Abstract
This paper reports the findings of a preliminary study that intended to understand how wheelchair rugby athletes feel about the clothing they wear while playing the sport and how the available clothes make them feel. 61 non-professional wheelchair rugby players from 21 different teams/clubs in the United Kingdom participated in this study. To understand the players’ opinions, this study consisted of a mixed-method approach, with data collected through a focus group and a questionnaire. The results show that, on top of the lack of availability of sports-wear for this specific sport, which compromises the athletes’ satisfaction, comfort and performance, there is also a need on the part of the athletes for this type of specialized equipment. This study showed that there is a need for this type of sports-wear, hence the importance to act and develop more specialized garments to satisfy this population not just in terms of safety, comfort and performance but also in terms of inclusivity.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the commitment of the participants of this study. This study had the financial support of FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia of Portugal under the projects UID/CEC/00319/2013 and UID/CTM/000264; and FEDER funds through the Competitive Factors Operational Program (COMPETE) POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136
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Braganca, S., Steele, J., Gill, S., Carvalho, M., Arezes, P. (2018). Sports-Wear in Wheelchair Rugby: Establishing Design Needs. In: Di Bucchianico, G., Kercher, P. (eds) Advances in Design for Inclusion. AHFE 2017. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 587. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60597-5_36
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60597-5_36
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