekend, the 2010 National Indoor Wheelchair Soccer “Blue Northern” Championship occurred in Houston, Texas.  They were there to play hard while promoting the sport of wheelchair soccer which is a hybrid of soccer and basketball, and resembles water polo without the water.

Wheelchair soccer pits two six-man co-ed teams against each other over two 25-minute halves. The goal is the same as in soccer, except players throw the ball into a goal similar in size to a lacrosse goal.

The Houston Toros and the Houston Challengers were the representatives at this year’s tournament.

“We support each other; this sport is hard. You have to train and be fit to compete,” said Ricardo Cedillo Castaneda of the Houston Toros.

The players in the two different skill divisions were bumping against each other with their wheelchairs and laying out for loose balls while picking up fouls. In one case, a player was ejected, showing that these men and women are just as competitive as professional athletes, which is the way these athletes would like to be perceived.

William Lardi, chairman of the USA-IWS, and Dave Stephenson, co-director of the Greater Houston Athletic Association for the Physically Disabled, organized the event, which was both competitive and well organized.

“We sponsor local, regional and national tournaments and occasionally hold clinics to provide exposure of our sport to the disabled population,” Lardi said.  “We currently have several teams in the Houston area, the Northeast, Southern California and other locations across the US.”

“This is a sport that, when the athletes come and play it, they don’t want to leave it. They don’t want it to die. There is so much dedication between the coaches and athletes that this sport keeps living.”

Stephenson insists nobody should be sitting at home wishing they could do this or that when there are organizations like the IWS.

“We don’t turn anybody away. The goal is to compete. The goal is to grow the sport.”

This particular group focuses on wheelchair soccer with manual wheelchairs, but there are also powerchair soccer groups as well.

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If you live in the Houston, Texas area – visit AMS Wheelchair Vans of Houston at www.accessiblevanss.com