THEVOICE |

8

THURSDAY, OCT. 31, 2019 |

EDITOR AGAZY MENGESHA

Sportsnews

Members of the Vancouver Lightning Power Soccer team, at their weekly practice game at Killarney Community Centre. 4n/74 ZHU PHOTO

Aiming for Paralympic inclusion

Power Soccer needs more members for consideration: coach

= By ANITA ZHU

hile Power Soccer has

been turned down

for inclusion multi-

ple times, the team
manager of a Vancouver league says
the sport provides great benefits and
should be included in the Paralym-
pic Games.

Power soccer is a game played
using motorized wheelchairs, or
powerchairs, with specialized foot
guards that allow physically disabled
individuals to kick the ball. The game
is played in teams off four, includ-
ing a goalkeeper, with two 20 minute
periods.

The sport failed to qualify for the
2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo and the 2024
Paris Paralympics, with the Interna-
tional Paralympic Committee citing

inclusion issues.

Margaret McLeod, who manages
the Vancouver Lightning Club, said
she would like to
see it included
one day.

“It has been
very disap-
pointing Power
Soccer contin-
ues to fail to
meet the inclu-
sion criteria in
a number of areas to gain Paralym-
pic status,” said McLeod, whose son
Dale looks forward to his games each
week.

“This sport provides so much value
to its players and reaching the Para-
lympic status will help to create more

“We don't just play
to get into the
Paralympics. We play
because it is fun.”

—LAREINA YUNG, POWER SOCCER PLAYER

awareness and to provide financial
support in this rewarding program.”

Lareina Yung has been playing
Power soccer
for 13 years,
travelling to
Montreal
and San
Jose to play
matches.
Yung is
optimistic
about power
soccer's future in the Paralympics,
but isn’t worried about the possibil-
ity of another failed bid.

“T think in the future they probably
will include it,” Yung said.

“We don't just play to get into the
Paralympics. We play because it is

fun.”

Lareina’s sister, Lianna Alexandra
Yung, has been coaching the team
for more than 10 years and said the
sport provides a much-needed way
for players to exercise and learn the
value of teamwork.

“This is the only sport they can
play,” she said.

“They wouldn't have the physical
abilities to join other Paralympic
sports.”

However, in order for there to be
a stronger chance to qualify for the
Paralympics, Yung says there needs
to be more players.

Currently there are only about
10 power soccer players in Vancou-
ver, and 70 players all together in
Canada.

’. > FALCONS’
TALLY

VIU MARINERS
W-D-L

8-1-3

Ranked: 1st

DOUGLAS ROYALS
W-D-L

6-3-3

Ranked: 2nd
CAPILANO BLUES
W-D-L

5-5-2

Ranked: 3rd
LANGARA FALCONS
W-0-L

1-0-11

Ranked: 4th

Pacer: time to give back

Runner become
pacer to help
marathon peers

= By LAUREN GARGIULO

xperienced runners sweated
E it out last week, setting the
pace instead of competing in
an effort to give back to
their running commu-
nity by helping their
fellow athletes pump
up their race times.
Pacers, experienced
athletes who help racers

Todd Nickel, who’s pacing for the
first time at RunVan’s Fall Classic
half marathon, said he hopes he’ll
be able to help out his fellow racers.

“Tt's a way that I can also give back
to the community, which is primarily
why I volunteer to race,” Nickel said.
“I'm hoping that I'm also going to
be the guy that helps some people
achieve a goal.”

Justin Bonzo is the manager at The
Running Room, on Denman Street
which provides pacers for races in

through marathons and *

other races but don't people achieve a
compete themselves, goa ”

have made headlines + ODD NICKEL
recently with the unrec- LAUREN GARGIULO RACER/ PACER
ognized marathon PHOTO

world record set by
Eliud Kipchoge, who was ‘equipped
with a team of pace setters.

Pacers run at a specific pace that
runners can match themselves to
reach a certain runtime.

Vancouver, and said there's certain
requirements he looks for in pacers.

“We prefer them to be able to run
half an hour faster than what they're
pacing,” Bonzo said. “If I'm pacing

“T'm hoping that I'm
also going to be the
guy that helps some

the four hour group, I should be able
to run a three and a half hour mara-
thon.”

Even with pacers, races can be
unpredictable, Bonzo said. Runners
can have bad days, or pacers can
encounter unexpected difficulties
that might delay their expected
completion time in a race.

“So that’s why we like to have
about a half hour cushion.”

RunVan, which hosts several of
Vancouver’s most popular races
including the BMO Vancou-
ver Marathon in May as well
as the Fall Classic at UBC,
said they use pacers in their
races to encourage runners.

“The majority of people
who are using pacers are in all
different race times. It’s really
just to reach a goal time.” Lara
Penno said. As the manager of
Runner Services at RunVan,
Penno is in charge of hiring
pacers.
= “They're just very enthusi-
astic runners that really want to give
back,” Penno said.

“They've had good experiences
and then they want to help other
runners.”

A pacer at the Fall Classic marathon at UBC. The sign held indicates the time
runners following him will make. /4uRen carGiuLo PHOTO