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Transcript/Script
POWER WHEELCHAIR HOCKEY
HEADLINE: Volt Hockey Reinvents Game for Power Wheelchair Users
TEASER: One of the few sports for motorized players, volt hockey lets them experience the rush of competition
PUBLISHED AT: (7/6/23 & 5:07p)
BYLINE: Tina Trinh
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Boston
VIDEOGRAPHER: Tina Trinh
VIDEO EDITOR: Tina Trinh
SCRIPT EDITORS: Stearns, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 2:49
VID APPROVED BY:
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[Whether played on a field or ice, hockey is an intense and physically demanding sport. In Boston, players in power wheelchairs have taken up the challenge. VOA’s Tina Trinh went to a match.]]
((NARRATOR))
The objective is simple – get the ball in the net.
. . . but it's not as easy as it looks.
((Marley Robinson, Volt Hockey Player))
“It’s tricky, I mean the ball can get away from you in a second.”
Marley Robinson is talking about volt hockey, a relatively new sport in the U.S.
[[FOR RADIO: Dylan Hogan is a graduate student and coach of the Boston Whiplash, a local volt hockey team.]]
((Dylan Hogan, Volt Hockey Coach))
“Volt hockey is an exciting 3-V-3 power wheelchair adaptive sport for people with physical disabilities. And it is played on a gym floor, has a rink around the outside.
And it's pretty much a mix of ice hockey, floor hockey and field hockey.”
((NARRATOR))
The non-profit Boston Self Help Center organized this session, where players use a specially designed motorized chair that’s low to the ground and controlled by a joystick. A plastic paddle for passing and driving balls is attached to the front.
[[FOR RADIO: Robinson says it’s super fun.]]
((Marley Robinson, Volt Hockey Player))
“It’s such a good way to get energy out of your system and just play something physical.
[[FOR RADIO: Desi Forte (“DEH-zee FOR-dee”) has been playing for a little over a year.]]
((Desi Forte, Volt Hockey Player))
“It’s been a lot of fun to get back into playing sports. There’s not a lot of opportunities for power wheelchair users.”
((NARRATOR))
That’s especially true for adults, says Lorna Hayward, who researches the benefits of adaptive sports.
((Lorna Hayward, Northeastern University Professor))
“Once you become adult and you've either aged out of the system for kids, with your parents taking care of you, and you're living as an independent adult, there are very few opportunities to participate in adaptive sports unless you're at a higher level and you do the Pan American Games or some of the adaptive sports Olympic-level games.”
((NARRATOR))
Robinson has spinal muscular atrophy, a form of muscular dystrophy.
((Marley Robinson, Volt Hockey Player))
“That’s why volt hockey is such a great sport for me, because it doesn’t require any upper body strength really. You just need to be able to control a joystick.”
((NARRATOR))
Before volt hockey, Desi Forte (“DEH-zee FOR-dee”) hadn’t competed in a sport since middle school. For her, the game fulfills a certain need for speed.
((Desi Forte, Volt Hockey Player))
“My power chair goes a maximum of 6 miles an hour, which is fast, but these chairs go 9 miles an hour, which is even faster, and they maneuver so quickly, and so it’s really freeing to be able to be on the court.”
((NARRATOR))
For players, it’s a chance not only to get in the game but to build community, says coach Dylan Hogan.
((Dylan Hogan, Volt Hockey Coach))
“What it provides is something that doesn't exist in a lot of places, and it opens up new spaces for players with disabilities to hang out with people like them . . . people who are similarly left out in a lot of those common spaces.”
[[FOR RADIO: 13-year-old player Vivienne Liedtke (“LEED-kuh”) likes the competition.]]
((Vivienne Liedtke, Volt Hockey Player))
“I love volt hockey because it’s the only activity that I can do that doesn’t have to be modified to fit my needs — like gym class at school, they have to change the rules . . . here, anyone with any disability could play.”
((NARRATOR))
Leveling the playing field in more ways than one.
((Tina Trinh, VOA News, Boston))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Boston
Embargo DateJuly 6, 2023 16:08 EDT
Byline
Tina Trinh, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
