Returning to powerchair football: Chris’s experience
Emerging from a Football Hibernation
By Chris · Originally published 17 March 2021
Original article
Chris is a 30 year old Sydneysider, a sports tragic and an avid Sydney Swans fan. Chris has played wheelchair sports from a young age, including rugby league, hockey and football. He is especially passionate about the sport of powerchair football, having represented both New South Wales and Australia while also sitting on boards for the sport at state and national level.
2020 was a strange year for so many reasons, and we are still yet to fully emerge from the changes faced in a COVID world. For me, one of the unique changes was an absence of powerchair sports. I have been participating in various powerchair sports since I got my first powerchair when I was 9, and in the 21 years since, this was the first time sport was absent for me.
While technology brought us closer together yet still kept us apart, our work and social lives changed in an instant and we had to find new ways to adapt to this new environment. For the disability community, adapting to challenges is something we live and breathe, but this new challenge has been a scary one. Living with Muscular Dystrophy has meant not leaving my home for much of the last 12 months except for essentials, an experience many of my closest friends and the wider disability community have become quite familiar with of late.
But the absence of powerchair football cut one of the more important facets of my life from me and separated me from the majority of my social network, at least in person. Powerchair football (a modified version of soccer for powerchair users) is my passion. Working together within a team environment to achieve a common goal, responding to challenges and working through them are some of the things I’ve missed most. This is something the medical fraternity have been doing recently, from the frontline workers to the immunologists working on vaccines.
Some of the rhetoric our leaders have given us, about banding together as a team and working with each other to fight an invisible enemy, reminds me of what is said within a football team. Like on the sporting field, everyone has a role to play and a game plan to stick to if we want to achieve that eventual victory. We’ve seen Victoria and Brisbane and Sydney and Perth all fight through their own skirmishes, following the game plan of short, sharp lockdowns, masks and doing their bit for everyone else. The hotel quarantine system, while tough for those faced with it also appears to be working, even despite some hiccups. It now feels like the final whistle is approaching, but it’s those few moments before the full time whistle that will determine the outcome of this battle. Hopefully the vaccines are the X-factor that kicks the winning goal.
The last major powerchair football action took place in January 2020 at the last Australian Club Championships, right before our world changed, at least for a little while. Some players even came from overseas, so it was lucky that they made it back home before borders closed and quarantine measures kicked in. That tournament was a gritty grind for my team, scratching and scraping through more than our share of tight encounters all the way to the final, unbeaten in what would be a swansong for the Central Coast Mariners. Surviving a shoot-out in the semi-finals to a dogged Perth Glory, we ran out of gas at the final hurdle as the similarly undefeated Newcastle Jets overwhelmed us for a well-earned championship victory.
With that being our last competitive action, save for a few weeks in October for scrimmages here in Sydney, the prospect of returning to action was an enticing one. Just the thought of more football, and some normality, made me more excited for the future than I had been for months. Even before hitting the court for the first time in 2021, I knew there would be a hurricane of butterflies in my stomach once more. Having moved across to a new team this year in Hills United, these nerves were only multiplied. But the sheer relief of doing some training once more, of hitting the ball, of flying through a slalom course at warp-speed and enjoying being a part of a team again … it was almost as if the last 12 months was only a distant memory.
I was right about the butterflies, my heart pounding in my chest before the opening whistle of the 2021 NSW Powerchair Football season, but having a few weeks of training under my belt meant that we put our game plan into action. Playing on a new team, finding myself playing in a different role, with new team mates was the challenge I wanted to face, not the one we all found ourselves in for 2020. This new start has reminded me that, yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and a new and amazing season will kick-off for all of us at some point. I hope that same joy can be felt by our friends overseas soon. Dig deep, guys!
Clickability editorial update: October 2026
Plan the return you want, including the details around the game
Ask a club about current sessions, equipment, facilities and introductory options. You may want a gradual return, a different role or more time to decide. Talk through transport, personal assistance and what happens if you need to leave early. Chris’s excitement does not mean you should ignore concerns about access or health.
Keep ordinary sport costs separate from proposed disability-related support. Current NDIS support information is relevant when checking funding. Confirm the practical arrangements with the people involved rather than relying on the historical team details in this account.
Support the person’s pace without making attendance the goal
Ask what assistance would help and whether the person wants you involved in contacting the club. Check where family support is realistic and where another arrangement is needed. Returning once, changing an activity or choosing not to play can all be useful decisions. Leave room to review the plan after the person has tried it.
Questions readers ask
Are the article’s restrictions and team arrangements current?
No. Confirm current information directly with the relevant organisation.
Find assistance for your return to community activities
Tell Clickability what support would help you attend sport or another activity. Compare providers and agree practical duties before starting.