Today, we welcome Nicolas Valentim. Nicolas has been playing wheelchair rugby in the ASM sports club since 2012. He joined the French team in 2017 and participated to the paralympic games in Tokyo in 2022. Here, he gives his opinion on the KidMoovin’ and the Freemoovin’, the sport wheelchairs created by Playmoovin’.
How did you learn about the Playmoovin’ wheelchair?
I am a sport educator in an association called Handischool in the Puy-de-Dôme département.
This association organises more than a hundred awareness activities per year. On these occasions, I go to schools, companies, but also in prisons to raise awareness of disabilities specifically for sports.
It is in that context that I met Playmoovin’s managers and that I started to use sport wheelchairs during my activities.
How do awareness activities with sport wheelchairs unfold?
Let’s take the example of an animation in a school. The idea here is to bring the sport wheelchair in schools to let children try parasport practice.
We either do a cycle with several sessions or just one session in one day. Generally, I teach several classes in a shorter time span.
I split the students in 3 groups composed of 8 students each. Each of the teams goes on the court twice for 10 minutes of playtime.
In one or two hours, I show them several exercises to help them familiarise themselves with the wheelchair. Then we do simple games with balls and I adapt the pass length depending on the people playing. The important thing for them is to practice well, and they do it nicely!
What do you think of this multisport wheelchair?
Both the KidsMoovin’ and the Freemoovin’ (the wheelchair adapted to adults) are very easy to handle. Moreover, they are aesthetically pleasing and because of that, everyone wants to try them.
Sometimes, some children do not dare to go on the wheelchair in the beginning but it does not last for very long! The nice colours and the ergonomic design of the wheelchair make people want to get on it. Plus, they are very easy to use and compared to a competition wheelchair, they are very easy to handle and far less cumbersome.
Children and adults alike can move quickly with it and they get into the game without any problem. In the case of a child having limited mobility, the KidsMoovin’ is an awesome solution to allow him to play a sport on the same page as other children.
Lastly regarding transport, they are as easy to store as they are to unload.
What are the kids’ thoughts on the KidsMoovin’
They love it! They do not want to stop. Some are even asking where they can get a licence to play competitively with us. However, it is important to know that able-bodied cannot join a wheelchair rugby club.
Our sport wheelchair is available for sale or rent to put in place your disability awareness actions. You want to know more? So get in touch with us!
