Power hockey is fast and furious. The sport combines the speed and dynamism of hockey with the power of a motorized wheelchair, matching four-players-against-four in a game of two, 20-minute halves. The wheelchairs are specially made, with two electro-magnets that strike the ball, enabling players to shoot and pass, as well as large metal bumpers covered in dense plastic that protect the players.
First played in Liverpool 25 years ago, power hockey can pit able-bodied people alongside people with disabilities, and the powered wheelchairs are a great leveller: it’s the skill of controlling the wheelchair that makes a great player, and people with wide ranging disabilities can compete on equal terms.
While a player typically maneuvers the wheelchair with a joystick controlled by one hand, people with tetraplegia and neck-down motor skill impairment can also play with techniques including chin control. This level of inclusivity truly embraces the ethos of ‘sport for all’, and today, the game has come a long way since its inception where it was developed to help a little boy join in a standard game of hockey.
Sport for all abilities
“At the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool in 2000, former Paralympian Gerry Kinsella started a hockey club for disabled children,” explains Pete Wyman, Managing Director of Powersports Engineering that makes the specialized wheelchairs for power hockey. “One boy’s disability prevented him from joining in, so Gerry developed a special wheelchair that enabled him to play. Although the design of the chair has changed a lot since then, the principles of the game remain the same.”
Pete himself has been a disability sport development officer for 33 years, and also coaches wheelchair racers for the national team, which included his attendance at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Since 2009, Pete has also worked at the Greenbank Sports Academy, which has a particular focus on disability sport. Greenbank is also a popular venue for power football, which is the longer-running and more well-known counterpart to power hockey, a game now played around the world with over 50 clubs in the UK alone.
Power football uses the same motorized wheelchairs as power hockey but with a different bumper that can be switched dependent on the game, with the power football bumper design being longer and acting like the contact area of the foot. Both sports require a high level of coordination, skills, and physicality.
Powersport Engineering wheelchair development
By 2020, with demand for power-assisted wheelchairs growing at Greenbank Sports Academy, greater organization was required, not only to further the design of the wheelchair and increase manufacturing output, but also to fund the project. As a result, Powersport Engineering was created as a not-for-profit social enterprise. This has enabled Powersport Engineering to design and manufacture wheelchairs for power hockey and power football for use at Greenbank Sports Academy, as well as for wider retail. Such is the success of the social enterprise that it has a growing international market, including Europe and Australia.
Today, the design of the chairs has been refined to the demands of the games while still enabling maximum inclusivity, almost irrespective of the physical limitations of the player. The EPM63 PMDC motor combined with a GB9 gearbox, drive and steer the chair, controlled by a joystick. Through the controller, the motor can drive the wheels forwards and backwards, and a differential system allows the wheelchair to turn.
“The chairs need to be fast, so the motors have to be powerful and responsive,” says Pete. “The maximum speed limit with power football and power hockey is 10km/h, but you’re allowed to get to that speed as quickly as you want. If you’ve not been in a Powersport wheelchair before, you will be shocked at how quickly it can accelerate. 10km/h is safe for everyone, but rapid acceleration gives exhilaration to the game.”
Rapid acceleration and durability
The peak torque requirements of repeated, sudden accelerations meant that the originally specified motors would overheat. The organization worked with several different motor manufacturers before its relationship with the maxon brand Parvalux began in 2015.
