As an American society we continue to like our sports bigger, faster, and stronger. With new software and technology advancements coming through the market each day, a sprinkle of analytics never hurt anyone. Sports enjoy tremendous popularity but more important they are vehicles for transmitting such values as justice, fair play, and teamwork. Sports have contributed to racial and social integration and over history have been a “social glue” bonding the country together.
People of all ages and abilities are promoting fitness through sports and games around the world. The extraordinary stories behind Sports and Social Change athletes will continue to grow as the Olympics come around. We will soon come out to value the possibilities of adaptive sports. You guys are probably wondering what adaptive sports are? It is basically any sport where the rules and/or equipment have been adapted to accommodate people with physical differences or impairments. For example, most common is the wide spectrum of Paralympic sports – Wheelchair Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, 5-a-side Soccer for the Blind/Visually Impaired to name a few. Well let me inform you that adaptive sports create a really unique intersection of technology and athletic performance. As advancements in developing prosthetics continues technology can provide a big breakthrough in making adaptive sports equipment less expensive and more accessible.
The skill level of these athletes, the strategy, competitive spirit, drive and passion are no different than watching “able bodied” sports. Ezra Frech holds proof with a prosthetic leg, as he holds 9 national Track and Field records and is a spot on shooter when it comes to playing hoops. As the Paralympics Summer Games in Rio roll around, you will see NBC Sports expanded coverage on adaptive sports become part of the general sports conversation. Society will start to see that people with physical impairments are no different than anyone else.
With continued technological advancements and new software constantly coming to market,
liability issues will be thorny. A powerful corporate lobbying force may pose a new challenge for personal injury lawyers, who are already wary of the technology, while some safety researchers and accident lawyers worry that the lobbying group could unfairly protect tech companies and app makers over their human car owners.