Electric Wheelchair Hockey emerged by accident. In the early seventies a few schools for disabled pupils started giving sports lessons, mainly for severely physically handicapped people. Because of the limited possibilities for the children, (mainly due to restricted muscle power), a game is chosen in which they use a hockey stick and a hockey ball of lighter material. Because of the great similarity with hockey, the same name is used and the word “wheelchair” was added. Later on, the word “electric” was added to indicate that participants make use of an electric wheelchair. This ontogenesis can be seen in all countries where electric wheelchair hockey has developed.
The past shows, this new sport answers the need of many severely disabled people. For example, in December 1978 and 1979 two pilot-tournaments were held in The Netherlands, in 1981 competition starts and on the 26th May 1982, the first national championship ever was organised, in which the best teams of the regions competed. It seems that people with a severe disability can participate for the first time in a team sport. Despite the sceptic attitude of the medical profession (body-exercise could negatively influence the patients’ physical condition) they show that practising this sport stimulates one’s self-esteem and because of that it causes a positive effect to the players. This discussion lead to the fact that Electric Wheelchair Hockey is not used for rehabilitation and nowadays it becomes accepted as a real sport.
Let’s take a step back to the beginning of the international EWH development. It was Germany who organised the first international tournament for club teams (1987). Munich hereby took the first international step and this tournament became a tradition which is continued to this day. After the Munich Animals, Ladenburg (Germany) followed in 1988, after which the Stick Drivers (1989) organised a tournament in Arnhem (the Netherlands). Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands itself took part.
In 1990 the World Games for Disabled took place in Assen (the Netherlands). This event gave EWH the honour to play a demonstration with a national team on an international event. Despite high expectations that this tournament would cause an international breakthrough this was not the case. It is true that on club level one had international contacts (amongst in Brisbane (Australia) 1991, Horsens (Denmark) 1992, Erlangen (Germany) 1993, Munich (Germany) 1987-2001, Ladenburg (Germany) 1988,1990,1993,1999, Tilburg (the Netherlands) 1992, Neubrandenburg (Germany) 1993,1994,1995, and Gallen (Switzerland) 1994) and did the Dutch EWH team play an international match against the national team of Germany (1991), but all these activities hardly caused further international development. More recently, three international tournaments took place in the Netherlands: Tilburg (1997), Leiderdorp (1997) and Eindhoven (2000). In 1998 an EWH Tournament was held for the first time in Italy (Milan). This illustrates that an increasing number of international events took place and still take place.
In 1998 an impulse was given to the international EWH sport. The first World Games for EWH took place in the Netherlands (Utrecht), officially approved by the Dutch National Organisation of Adapted Sports. Ten national teams took part. Finland took the initiative to organise an international meeting during this event. Several agreements were made concerning further international development, but unfortunately nobody fulfilled their pledges. But the good thing was that they initiated the writing of a draft international game rules EWH. Finally a big international PowerHockey tournament for any team was held in Minneapolis (USA) in August 2001 (11 teams from 6 different countries). Both Finland and Germany indicated that they were willing to organise the second World Games for national teams, but because of organisational obstacles such international event has not taken place till 2004.
In 2000 the Dutch Committee International EWH (DCIEWH) was formed. In 2001 the DCIEWH drafted the business plan, which formed the basis for the gathering of five countries in April 2002: the Spanbroek meetings. Here the ICEWH was founded. In 2002 the first Executive Committee was installed. In the passing years, some changes took place (Table 1). The ICEWH Executive Committee manages several subcommittees. The members and the tasks of these subcommittees are presented in Table 2. This table clearly demonstrates the need formore active volunteers.
Between 2002-2005 the ICEWH established several documents, which are the foundation of the international sport. This production is listed in Table 3. As soon as the new ICEWH website is online (www.icewh.org), these documents can be downloaded. Between April 2002 and December 2005, the ICEWH had organised six Sports Assemblies (named as Conferences until 2004) in five different countries. The total number of participating countries in the Sports Assemblies increased from five to ten (Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain and Australia). Those countries were present once or more times and represented by one or two persons at the tim.
