7 Points in wheelchair rugby are also supported by

For the first time in 2009 both Amsterdam Quad Rugby Tournament (AQRT) and Bernd Best Tournament (BBT) will be played with 7.0 team points. We, the organizers of AQRT and BBT, as well as many people involved in the sport of wheelchair rugby believe that 7.0 team points is a mandatory improvement to the sport with regard to fair participation of the functionally severely disabled player.

• The larger resource of potential players is statistically the low pointers:

  60% of the tetraplegics are low pointers with little to no triceps (C5/C6 lesions) and only 20% tetraplegics with triceps (C7/C8 lesions).¹
• Although the conditions to recruit low pointers are actually more difficult, the history of wheelchair rugby shows that the average points of a wheelchair rugby player is still about 1.7. This mean multiplied by four gives an average on team points of 6.8.
• Documentation of the AQRT and BBT entries shows that teams on national level, and especially new teams, have trouble to bring 8.0 points on court. And when they succeed to have an 8.0-point team on court, they are limited in substituting high pointers.
• The current situation in wheelchair rugby has an extreme bias with regard to the proportion of low pointers versus high pointers on court (1 to 3). Although wheelchair rugby was developed as a sport for the physically more disabled athletes, low pointers are significantly underrepresented on national level and even more on international level.

We strongly support the Paralympic Vision and Mission: “The development of all athletes from initiation to elite level” and “to develop opportunities for […] athletes with a severe disability in sport at all levels and in all structures.”²

We believe that 7.0 team points in wheelchair rugby is the right way to achieve fair competitions and fair participation of all potential players in the full range of casualties of tetraplegia and functionally comparable other disabilities.

Support 7.0 team points in wheelchair rugby!

We ask all players to support 7.0 team points by signing this document and request all organizers of wheelchair rugby tournaments and events to implement 7.0 team points into their regulations.

_signed
Norbert Leisten (Bernd Best Tournament Director)
Gerhard Sih (Director Amsterdam Quad Rugby Tournament)

Support 7.0 Team Points in wheelchair rugby now!
Sign this document

¹ Young J.S., Burns P.E., Bowen A.M., McCutchen R.: Spinal cord injury Systems. Good Samaritan Medical Center , Phoenix, Arizona 1982, p. 16
² IPC Handbook April 2003, Section 1, Chapter 1.1 – Paralympic Vision and Mission