WCF drops "wheelchair users only" eligibility criterion

At the World Curling Association's meeting in Cortina at the end of last season, a detailed document was presented covering classification rules for wheelchair curling. One of the deficiences it addressed was the absence of any procedure to appeal a decision by an authorised classifier to grant or refuse eligibility.

The document was referred back for further study and became official WCF policy in June.

A major change was to redefine wheelchair curling from a sport just for participants requiring a wheelchair for their daily mobility, to one that includes people with significant demonstrable impairments in leg/gait function - whether or not they use a wheelchair in their day to day lives.

This is a big step towards making the sport available to anyone unable to curl without a wheelchair.

Curlers currently classified as eligible under the old rules will not have to reclassify and there can be no appeal of a classification 24 hours after an athlete has appeared in a WCF sanctioned event. There are detailed procedures for appeals by athletes declared ineligible to play.

You can read the Classification Rules For Wheelchair Curling here.

Should wheelchair curling remain a sport reserved for full-time wheelchair users? Or should it be a sport for those unable to curl without a wheelchair? Add your opinion to the comments.

It's a Christmas Quiz!

CHRISTMAS QUIZ

So how closely do you follow wheelchair curling, and how closely do you read this blog?

Try your hand at our Christmas Quiz. Answers in a couple of days.

1. There have been six World Wheelchair Curling Championships, and seventeen countries have taken part. Scotland, England and Wales are three. How many of the other 14 can you name?

2. a. Which country or countries have won the most medals at World Championships and (b) how many?

3. a. Which country or countries have won the most golds at World Championships and (b) how many?

4. a. Which country or countries have won back to back world championships? (b) Who skipped? (c) Who coached?

5. This season tournaments have been played in

a) Taarnby, Denmark
b) Bern, Switzerland
c) Oslo, Norway
d) Kinross, Scotland
e) Prague, Czech Republic
f) Ottawa, Canada

Match the location with the national team that won: USA, Canada, Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia

6. True or False

For a stone to be legally delivered

a) at least one wheel must be touching centre line
b) only one foot may be touching the ice
c) from inside the near rings, part of the stone must touch centre line
d) between near rings and hogline, part of the stone must touch centre line

7. What was special about the rocks used at the 2009 Worlds and that will be used at the Olympics and Paralympics?

a) They were the same stones used at the Torino Games.
b) They were made 5 lbs lighter to make it easier for wheelchair users to throw them.
c) The handles had a special surface that allowed them to be pulled back as well as pushed forward.
d) They had never been used before in competition.

8. Name the 3-time World Champion now coaching his national team.

9. Name the Paralympic champion now managing the Vancouver Curling Club.

10. What visiting provincial team came to Ottawa and played a 16 ender - and what was scored in that end?

11. Who is the wheelchair curler now appearing in the Canadian Curling Association's Start Curling television campaign?

12. Team Canada skip Jim Armstrong was given a formal job at the Canadian Olympic Trials Roar Of The Rings in Edmonton. What was it?

13. Which three teams appearing at the 2010 Paralympics have not yet qualified for the 2011 Worlds?

14. Name the provincial skip who will carry the Olympic torch in January in his home town.

I'll be holding all comments until I post the answers in a couple of days. Good luck and a very Merry Christmas.

Fairness demands two-tier participation - Michael McCreadie

Team GB skip Michael McCreadie, seen here at 2009 Worlds

photo - Yadranka

Team Great Britain skip Michael McCreadie is one of the world's most experienced wheelchair curlers, with decades of participation in other wheelchair sports. He feels that the time has come for the introduction of a two-tier classification that will force inclusion of more severely disabled wheelchair users onto teams competing under WCF rules.

"The original rule is a real strength of wheelchair curling. The game was established for players who use a wheelchair for “daily mobility”. Players within the sport, in my view, wish that original ethos to be maintained and strengthened," he says in a discussion document being circulated prior to the WCF semi-annual meeting set for Aberdeen in December to discuss possible rule changes..

"I am aware," he continues, "that classification attempts to confirm player eligibility and then seeks to assign individual players to a sports specific class. I believe the time is right for Chief Classifier (Dr Andrew Burt) and other experienced classifiers to identify minimum disability criteria for our sport as opposed to classification on a player by player basis."

He then proposes a radical change of rule regarding participation. Teams playing under WCF rules would be forced to include more severely disabled wheelchair users, the people at present being excluded from national teams focused solely on fielding the best athletes, rather than considering encouraging participation at all levels of disability.

"Most teams currently comprise of the most able wheelchair curlers who use a wheelchair for daily mobility. In the beginning there was the opportunity for more severely disabled players to compete for national team places. As the sport has developed across the world and the quality of play has improved, the most physically able players have started to dominate," McCreadie says.

