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Refs in wheelchairs

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Mort rotu
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Refs in wheelchairs

Postby Mort rotu Wed May 08, 2013 1:35 pm

An interesting one for you

Owing to events beyond my control I find my self confined to a wheelchair for a while, however I still wish to be involved in the sport as best I can. Coaching is do-able, just requires better explaining of drills/concepts and an able legged assistant for me to hit..sorry demonstrate things with.

so, if I can keep pace with the play (challenging currently) would I be allowed (not able, subtle difference) to referee a game from a chair? would I need to/be allowed to wear my helmet? (the ball's much closer to my head height as I'm now about 5' from the floor vs 6'5) any other issue spring to mind?

or am I stuck CBO'ing?
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby rpowell Wed May 08, 2013 7:17 pm

Allowed.
If you have your striped shirt, white shorts, whistle & flags then you _could_ referee.
Nothing in the rules to prohibit wearing a helmet.

However, there are some challenges.
1) You will doubtless have already considered the beautiful British weather, and its interaction with natural grass and soil on a wheelchair...
2) But assuming firm ground or astroturf - what happens if you are at a face-off and the ball gets propelled under your wheelchair? Or you cannot get out of the way of a melee before bodies hit you, rather than the ground? Could be a bit of a problem ;)

I would suggest CBO. When done fully, it is am extremely busy position, particularly when combined with timing penalties - which tends to happen at many league games.
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Mort rotu
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby Mort rotu Thu May 09, 2013 12:00 am

I had considered the surface, I can't easily wheel myself around on a 3G rubbercrumb astro or reasonably firm ground owing to the tyres on my chair currently (indoor ones, they look like road bike width ones) so would need to be on sand astro for me to ref in this chair.

I'm strong enough to push a melee away from me (and able to get back into the chair from the floor if I can't...) but the chair itself might pose as a rather painful surface to land on. If a loose ball ends up under me off a face off I'd need to get out the way, same as any other ref, might require some careful thought about positioning prior to blowing the whistle.

so allowed, able is dependent on surface until wheelchair services hampshire gets me some off road tyres. might be worth running with a 2 man crew (even if they're distributed as a cbo and a ref) so if I can't keep going (cos my arms are going to fall off) then I can CBO and they can continue reffing?

Thanks rpowell! any further thoughts from the floor?
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Mr.Stanford
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby Mr.Stanford Thu May 09, 2013 11:00 am

you'll probably be more mobile than some reffs i've seen, who seem to do a decent job at reffing from a 10m space either side of the half way line!
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby cjlax Thu May 09, 2013 12:01 pm

Although its in the USA...its worth a read:

http://www.wheelchairlacrosse.com/
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby jameskellam Thu May 09, 2013 7:07 pm

If its local to us both, I can run with you and we can work out what can be done. email me.
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Mort rotu
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby Mort rotu Tue May 14, 2013 1:22 am

jameskellam wrote:If its local to us both, I can run with you and we can work out what can be done. email me.


Thanks James :D

cjlax wrote:Although its in the USA...its worth a read:

http://www.wheelchairlacrosse.com/

I'd seen/heard of it before but it's kinda hard to play a team game if you're the only person in an entire country who wants to play :( I might try and convince some people to try it but not till after I've finished my PhD, I'll probably end up trying my hand at wheelchair basketball first. As an interesting side, the chairs they use for both sports would cost me about £3k without any spare wheels :shock: then it'd still be too small for my legs. :cry:

Mr.Stanford wrote:you'll probably be more mobile than some reffs i've seen, who seem to do a decent job at reffing from a 10m space either side of the half way line!


Don't be too mean to the zebra's mate!without them you can't play :P
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby Phil D Tue May 14, 2013 3:28 pm

Mort rotu wrote:I'd seen/heard of it before but it's kinda hard to play a team game if you're the only person in an entire country who wants to play :(


You might not be?

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Mort rotu
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Re: Refs in wheelchairs

Postby Mort rotu Tue May 14, 2013 4:55 pm

Phil D wrote:You might not be?

Phil


google suggests I might be in a very small number of people, I shall investigate further. You only need 5 for a box team right, meaning 10 for 2 full teams?
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