Classification

Classification provides the framework for fair and meaningful competition in powerchair hockey. It assesses how an athlete’s eligible impairment affects the fundamental activities required to play the sport, ensuring that success is determined by skill, tactics and teamwork rather than the degree of impairment.

Ensuring Fair Competition

Classification is a sport-specific process that evaluates the impact of an athlete’s eligible impairment on their ability to perform the key activities of powerchair hockey.

Rather than assessing medical diagnosis alone, classification focuses on functional ability in the sport. This allows athletes with different impairments to compete together while maintaining fair and meaningful competition.

The aim is to minimise the impact of impairment on competition so that sporting excellence determines the outcome.

Classification assessment of Jayden Chaban

Purpose

The classification system is designed to:

Provide fair and meaningful competition
Dermine athlete eligibility
Assess the impact of impairment on sport performance
Ensure success is determined by skill, strategy and teamwork

Each athlete is assigned a Sport Class that reflects how their impairment affects performance in powerchair hockey.

Process

Classification is conducted by trained and licensed classifiers.

The classification process includes:

Review of medical documentation (Underlying Health Condition Assessment)
Physical assessment
Technical assessment
Observation during gameplay

Classifiers assess the impact of an athlete's eligible impairment on the fundamental activities of powerchair hockey to assign the appropriate Sport Class.

Physical and Technical Assessment

Classifiers assess the athlete's physical function and sport-specific skills, including powerchair manoeuvring, stick or T-stick control, passing, shooting and defending. The athlete's performance is then observed during competition to confirm that the assessment reflects on-court performance.

Team Point System

The 12-point system encourages teams to build balanced line-ups that include players with a variety of functional profiles.

This creates opportunities for athletes with different functional abilities to compete together while ensuring that success is determined by skill, tactics and teamwork.

Inclusive Competition

Classification enables athletes with a wide range of eligible impairments to compete together in powerchair hockey.

Through the 12-point team system, teams include players with a variety of functional profiles, creating a balanced and inclusive competition where success is determined by skill, tactics and teamwork—not by the degree of impairment.