"In the absence of divisioning within the classification system tetraplegic players, players who use power wheelchairs and those with cerebral palsy will continue to be non competitive in the current open class system. I believe the time is right to introduce fairness into the sport along the lines of what currently exists in team boccie (teams comprise of at least one class 1 player). Each team should in the future include one player who qualifies for a class that is representative of more severely physically disabled players. It may be as simple as introducing two classes into the sport for all players who are eligible. Class 1 would be the open class for all eligible players. Class 2 would be for players who are tetraplegic, players who are in the advanced stages of MS, some players with cerebral palsy or players with severe upper limb weakness or limb loss etc.

"I am not an expert in this area but I am certain that experienced classifiers could come up with appropriate profiles. In speaking to fellow national and international players I believe there is support for the introduction of a two tier system of classification that encourages, develops and retains the involvement of wheelchair players with more severe physical impairments while at the same time ensuring it retains its original aim of being a sport for non ambulant players only."


It is undeniable that where teams are selected by national associations seeking the best chance for a medal in return for their financial support, wheelchair curling has become a sport geared to the most athletic. Indeed, it was specifically mandated by Canada's "Own The Podium" program, a major funder, that the selectors choose the best available athletes, and then coach them to excellence.

The question is whether that is bad for the sport, and if it is, does mandating inclusion of players of less physical strength serve a useful purpose? Michael thinks that it does.

"It's all about participation, Eric," he told me when I expressed some scepticism about his solution. "We have to avoid the idea that unless you are some super-fit paraplegic or amputee, then it's not worth trying wheelchair curling because you have no chance of being selected for representational play."

But even if one agrees that allowing coaches and selectors to exclude all but the best athletes is bad for the overall development of the sport, is creating artificial categories beyond stating minimum wheelchair usage requirements a plausible solution?

It is worth noting that Germany's 2009 World Championship bronze medalists included a third, Marcus Sieger, who because of his level of disability would probably not have been considered for Canada, or Scotland, or Norway or for any of the teams centrally selected. He won his place because Team Germany were essentially a self-selected club side. Yet it would be hard to imagine that a physically stronger draftee would have performed more valuably.

(I admit to a prejudice against classification. I don't like the idea of being defined as a smaller percentage of someone else. I'd rather be 100% me. I also suspect classifications are at best subjective and at worst corrupting.)

The actual proposal for changing eligibility, to be presented by WCF vice-President Kate Caithness at the December meeting, suggests expanding participation beyond users who require a wheelchair for daily mobility, to include anyone with (specified) significant ambulatory impairments who is unable to curl without using a wheelchair.

My response to Michael's exclusion concerns would be to set a minimum wheelchair usage requirement and do away with central selection, which is the engine of exclusion, even at the cost of financial support for the favoured few.

Allow teams to come together, and those with the ability and ambition will find the resources to fulfil their dreams. The present system makes athletes nationalistic totems, surrogates for the political ambitions of their associations or the careers of their coaches. So maybe selection wins your country a medal. A week later, who other than the athletes, their parents and their enablers, cares?

You can read the full text of Michael's document, as written, as the first comment below. A response by Judy Mackenzie follows.

Who should be eligible to curl from a wheelchair?

This deceptively simple question proved controversial, at least in Canada, during the 2007/8 season. Jim Armstrong, a 6-time Brier competitor whose curling career ended through injury, was declared eligible for wheelchair curling by a Canadian sports classifier perhaps more familiar with wheelchair basketball.

Opposition to that decision appeared to surprise the CCA, and ended in a rebuke by the World Curling Federation, who felt their eligibility rules requiring wheelchair use for daily mobility, clearly disqualified the ambulant Armstrong. Although presently ineligible for international competition, Armstrong was chosen by CurlBC coach Melissa Soligo to skip the BC team that went on to win the 2008 Canadian National Championships.

This summer the CCA has adopted several major WCF rules of competition changes, and has solicited advice on a definition of athlete eligibility that strikes a balance between inclusion and maintaining the integrity of the sport.

National champions in wheelchair curling (unlike regular curling) do not become Team Canada so WCF eligibility rules need not apply (although different eligibility rules would be an additional impediment to equal treatment in the future.)

Different wheelchair sports adopt different procedures, but a general principle is to provide opportunity for participation that would be impossible without a wheelchair. Is wheelchair curling merely curling from a wheelchair, or should it be limited to those reliant on a wheelchair, and if so, to what degree? And where does the increasingly popular stick curling format come in?

