Coaching Athletes with Disabilities PDF

SRLP 4035 Sport and Recreation for Persons with Physical and Intellectual Disabilities 9 Coaching Sport for Athletes with Disabilities and Future Trends in Disability Sport Key Concepts ◼Important Factors in coaching Athletes with Disabilities ◼Consideration for Spec...

SRLP 4035 Sport and Recreation for Persons with Physical and Intellectual Disabilities 9 Coaching Sport for Athletes with Disabilities and Future Trends in Disability Sport Key Concepts ◼Important Factors in coaching Athletes with Disabilities ◼Consideration for Specific Disabilities ◼Specific Mental Skills ◼Controversial Issues and Future Trends  Important Factors in Coaching Athletes with Disabilities ◦ Keep a good balance among mind, Formula of technique, and body of athletes Performance system ◦ Have adequate knowledge of the rules and laws of sport and how they might affect athletes with disabilities Skills and technique ◦ Accept each athlete’s disability / physical conditions as unique and design appropriate training programs for them Athlete ◦ Develop an awareness of the equipment that athletes with disabilities use, including gloves, ramps, and wheelchairs Equipment are suitable for particular sports  Coaching Athletes with PD ◦ Require greater flexibility and lateral thinking in order to attain the best possible movement patterns for their athletes ◦ Have to address the added dimension of analyzing the movements of an asymmetric body with a restricted range of movement (ROM)  Coaching Athletes with Amputee ◦ Muscle imbalances ◦ Problems with balance and speed ◦ Overstressing single limb ◦ Wearing prosthesis requires skin care ◦ Rules in different sports  Coaching Athletes with Visual Impairment ◦ Children with VI engaged less physical activity than persons with other disabilities ◦ Unable to determine the proper direction ◦ Using guide / partner ◦ Tether ◦ Bonk/tapper ◦ Step counts ◦ Use of full hand of verbal descriptions by a coach during demonstrations ◦ Hand-body manipulation ◦ Provides concrete instruction ◦ May not appropriate with opposite sex ◦ Brailing technique ◦ A wooden doll with articulating joints can be used  Coaching Athletes with Visual Impairment ◦ Guiding Techniques for Athletes: Guided wire Tether A rope of a wire pulled Sighted guide tightly across a gym or a Grasps the guide’s This allows the runner track. Allow the athlete elbow, shoulder, or full range of motion of runs independently for hand the arms time or distance  Coaching Athletes with Visual Impairment Guiding Techniques for Athletes: ◦ Sound source from a distance ◦ Runs to a sound source such as a clap or a bell ◦ Sound source ◦ The guide rings a bell or shakes a noisemaker for the runner to hear while running side by side ◦ Sighted guide’s shirt ◦ The runner with partial vision runs behind a guide with a bright shirt ◦ Independent running ◦ A runner with travel vision runs independently on a track marked with thick white lines  Coaching Athletes with Neurological Conditions ◦ Difficulties in coordinating and controlling their movement ◦ To help athletes to achieve greater motor control and flexibilities ◦ Spastic athletes are affected by their condition ◦ Athletes with paraplegia can utilize their upper limbs to do exercise to prevent blood pooling  Coaching Athletes with Neurological Conditions ◦ May lose their thermoregulation system function due to their high level of spinal injury ◦ Should not exposed for too long under hot sun, should drink plenty of water and decrease intensity of training ◦ Research found that training effects for persons with spinal cord injuries requires higher maximal heart rate levels of 70% than general population  Coaching Athletes with Intellectual Disability Communication Competition Experience Clear Controlled with limited feedback Concrete Enforcing rules Concise Realistic Consistent Command-oriented  Coaching Athletes with Intellectual Disability ◼ Behavioral Challenges Athlete Behavior: Strategy ✓ Slow rate of learning ✓ Provide structure ✓ Short attention span ✓ Repeat & reinforce ✓ Break down skills ✓ 10-min. activities ✓ Repeat & reinforce ✓ Work 1-on-1  Mental Skills for Athletes ◦General Consideration ◦ Approach the person as an athlete ◦ Ascertain the nature and degree of disability ◦ Use the athletes as a source of information ◦ Don’t be a protector from failure Mental Skills for Athletes Techniques: ◦ Abdominal Breathing Self Talk ◦ Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) Tension phase of PMR for athletes with CP Entire body or just parts ◦ Imagery Visual images are possible for athletes with visual impaired Important of scripts for ID Mental Preparations: ◦ Goal Setting ◦ Self Confidence ◦ Pre-competition Preparation  Ethics Issues ◦ Equipment Specification ◦ Classification grading – pretending ◦ Doping: - Disqualifications and suspension are common penalties - The first attempt at doping controls in disability sport occurred in 1983 - In Sydney 2000, 10 athletes found positive - In London 2012, 3 athletes found positive  Future Trends ◦ Establishment of multi-disability international govern bodies ◦ Classification and competitions becoming more sport specific ◦ Increasing numbers of individuals with disabilities seeking sport programs ◦ Increasing concern for equity in sport opportunities for women, race, socioeconomic status ◦ Inclusion of athletes with disabilities within the sport world ◦ Increased public awareness and acceptance of athletes with disabilities End