Virtus Academy – driving the development of elite sport for athletes with intellectual impairment
Debbie Van Biesen
Influence of hard, artificial grass and clay court surfaces on wheelchair tennis players’ mobility-a case study
Alejandro Sánchez-Pay, David Sanz-Rivas
Wheelchair mobility is an important factor for success in wheelchair tennis. Tennis matches can be played on different surfaces, so the aim of the present study was to analyse the influence of court surface on wheelchair tennis mobility. Four male wheelchair tennis players (age = 33.75 ± 12.33 years) performed two tests (20 m sprint and agility t-test) on three official court surfaces (hard, artificial grass and clay). Photocell gates were used to record time and ascertain sprint and turn ability of the wheelchair tennis players. ANOVA test with post hoc pairwise comparisons were conducted to compare the mean differences among surfaces. Following…
Sequential analysis of the construction of shots in wheelchair basketball and efficiency by player classification level
Roberto Alsasua, Rubén Arroyo, Javier Arana, Daniel Lapresa, M. Teresa Anguera
The objective of the present study was to analyse the construction and effectiveness of the offensive sequences of shots by members of the 2016 Paralympic gold medal men’s wheelchair basketball team. The analysis included the shot situation and of the actions leading up to the shot (reception prior to the shot, last pass, reception prior to the last pass, penultimate pass, and previous reception to the penultimate pass), based on the classification level of the player who performs the technical-tactical action. The registration and coding of the data was performed on the software programme LINCE. The reliability of the data was examined by inter-observer…
A community-based exercise program for ambulant adolescents with cerebral palsy, a feasibility study
Asfarina Zanudin, Thomas H Mercer, Cynthia Samaan, Kavi C Jagadamma, Gillian McKelvie, Marietta L van der Linden
The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of an 18-week exercise program for adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP). Fourteen individuals aged 16-25 (GMFCS I-III) performed aerobic and strength exercises at their community leisure center up to three times a week. A physiotherapist provided instruction at the first session and between 2-4 times thereafter. The fitness instructor on duty provided supervision when required. Feasibility of the exercise program was explored through an exercise logbook and participant feedback questionnaire. Gross motor function, muscle strength, aerobic capacity and the Timed Up and Go test were assessed at…
Parent perceptions of motor competence in children with charge syndrome
Pamela Beach, Alexandra Stribing, Melanie Perreault, Lauren Lieberman
CHARGE Syndrome (CS) is a low incidence disorder with unique characteristics including deafblindness, growth deficiencies, heart defects, and atresia choanae. The purpose of this study was to examine parents’ perceptions of motor competence in their child with CS as well as the value and support they provide on motor competence compared to parents of children without disabilities. Parents of 33 children with CS (Mage = 6.8 years SD=2.6) and parents of 38 peers without disabilities (Mage = 7.0 years SD=2.3) completed a demographic and a 32-item parents’ perception questionnaire regarding their confidence in their child’s motor competence….
Research regarding the integration of students with disabilities in physical education has progressively increased during the last three decades, as has the number of published reviews. The objective of this umbrella review was to synthesise findings from reviews published between 2010 and 2020 to obtain a comprehensive picture of the current literature regarding the integration of students with disabilities in physical education. Search strings were developed and the four electronic databases Educational Research Complete, ERIC, Scopus, and SportDiscus were searched to identify reviews published between January 2010 and January 2020. After removing…
Motivational physical activity intervention for psychiatric inpatients: A two phased single-cases experimental study
Marit Sørensen, Marte Bentzen, Anders Farholm
Physical inactivity has been identified among leading risk factors for global mortality as well as an independent risk factor for several somatic diseases. There is consistent evidence that individuals with mental illness engage in little physical activity. Therefore, this study investigated associations between a motivational physical activity intervention in treatment for psychiatric inpatients and change in; 1) physical activity level measured by accelerometer, 2) motivation for physical activity, and 3) affect and perceived functional health status. The design was a longitudinal, two-phased multiple single-cases experiment. Seven individuals completed…
