Para-Badminton: Physical Fitness Related to the Brazilians Wheelchair Players’ Performance

Abstract

Para-Badminton (PBd) has adaptations in its rules and in its playing space according to the sporting class, maintaining the essence of the official game. This research presents an exploratory study with a quantitative design whose objective is to evaluate, through adapted tests, the physical fitness related to performance in Brazilian PBd players. Five athletes with physical disabilities, wheelchair users, male, aged between 18 and 46 years were evaluated. For data collection, three adapted tests were used, being: the modified zigzag to evaluate agility; the 40 meters wheelchair race to evaluate speed and, the medicine ball pitch to evaluate lower limb power. The average results obtained in the variables: a) agility was 15.6 seconds; b) speed was 8.6 seconds; and, c) upper limbs power was 6.2 meters. It can be concluded that the PBd players, in their majority, had better scores than the studies of athletes of Paralympic athletics, basketball and wheelchair handball. PBd players need these well-developed skills due to the specifics of the game (reduced playing area, fast sport, large displacement volume and shots in the shuttle).Thus, the results presented here can assist for the prescription and elaboration of training programs for athletes of this sport, as well as for studies that intend to verify the physical fitness directed to the performance of PBd athletes.