Stakeholders` Perspectives on Reverse Integration in Wheelchair Basketball

Wheelchair basketball is an attractive and popular team sport activity within the Paralympic program. It is played on the same court with generally similar rules as basketball. The major modification is the classification system enabling a range of participants with mild (4.5 points) to significant impairments (1 point) to contribute to the team composition and performance, based on a rule of a maximal total number of points on court. The functional capability of a classifiable wheelchair player with a mild impairment should not differ from that of an able-bodied player who has gained experience in wheelchair use and wheelchair basketball techniques and tactics. Due to various reasons able-bodied individuals have participated in wheelchair basketball for at least the last 30 years, under the label ‘reverse integration’ (RI), and their contribution to the game`s development has been discussed among scholars and decision-makers in different countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, UK and Israel. In Spain the RI topic has been discussed during recent years and several pilot activities have been performed to address the possibility of implementing this practice in the national league system. The current study reports the perceptions of Spanish decision makers and stakeholders – wheelchair basketball players, coaches, club managers and referees, about the RI of players without disabilities in wheelchair basketball and how they might contribute to the growth of this field of sport. Based on preliminary discourse, a questionnaire was prepared comprised of 11 questions regarding the potential benefits of implementing RI in the Spanish context and five questions regarding potential precautions while implementing RI (i.e. players without disability would play only half-time and/or only in the second national division). Forty-nine decision makers were surveyed in Spain, all of them active in the wheelchair basketball framework. The results indicated that in all questions regarding benefits, over 50% of participants were in agreement or completely in agreement with the benefits. Regarding precautions, over 50% were in favor of assigning able-bodied participants in a 5-point class, having a maximum of two players in total and one on court. Only 20-22% were in agreement or completely in agreement with limiting the participation time or the playing division of these players. In conclusion, it can be suggested that Spanish stake-holders generally favor RI implementation in Spain, with minor limitations on the participation of the able-bodied players. The implications of the survey outcomes are discussed.