ABC Wheelchair Sports Association athlete using a wheelchair competes in a shot put competition. The BCWSA hosts sessions throughout the year for the members to GERRY KRIPPS PHOTO

Sports adapting for all

Athletes face challenges and advantages to compete

= By ADAM LEVI

thletes with disabilities

face obvious challenges

in competitive sports.

What is less intuitive is the edge their very disability some- times provides them.

From a wheelchair’s momentum to quicker recovery in weight-bear- ing sports, some adaptive sports have their advantages, often influencing an athlete’s performance and train- ing.

According to the B.C. Wheel- chair Sports Association's wheelchair racing coach James Hustvedt, track and field athletes don't have to worry about the toll of running on their bodies like able-bodied people do.

“We're not weight-bearing,” Hustvedt said. “When [an able-

bodied person] is running, your

weight is bearing on your legs and your joints. While in the wheelchair, you're supported by the chair. That lends for a shorter recovery for the body.”

Athletes in wheelchairs may not be able to outdo their able-bodied counterparts in shorter races, yet have a much quicker pace in distance races.

In 2009, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt set the world record in the 100-metre dash posting a time of 9.58 at the World Championships in Athletics. Whereas Finland’s Leo-Pekka Tahti crossed the line in 13.76 at the 2012 Paralympics in London.

In comparison, during 2017, Switzerland’s Marcel Hug clocked the fastest men’s Boston Marathon wheelchair race, finishing in 1:18:04. On the other hand, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya, who holds the fastest time

in the able-bodied race, clocked 2:03:02 in 2011.

However, not all sports allow for advantages for athletes with disabili- ties.

Former Canadian Paralympic swimming champion, Donovan Tildesley said blind swimmers need tappers to prevent injury. He once split his head open from hitting the wall.

“T required someone to be with me at every practice or race,” Tildesley said. “I would need someone with a long stick and a foam tip, called a ‘tapper to tap me on the head as ’m coming into the wall, and that’s how I knew to make a flip-turn.

‘The difference in swimming times grows the longer the race goes on. The Netherland’s Ranomi Kromow- idjojoset the record for the 50-metre swimwith a time of 24.05 at the 2012

London Olympics. Yet, Paralympic, blind swimmer Maryna Piddubna from the Ukraine finished a race at 30.22 at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Dublin.

For the 800-metre swim, Katie Ledecky set the record at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil posting a time of 8:04.79. ‘That’s nearly three minutes faster than the Paralympic record at the distance set by Germany’s Daniela Schulte clocking in at 10:57.82.

Yet, regardless of the adaptation of the sport, or the way it’s played, according to Paralympic athlete and academic, Staci Mannella, who is a blind skier, the goals are the same.

“My goal is to ski fast and that’s

the same as an able-bodied skier,”

Mannella said. “Regardless of how I achieve that goal, that’s still the goal.”

48 days, no bas

Mens and womens teams look to stay fit and motivated

By RAY CHOPPING

The inter-semester break is fast approaching, and that means the men’s and women’s basketball teams are about to have their most prolonged stretch of non-competitive action.

Following the men’s and women’s games against Columbia Bible College on Nov. 23, a 48-day stretch without another game will begin. It’s

within that time period that play- ers are expected to continue training and remain academically eligible to play, which the director of athletics at Langara, Jake McCallum, said can hard to sustain.

“Teams are rarely the same after the break, you lose people academically,” McCallum said

Conversely, McCallum added, that a

“They work super hard for eight months a year, it's important they take

etball games

“The fall is one-third of the season,”

McCallum said. “It’s almost like two different seasons. If you have no wins or only a few, this break is a time to reboot, revamp and look at where the roster needs work.”

For the Falcons women’s team, head coach Virginia Watson will keep the prac- tice as usual, even with no games on the

horizon. The

* ” :

slow start to time off. Falcons will sd.

the season isnt VIRGINIA WATSON, FALCONS WOMEN'S play a couple

always indic- BASKETBALL COACH of exhibi-

ative of the teams’ final standing because most games are played after the inter- semester break.

tion games in that time to stay in game-shape and continue to work on their man-to- man and zone marking systems.

“From the end of November to the beginning of January we're going to be on the court a ton,” Watson said. Steph Von Riedemann, the team’s only returning veteran player, says that because of the training regimen, fitness won't be an issue come Jan. 10, when both the men and women restart their seasons

“It’s important to be diligent with workouts. Doing our own training program, to maintain fitness is really important before those exhibition games,” Riedemann said.

It’s not all work and no play, the players do get ten days off over the Christmas period, and Watson wants them to use it to get some rest.

“They work super hard for eight months a year, it’s important they take time off,” Watson said.

Falcons appoint female coach

Watson is the first

female women's

basketball coach at

Langara in over 20 By GINA ROGERS

ormer Falcons assistant coach F Virginia Watson is hoping to

turn the women’s basketball teams’ season around after it was left in the lurch by former head coach Curtis Nelson.

Watson is the first female head coach since Morgan Kyle who last coached the women’s team for the 1996-97 season.

“It’s nice to have a female coach for a female program. It’s difficult to find female coaches,” McCallum said.

Following the unexpected depar- ture of Nelson last week, Watson took over the position in an interim role. Coach Nelson resigned his position as head of the women’s basketball team for personal reasons and on mutually agreeable terms. Virginia joined the Falcons staff at the same time as Nelson at begin- ning of the 2018- 19 season.

It hasn’t been an easy start for Watson, a former Falcon and PACWEST rookie of the year, or for her Falcons who lost back-to- back games this weekend. After losing to Vancouver Island Univer- sity, the top-ranked team in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Asso- ciation last Saturday.

Falcon Meagan Briggs spoke about what the 100-84 loss shows about where the team stands.

“I’m really excited to see them again in the second half of the season because I think playing them shows us where we need to be in the second half,” 0 Briggs said.

According to Langara’s athletic director Jake McCallum, Watson, who played collegiate basketball for five seasons, has the character to coach this women’s team because she knows how to navigate, “the bumps, bruises and team dynamics.”

McCallum believes that Watson has what it takes to win, and it will take wins for Watson to keep her job. When asked if she would like to continue being the head coach after this season, Watson made her

opinion clear.

Virginia Watson FALCONS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH

“Td love it,” she said.

Upcoming game: Saturday, Nov. 23

vs. Columbia Bible College 8:00 p.m.

Upcoming game: Saturday, Nov. 23

vs. Columbia Bible College 6:00 p.m.