Para sport taster session
The day started with a taster session of a variety of para sports. The team took to the sports hall at Hollywell Fitness Centre where their wheelchair basketball skills were put to the test in some 4 vs 4 half-court games. Some members of the team showed great shooting skills, but there may be some more work required on manoeuvrability and control over the wheelchairs.
The team also had the opportunity to try sitting volleyball and finished with some blind football skill work. The session was rounded off by a penalty shootout, where Director of the PHC, Vicky Tolfrey showed us all how it was done, scoring a cracking penalty against Dr David Maidment.
A great amount of fun was had over the morning, allowing the team to try out some new sports and develop some new skills.
Multi-national Para Sport Symposium
The team reconvened after lunch for a mini symposium.
We were fortunate to have a whole host of presentations delivered across the afternoon by a variety of PhD students, researchers, and lecturers from the Peter Harrison Centre and institutions across France and the Netherlands in a variety of para sport fields.
Peter Harrison Centre, Loughborough University:
- Dr Thomas Rietveld (Research Associate) - Female classification in Wheelchair Rugby.
- Lara Brittain and Will Dixon (PhD students) – Enhancing WC racing performance: technology and aerodynamics.
- Hannah Johnston (PhD student) – The unexplored physiology of para athletes with Cerebral Palsy.
Institutions across France:
- Matthieu Deves (PhD student) - Activity identification and classification of on-court wheelchair locomotion tasks for wheelchair sport analysis.
- Ilona Alberca (PhD student) - Using Spatiotemporal parameters towards classification in Wheelchair Badminton.
- Bryon Le Toquin (PhD student) – Physiological and mechanical profile comparisons among functional classification in Paralympic cyclists.
Institutions across the Netherlands:
- Dr Rienk van der Slikke (Lecturer and researcher) – Driving force: unveiling the crucial role of trunk function in wheelchair tennis mobility.
- Dr Melle van Dilgt (Lecturer and researcher) – Validating the use of IMU’s for tracking upper body movements during wheelchair propulsion.
- Dr Arie-Williem de Leeuw – Data-driven performance optimization and injury prevention in wheelchair sports.
The symposium was attended by >20 PHC members in-person with a further ~20 individuals across institutions attending online.
It was a great afternoon sharing knowledge across institutions, opening the door for potential future collaborations within the para sport space.
Lara (PhD student) commented on the event…
I really enjoyed the day. Having a go at playing 3 different para sports made me appreciate how difficult they all are. It was good fun and great to get the group together before we head to Paris. I had never presented to overseas institutions before, so it was a really good opportunity to present the start of my PhD research and hear about all the other research going on in similar fields of work.