All Ability sport comes to Armagh

ARMAGH based charity Powered By Sport (PBS) has recently launched a brand new all ability sport “Inline Sled Hockey”.

On Thursday, 14th September, they opened their first new club based in Armagh City.

Inline Sled hockey is an adaptation of the Paralympic sport “Ice Sled Hockey” which itself is an adaptation of Ice Hockey.

The charity was founded by Armagh man Stephen Lynch who revealed this is one of the first times the sport has been tried anywhere - using sleds they developed during lockdown with the Canadian company which builds the ice hockey versions of the sleds.

This new sport enables both disabled and able body participants to participate in an exciting team sport side by side.

In Sled Hockey players sit on specially designed sleds that have wheels mounted underneath. These sleds allow players to glide across any sports hall while using two specially designed hockey sticks to propel themselves forward and handle the puck or ball.

The sleds are usable from ages six years and up, with the oldest participant to date being 67. One of the most remarkable aspects of sled hockey is its inclusivity. It is not just fun for able bodied – participants but it welcomes individuals with a wide range of disabilities, including but not limited to spinal cord injuries, amputations, and mobility impairments.

Players compete together on a level playing field, emphasizing skill and teamwork over physical limitations.

All the sleds are adjustable to suit a range of sizes and conditions.

Users of electric wheelchairs can also take part thanks to a specially adapted device.

Speaking to the Gazette Stephen said, “The sport was originally started in 2010 - technically - as it was one person in England doing it, but it never took off.

“Whenever we formed our charity and wanted to grow it we bought some of the sleds and we quickly realised why it hadn’t taken off, because there had been no real thought put in to how the sleds worked.

“The ice version is a Paralympic sport and they had taken the Paralympic chairs and put wheels on them but hadn’t put any thought into it, but that didn’t work because you have friction and weight transfer, it was far too difficult to use.

“We’ve literally spent eight years trying to find a way to have the sleds working better , a lot of that was trying to find a company to do research and development on it. We eventually got that with a company in Canada who specialise in the actual ice version and they worked with us during lockdown and we now have the sleds working really, really well in terms of their functionality.

“Are we pioneering the sport? I think we are as it doesn’t exist anywhere. Someone has done it once before but hasn’t done it for 12 years.

“This is something that’s very unique.

“It’s all ability, that’s the big thing. We’ve done a lot of worskhops over the past year.”

The sleds are adaptable to various disabilities.

He pointed to a visit to Monaghan where they had a young girl playing, “Her mum came up to watch that and she was in tears because she said it was the first time her child had ever been able to do anything in school.

“We’ve had a father who was in tears because it was the first time he was ever able to play sport with his son, who is in a wheelchair. They were at the same level playing together.”

Stephen added, “Our charity is all about using sport to develop communities and improve lifestyles.

“Our core when we started up was in roller sports, roller hockey, this was a branch on we wanted to do. We think it has the potential to grow into one of the most popular wheelchair sports in the country because it’s scalable.”

Explaining that point he said a wheelchair basketball chair costs between £3,000 to £5,000 while one of their sleds costs £600, making setting up a club a lot less costly.

He said the charity was working with the Department for Communities, Disability Sport NI and local councils to spread this out, “Our plan is to open three hubs in the first year.”

Living in Armagh, the city was a natural choice (with The Rink in Portadown their social enterprise).

The Armagh club will be the test bed and he expressed his gratitude to Armagh Harps for providing the facility - with the charity finding it difficult to find sport halls in the city suitable for the new sport.

The charity has a wholly cross-community ethos, Stephen said and everyone is welcome to come and try it out.

PBS has invested in 30 sleds to kick start this new sport and plan to open three clubs across Northern Ireland over the next 12 months.

The first club is located in Armagh City at the large indoor Armagh Harps Sports Hall. Club sessions are every Thursday night 7pm – 8pm and PBS is actively looking for participants of all ages and abilities to make contact with them and come and give the sport a try.

More information can be found on the charity’s website www.poweredbysport.org or by calling Stephen on 07779 297 414.