Nordic Classification Conference held

On 3 and 4 December 2016, Parasport Denmark hosted the Nordic Classification Conference.

The NordHIF co-operation for the Nordic NPCs organises a classification conference every third year and the participating nations in December were Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

On Saturday 3 December the programme included discussions of national and international classification topics and strategies. The IPC’s classification co-ordinator Tea Cisic gave a presentation of the latest news from the IPC classification field. Cisic participated in both days of the conference, gave an IPC point of view and brought back comments and questions for the IPC.

Wheelchair rugby and Para cycling classifier Zenta Frerks also gave an interesting presentation of her pathway as a classifier and the challenges in being the only national classifier in a sport. Frerks’s pathway is a little unusual as she is an occupational therapist, whereas most classifiers are physiotherapists or doctors.

Focus on Research

Sunday’s programme focused on research. From the Centre for Research in Adapted Physical Activity Camilla Marie Larsen gave a presentation of her research within “Shoulder pain, activity level and quality of life among manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury”. Her presentation was followed by an interesting discussion of research within classification, and there were many interesting topics of that conversation.