In the 2002-2005 period a total of four tournaments have been held. Two Four Countries Tournaments were held (The Netherlands 2002, Belgium 2003), one World Championships (Finland 2004) and one European Championships (Italy 2005). Apart from the events organized under responsibility of the ICEWH, a large amount of international tournaments for club teams were held. PowerHockey Cup in 2004 in Minneapolis, U.S.A.. Zurich (Switzerland) organized two tournaments (2002, 2004). In Germany several tournaments took place between 2002-2005.
Apart from the competition, ICEWH wants to organize so-called Development Events. Here emphasis lies on the education of athletes, trainers/coaches and referees. The initiative for the first Development Event was taken in 2004; the first edition was scheduled for 2006. This investment in the future is especially aimed at countries where EWH is not a widely known sport yet. The ICEWH acknowledges the importance of stimulating and encouraging further growth. For this reason, the ICEWH decided in 2004 that encouraging development should be an important aspect of ICEWH policy. In 2005 the ICEWH published a business plan which outlined the aims and activities to ncourage this development. By organizing so-called Development Events, countries where EWH is not practiced yet or not widely are invited to join with some athletes and trainers/coaches. Both groups then shall receive training and will learn from the experience. Moreover, the contacts with other nationalities function as major motivator to develop the sport in their own countries. Furthermore, Development Events can also be used for education of officials. Apart from the educational aim, participating countries should feel a sense of belonging; feeling part of the international EWH movement. Table 5 provides an overview of worldwide EWH activity.
When the participants go home, follow-up is needed to assist with developing EWH in the various countries. These countries deserve support in:
1. setting up EWH teams
2. setting up EWH tournaments
3. setting up EWH competitions
Countries are able to receive support by means of the ICEWH promotional package, and via IWAS secretariat or Regional Offices. (IWAS Regional Offices are aimed at support of regional activities of IWAS sports. They operate mainly independently, but are in close contact with the IWAS secretariat). This strategy shall result in an increasing number of countries where EWH is practiced, who in turn can contribute to the international development of the sport. Each Development Event should result in an increased number of EWH practicing nations. This increased number is defined as a minimum of three new countries showing EWH activity one year after the Development Event took place.
In 2003 the ICEWH started with sending questionnaires to all NPCs/NOSDs in the world. The objective of this data collection is:
1. to monitor the international development of EWH
2. to provide figures to IWAS and IPC to objectify the status of EWH
3. to be able to provide support that is tailored to that specific country
The last questionnaires were returned in 2005. A few numbers of the 13 countries that practice EWH are shown in Box 1. Although EWH is a mixed sport, more efforts are required to attract females. However, looking at the great proportion of young athletes, EWH shows great potential for the future.
In the original business plan it was planned that EWH would get an official legal body in 2005, the IFEWH. The idea was that an own federation would mean that EWH formed part of the network of the international adapted sports, allowing EWH to present itself on a wide stage. However, in 2004 it became clear that both the ICEWH did not have reached sufficient growth to manage an entire federation without any larger context than this organisation. Moreover, much more emphasis was needed for the development of the ICEWH and EWH. One logical step was to integrate EWH within an already existing infrastructure. After approval from the Sports Assembly in June 2004, the ICEWH contacted the International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS). The contacts between ICEWH and IWAS were really constructive, resulting in a meeting in October 2004 where several agreements were made. In the following months the preparations were made so that in June 2005 the ICEWH and IWAS could sign an agreement of sports committee with provisional status. This was reinforced by the IWAS General Assembly in September 2005.
This all means that the ICEWH functions as a sports committee of IWAS, with IWAS being the legal body. By acting within the network and events of IWAS, the ICEWH is assured to have a stage where EWH can be demonstrated and to receive qualitatively good support. The long term aim is to establish the IFEWH, however, no steps will be taken to do so before the year 2012.
