GB10 Sports are proud to be supporting an initiative to bring wheelchair football to grass pitches for the first time with the development of a specially-adapted chair.
Working alongside community interest company Adaptive Sports Innovations [ASI], the groundbreaking project will enable disabled people to play on a grass pitch in a chair which has been specially-designed by Colin Wood, who set up ASI after he was diagnosed with Uveitis, a rare disease which left him blind.
The prototype wheelchair is able to move in all directions at pace on grass, while an applicator is currently being designed to allow players to carry out specific actions on the pitch such as passing, shooting and crossing using the chair itself to closely mirror that of an able-bodied game of football.
“I set up the ASI to challenge the world and make sport more inclusive,” explained Wood.
“I was disgruntled that we haven’t got that right when it comes to sport and now we have a pathway to, hopefully, become the first professional tier for adaptive people to be able to play wheelchair football on the grass.
“The problem is that any wheelchair on the market today doesn’t go on grass and they’re not designed to go backwards. And we also need to factor in various moves like control, passing and shooting, which is the three main elements of motion for a human being to play football.
“How do you get a wheelchair to do that? This is what I’ve been looking at for a number of years. We’ve had to prove a point that we can have a wheelchair that can got on grass and allow people with disabilities to play football and I think we’re achieving that.”
With the first aim of getting the chair to perform effectively on grass achieved, the next was to introduce the ability for the chair to control and manipulate the ball, and Wood is confident that this is close to being realised.
“It comes down to those three elements,” explained Wood.
“It’s all about control, passing and shooting. The problem is that the wheelchair doesn’t do those things and it’s hard to introduce any flair to those actions. So, how do you do that with a wheelchair?
“Now we have the first applicator, which I’ve designed and we’re trialling at the moment, which will allow you to actually play football as close to an able-bodied standard as possible.
“You’ve got two paddles, which is like that of a pinball machine, which if you hit one side, that allows you to pass left, the other side allows you to pass right and then if you hit them both at the same time, that allows you to shoot.”
“There are a lot of disabled people out there and we’ve had to set up seven league structures including leagues for the deaf, amputees as well as blind,” Wood added.
“But to have a wheelchair go on grass now – that’s never been done before. I can’t say how much this will open up the door of opportunity for people.”
Meanwhile GB10 Sports are continuing their commitment to support the project, hosting a golf day to raise funds for its development in recent months, while also aiming to make the brand-new community sports hub based in New Eltham the home of disability sports.
“We’ve been working with Colin for nearly three years now,” said GB10 Sports Chairman, Paul Whitehead.
“It’s a good example of everything we’ve done at GB10 so far – we want to make football and sport inclusive for everybody. That’s part of what our goal is. We want to make this the national centre for wheelchair sports, and why not the national centre for disabled sports?
“We’ve got some really big plans, but obviously there’s still a long way to go yet and fundraising will play a big part.
“We want this to be a community club, whether it’s football, paddle tennis, whatever it is – it’s a sports club and everyone should have access, no matter what your abilities are.
“It’s very, very important that we make what we’re doing here inclusive to everyone.”
Meanwhile, Wood emphasised the importance of the support he and ASI has received from GB10 Sports towards achieving the ultimate goal of achieving competitive wheelchair football on grass.
“I can’t say enough how much GB10 have been a big support,” he said.
“I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of lads who have actually seen the magnitude of what we can do by saving lives.
“And the magnitude of what they have here with the complex and the facilities, not just for football, but for other sports as well. Together we’re going to give so much back to the community.”
If you would like to support the continued development of ASI and GB10 Sports’ wheelchair football initiative, please contact info@gb10sports.com.
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