Where is the optimal eligibility setting on the continuum between "anyone sitting in a wheelchair" and "person requiring a wheelchair for daily mobility"? The former eliminates the temptation to stretch the rules, while possibly discouraging those who after all are the target audience - wheelchair users. The latter excludes those denied the opportunity to participate in organised curling by virtue of their physical circumstances, but who are not technically "wheelchair-based."

I would exclude those ambulant enough to participate in stick curling, but include those using braces and crutches, or who have an unsteady gait necessitating a wheelchair on-ice, but who chose not to use a wheelchair in their daily lives.

These distinctions only matter when deciding criteria for the Canadian National Championships. Play at local and club level can and should answer to the desires of those willing to be involved. For a national championship there has to be clear eligibility rules to ensure fairness.

Here then is my suggestion for eligibility to play in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships:

To be eligible to play in competitions leading to participation in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships, a player must be restricted in their mobility such that they are unable to deliver a curling stone without the use of a wheelchair.

Interpretation: Although wheelchair curling is intended to be played by people who use wheelchairs for their daily mobility, it should not exclude those unable to participate in stick curling because they are unable to safely deliver a rock while standing.

What do you think? You can contribute to a discussion on this topic by adding a comment to this entry at the Wheelchair Curling Blog.

Canada adopts WCF rules, less a minute

The Canadian Curling Association will adopt the revised rules for competition adopted by the World Curling Federation in their biennial rules committee meeting this June (see previous post).

Games will be 8 ends, and the delivery zone widened. Clubs with active wheelchair curling programs or hosting national competitions will be expected to have guidelines running 18 inches either side of the centre line. These will be in addition, as reader Bruce Cameron noted, to the lines many clubs already have that run down the sheet from the edge of the 4 foot.

Canadian games will, however, be at least a minute a side shorter as each team will be allowed 67 minutes rather than the WCF's mandated 68; a decision that will amuse long time followers of the relationship between the CCA and the WCF.

New rules show wheelchair curling is growing up

 The World Curling Federation has changed the rules of competition for WCF sponsored events, moving wheelchair curling closer to the regular game. Gone is the patronising 6-end limit, and gone too will be the incessant on -ice conferences before every shot that destroyed its appeal as a spectator sport.

Games will now be 8 ends (from 6) with each team allowed 68 minutes plus one 60 second time-out. The delivery zone is also expanded by 6 inches either side of the centre line.

The new delivery zone, from a rock at delivery "touching the centre line" to being "wholly within 18 inches either side of the centre line" adds approximately 6 inches of width to each side of the centre line. Its effect is to reduce the penalty, in angle reduction, of releasing near the hogline rather than the hack. Shots delivered between the hack and the near house must still be touching centre line at delivery.

This change also moves wheelchair curling closer to the angles available to regular curlers, who although expected to release their stones "in reasonable proximity to the centre line," had a wider range of angles available at delivery.

The CCA will adopt the WCF rule on delivery zone for the coming season but as yet have not committed to lengthening games to 8 ends. Though the CCA has different player eligibility criteria, they have otherwise typically followed the WCF's lead in rule making so as not to disadvantage Team Canada when they compete internationally.

CLICK HERE for a text file extract from the WCF's Rules Of Curling, detailing rules specific to wheelchair curling.

WCF considering rule book changes

Changes to the rules governing World Curling Federation sanctioned wheelchair curling events will be discussed during meetings at the Men's Worlds in Grand Forks ND this week.

The rule that a stone must be touching the centre line at delivery, is likely to be eased to bring the wheelchair game more in line with the angles available to players who use the hack. The counter-argument, as made to me by Norway coach Thoralf Hognestad during the 2008 Worlds, is that wheelchair users unhappy with the present rule should simply move back to the hack to compensate.

The WCF intends its rules to encourage participation by people with as wide a range as possible of disabilities requiring wheelchairs for daily mobility. While remaining sceptical about the utility of a disability points classification system, there's a desire to avoid wheelchair curling becoming the sole province of the heavily muscled. This is why they will prefer to move the rock off the centre line, rather than back from the hogline. It is also why skips are unlikely to be allowed to use brushing in the rings.

There are good arguments for Canada to be flexible in implementing WCF rules in its domestic program, especially as Team Canada exists independent of national competition. The mixed gender team rule, for example, while ensuring participation of women in countries with minimal overall participation, is probably unnecessarily restrictive in Canada where the potential for hundreds of teams certainly exists. It would be a shame to see Canadian development inhibited by an insistence that 25% of participants be female, when eligible males far outnumber eligible females.

Any WCF rule changes will not be implemented until after the 2010 Paralympics.