Developing para-hockey for athletes with intellectual disabilities: Barriers and facilitators

Purpose: Identify the challenges and opportunities to develop Para-hockey for participants with intellectual disabilities (ID), and to make recommendations about next steps.

Methodology: Interviews with stakeholders known to be engaged in, and advocating for, ID para-hockey classification, representing Pakistan, New Zealand, the UK, Belgium, Portugal, Argentina and Chile.

Findings and practical implications: There is support and commitment for the development of ID Para-hockey. A collaboration plan should be developed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to a) ensure key stakeholders are aware of FIH’s commitment to this endeavour; b) link with other stakeholders who have an interest in developing ID sport; c) learn about good practice in other sports, d) identify a series of steps to progress a developmental plan. We also see evidence for the need to audit current ID Para-hockey activity internationally.

Research Contribution: This is the first study directly addressing the development of ID Para-hockey. ID Para-hockey is at the start of this developmental journey, and little is known about stakeholder perspectives on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Originality/Value: It is important, at the outset, to be able to identify what capacities for development exist, and then to consider how these may be built upon.