Most Popular Wheelchair Sports

After the London 2012 Paralympics turned out to be more popular than the actual Olympics, there has been a renewed interest in wheelchair sport.  But what are actually the most popular types of sports that can be played in a wheelchair?  This can be particularly interesting if you or your child are wheelchair users, as this could allow you to get involved in a physical activity of your own.

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Wheelchair Sports.

Wheelchair Basketball

The most popular of all wheelchair sports has to be basketball.  This game follows almost the same rules as regular basketball, with the exception of the rules of travelling.  Obviously, you cannot tell people they can only take three steps if they play from a wheelchair.  In this particular sport, the rule of travelling is that the player can only touch their wheels twice between dribbling instead. Basketball chairs are a must but most clubs have spare chairs for new players to try out and learn to play in

Wheelchair Tennis

Another of the wheelchair sports that has been around for a long time and is a popular wheelchair sport is wheelchair tennis.  Again the majority of the rules are the same as regular tennis with the major exception being that a wheelchair-using player is allowed to let the ball bounce twice on their side of the net.  The only issue here is that the wheelchair used must be specially adapted and in a very good condition.  This is because it would be impossible to manoeuvre otherwise.  This makes this particular sport less accessible to everyday people, as they need to invest in a new adapted wheelchair in order to take part.

These are but two of the popular wheelchair sports available in most localities across the United Kingdom.  Wheelchair badminton is also becoming very popular, as is wheelchair racing.  Do remember that you are under no obligation to join an official team. If you have other friends in wheelchairs, you can easily organise a get together yourself and simply play sports.  Bearing that in mind, you can truly play any sport you like, including wheelchair baseball or cricket for instance.

Many other sports.

There are whole range of popular wheelchair and disabled sports, including: Boccia, Wheelchair Racing, Wheelchair Fencing and Wheelchair Rugby.