Outdated chairs still in use

Philippine wheelchair basketball head coach Vernon Perea said the other day equipment is a critical element in playing the Paralympic sport at a high level and it’s a cause for concern that the national team called the Warriors is handicapped by rolling heavy whirls with a mileage of at least 10 years.

In a 10-minute running time exhibition at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Friday, the Warriors showed up with battered, overused chairs compared to the lighter and brighter models of the Canadian visitors who were in Manila to conduct coaching and playing clinics. Still, the Warriors managed to maneuver their chairs skilfully, drawing the admiration of fans who gave the players a rousing applause at the end of the game.

“Other countries use eight kilogram chairs which are lighter and more manueverable,” said Perea. “Since we still use 18 kilogram chairs, it’s like we’re handicapped by 10 kilograms. Most of our players work at Tahanang Walang Hagdanan in Cainta. Some of them weld their own chairs at a cost of P20,000. A brand-new, modern wheelchair for basketball costs about $3,500. We’ve requested a budget of P2 Million from the PSC to provide us with new chairs in time for the Asean Para Games in September.”

Two-time Paralympic Canadian gold medal coach Mike Frogley said technology has made it easier to play in chairs. “I remember reading a story about players many years ago and they were talking about this new technology,” said Frogley who was on Canada’s fourth place team at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. “The new technology at the time used air-filled tires instead of solid tires. This was in the 1950s. Nobody these days could ever imagine using solid tires to compete in a high-level game although I know there are places in the world where people still use solid tires because of the prevalence of flat tires.

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“Some of the more recent changes in the last 10 to 20 years have been the use of different types of straps to hold players in chairs, the addition of rear casters to prevent tipping backwards, significantly lighter chairs and the use of Spingery wheels. All the changes have made the chairs lighter, stronger and more stable and have allowed the athletes to do much more in their chairs. Generally, most chairs are between 18 to 24 pounds. All the chairs must be manual.”

Perea said the height of a chair varies depending on the height and disability of the player. A small chair is used for classes 1.0 to 3.0 and higher chairs for 3.5 to 4.5. Classification points are designated for players from 1.0 to 4.5. In the regular game, the five players on the floor can total only up to 14 classification points. In 3-on-3, the limit is 8.5.

Last Friday’s exhibition also featured a dribbling competition and a free throw shooting contest. Fil-Canadian Gilas and Phoenix PBA guard Matthew Wright was the clear winner in the wheelchair dribbling race over Perlas women’s basketball player Chack Cabinbin, Rio Paralympic table tennis bronze medalist Josephine Medina and Rio Olympics weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz. Warriors recruit D. J. Castro won the foul shooting contest, hitting 8 of 10, over Wright with 6-of-10 and Canada’s Bo Hedges with 4-of-10.

Hedges and two other Canadians David Eng and Jason Naval suited up with two Warriors to form the Reds starting five against the rest of the Warriors in the exhibition game. Providing commentary on a live microphone, Frogley said the wheelchair game has its version of a pick-and-roll and zone defense.

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Perea brought along the 12-man Warriors team, six recruits in the training pool and three referees to the exhibition. In his drills, Perea said 80 percent is suited for wheelchair hoops and 20 percent for stand-up.  “There are drills applicable to both like the fastbreak series, shooting and passing drills,” he said. “In dribbling drills, it’s a different story because in the wheelchair game, players are only allowed to push the wheels twice. The third time is a traveling violation. What they do is to push twice then dribble, pass or shoot. Mostly, they push twice while the ball is on their lap then dribble at least once then push twice again. There’s no double dribble in our game. You can push twice, dribble, push twice, dribble and so on. One drill that most players hate is the stations. It’s a circuit that targets wheelchair movement skills. The exercise involves doing drills in at least 10 stations at a minute each without breaks.”

Perea, 45, trained under Gilas coach Chot Reyes at the Asian Basketball Academy with his first cousin Jude Roque, now San Beda College team manager.