metalman Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 the individual sports have a classification system. Using wheelchair basketball as an example:- You are allowed to field 14 points on court between 5 players. able bodied - 5 points below knee amputee - 4.5 above knee amputee - 4 spinal injury low - 3 spinal injury high - 2 spina bifida - 2 cerebal palsy - 1 That might work for a team sport like wheelchair basketball, but it doesn't really help when it comes to individual events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolliew Posted November 25, 2010 Author Share Posted November 25, 2010 That might work for a team sport like wheelchair basketball, but it doesn't really help when it comes to individual events. I used w/chair b/ball as an example as i know about that sports classification, each sport however has its own classification system, based upon disability and each sportspersons unique abilities within the sport. They are not all as simple as the classification system i used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Of course its a sport and your son should be proud of his achievements in it. The guy mentioned in the OP is almost certainly jealous, however I think some people on here go too far the other way. Most able bodied people aren't able to excel in sports and disability sports should be up there with mainstream sports. How far 'up' a sport is is determined largely by market forces, if disabled sports were as entertaining as mainstream sports then they would already be 'up there' with them, or at least there'd be a much smaller gap than there is now. I'd rather watch able bodied professionals playing sport any day of the week, but that doesn't mean that disabled sports aren't real sports, or that in some cases they require immense skill and athleticism. The op should be very proud of her son however lets not kid ourselves that it is as big an achievement as attaining a similar level of success in able bodied sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 I used w/chair b/ball as an example as i know about that sports classification, each sport however has its own classification system, based upon disability and each sportspersons unique abilities within the sport. They are not all as simple as the classification system i used. There is no way to ensure a level playing field, none of these systems are perfect, quantifying a disability is far too hard and complicated. They do their best, but it will never be 100% fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolliew Posted November 25, 2010 Author Share Posted November 25, 2010 There is no way to ensure a level playing field, none of these systems are perfect, quantifying a disability is far too hard and complicated. They do their best, but it will never be 100% fair. Whilst i personally agree with that at least there is a system in place to make it a fairer playing field. After all an amputee doesnt get the same classification as a sports person with cerebal palsy and their lives are effected very differently, they are both allowed to do the same sport to international level and compete against sports people with a SIMILAR disability and achieve accordingly. Playing for your country is a big achievment and to be strived for - regardless of your disability or ability. Just because in the country we dont see disability sport on a regular basis doesnt mean it isnt as important as able bodied sport. We are a very blinkered country when it comes to disability sport and are far behind the rest of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Playing for your country is a big achievment and to be strived for - regardless of your disability or ability.I agree wholeheartedly with that. I'd go further and say its a huge achievement, worthy of any parent's tears of joy. However playing for your country in a disabled sport is not as big an achievement as playing in an able bodied sport. For one thing the pool of talent is much much smaller. To get into the UK disabled basketball team you're going to have be one of the top 20 (or so, I don't know how large the squads are in basketball) players in the country. to do that you're going to need to be better than several thousand other people, perhaps a hundred thousand or so. To get into the UK able bodied basketball team you still need to be one of the top 20 players in the country, however the difference is now you need to be better than millions of other people. Just because in the country we dont see disability sport on a regular basis doesnt mean it isnt as important as able bodied sport. I'm not exactly sure how I'd go about determining the 'importance' of a sport, so I'm not going to argue there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcoblog Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 I agree wholeheartedly with that. I'd go further and say its a huge achievement, worthy of any parent's tears of joy. However playing for your country in a disabled sport is not as big an achievement as playing in an able bodied sport. For one thing the pool of talent is much much smaller. To get into the UK disabled basketball team you're going to have be one of the top 20 (or so, I don't know how large the squads are in basketball) players in the country. to do that you're going to need to be better than several thousand other people, perhaps a hundred thousand or so. To get into the UK able bodied basketball team you still need to be one of the top 20 players in the country, however the difference is now you need to be better than millions of other people. I'm not exactly sure how I'd go about determining the 'importance' of a sport, so I'm not going to argue there. Brilliant advice there Flaming jimmy on a sport you've just admitted you know nothing about! I also severely doubt there are 'millions' of other people trying to get into the able bodied basketball team. Wether abled or disabled, you slill have to be at the top of your sport and there's no difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJC1 Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Disabled sport is as skilled as able bodied sport- I really enjoy watching it anyway. Think there should be some hardcore respect given to guys and girls that have had to overcome many hurdles, let alone get to national level in any sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Brilliant advice there Flaming jimmy on a sport you've just admitted you know nothing about! I also severely doubt there are 'millions' of other people trying to get into the able bodied basketball team. Wether abled or disabled, you slill have to be at the top of your sport and there's no difference! Sure there is, being the best out of 100 people is not as big an achievement as being the best out of 1000. Sure the numbers I used were rough estimations, and are probably way off, but the point still stands. The competition for places must be much fiercer in able bodied sports simply because there are so many more competitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky3 Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Sure there is, being the best out of 100 people is not as big an achievement as being the best out of 1000. Sure the numbers I used were rough estimations, and are probably way off, but the point still stands. The competition for places must be much fiercer in able bodied sports simply because there are so many more competitors. Some basic numbers... http://www.dlf.org.uk/content/key-facts There are over 6.9 million disabled people of working age which represents 19% of the working population. And I don't think that includes people with sight problems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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