This article is from page 66 of the 2008-05-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 66 JPG
SPORTING ACTIVITY for those with a physical disability has all the advantages of sport for the able body. There are the numerous health benefits, the improvement in physi- cal well being, the joy of achieving difficult goals, the camaraderie of team sports with people of similar disabilities and the ultimate possibil- ity of representing your country at a Paralympic Games.
The ideal of the Paralympic Games is that of a “Parallel Games’ for those with primarily physical disability. It provides a forum for competition amongst the elite disabled athletes
of the world. Athletes must achieve a qualifying standard before being able to take part in a Paralympic Games. Some team sports have pre- qualifying competitions i.e. football. The summer games have a wide range of sports from football to ar- chery, and include athletics, swim- ming, Boccia (like indoor bowls) ta- ble tennis, equestrian dressage, judo, wheelchair rugby, basketball, ten- nis, volleyball amongst many other sports. The winter Games includes alpine discipline like downhill and super G, The athletes have varying degrees of physical disability (as distinct from those with a primarily intellectual disability) including par-
aplegic, quadriplegic, cerebral palsy visual impairment, upper and lower limb amputees and a variety of other physical disabilities. Within each disability group or sport athletes are ‘classified’ according to the level of their disability and then compete against others of similar classification 1.e. those who can walk compared to those who need to use a wheelchair in athletics for athletes with cerebral palsy. The rules of competition are only modified from those that ap- ply to able bodied athletes where this is necessary, such as in athletics for wheelchair users throwing dis- cus, javelin or shot putt where they throw from special adapted chairs or in Swimming where blind swimmers are ‘tapped’ to inform them that they have arrived at the end wall of the pool. All athletes are subject to dop- ing control by WADA rules in the same way as are able bodied athletes and are tested frequently in and out of competition.
The mid west, and County Clare, has a proud record of involvement in Paralympic Sports. At the last Paral- ympics in Athens in 2004 there were 2 Clare men in the Irish Paralympic team, one of whom, Derek Malone, won a medal, and the other, James Murrihy, who plays with the Cer- ebral Palsy Football team. Both are hoping to make the team again for the upcoming Bejing Games later in the summer. Already the search is on for the Paralympian of the future with the launch of the Paralions Pro- eramme for young disabled sports- people which hopes to identify those young people actively interested in sports who have potential for the fu- ture. All physically disabled young people are invited to take part.
The Clare People 10K is the type of opportunity for disabled people to come and try out as you can race if you want or simply take part for the enjoyment of the preparing for and completing the challenge.
Paralympic Athletes have to do a mixture of general conditioning training (strength, flexibility, core stability) and sport specific technique training. The principles of training for strength and endurance train- ing are the same as for able bodied
people. Only small adaptations are required, in strength training in the gym for instance resistance bands or using handles/straps instead of bars for gripping the weight. Most ath- letes train once a day, some twice a day. Disabled athletes benefit greatly from increased physical activity with improvements in strength, co-ordina- tion, general flexibility, better muscle tone control, improved health & self confidence etc. Paralympic athletes have full sports science (medical, physiotherapy, psychology, strength & conditioning and _ physiology) backup.
For further information visit www. pcireland.ie or contact the Paralym- pic Council of Ireland on 01 6251175, Irish Blindsport 01 2020118, Irish Wheelchair Association (Sport) 01 8186400 or Cerebral Palsy Sport 086 yee
Fintan O’Donnell MISCP, MCSP is physio to Irish Paralympic Team 2008 and can be reached in the Ennis Physiotherapy Clinic 065 6840757.