Tchoukball Adaptations

Tchoukball is becoming more popular as a school sport due to the high intensity nature of the sport and the reduced number of injuries due the non-contact nature of the game.

Like all information on this website it is important to understand that these are just possible adaptations and for further information please contact your advisory teacher or Andrew Whisson (PE teacher at the SA School for Vision Impaired).

Potential Rule Changes

Enforcing the players to call out to their intended target with a pass also means that all players are expecting to receive the ball and can turn and square off to their peers before the ball is passed to them.

It could also be possible to increase the 3 second rule for students so they are able to ask for students to call "Voi" or "Here" so the student or athlete with vision impairment can aim their throw to rebound away from their opposition.

While mainstream tchoukball forces the teams to keep the ball off of the ground, to force inclusivity into the game allows the ball to bounce once or twice forces the ball to make sound and therefore be able to be tracked by students with vision impairment. Similarly, enforcing students to throw bounce passes acts to reduce the fear that the ball will hit them without warning. The bounce pass enforces the ball to always be travelling in the same direction (up towards the athlete) and then allows them to prepare for a more predictable movement and pass from their peers. The bounce pass also forces the ball to make sound before reaching the student or athlete with vision impairment. While these rules are out with the mainstream Tchoukball rules, the game was originally invented to encourage all people to be involved in sport, so it is within the ideals of the game.

Equipment

Depending on the individual students the equipment will differ greatly. Like most sports the choice of ball is important, while a student's low vision may require high contrasting equipment to their environment (see PE adaptations pages), those with no functional vision just require a ball and surface that is predictable in the bounce. There are no audible tchoukballs made, however, it is possible to use a small chime ball or blind soccer ball to ensure the ball is audible in nature. These balls will only make noise when bounced so enforcing the above rules may also help.

The image shows two different sized orange chime balls sitting on asphalt

Chime balls are available in a few sizes. Above shows the difference between the two most common sizes.

The image shows a blind soccer ball sitting on grass.

Blind Soccer balls are great audible balls, however, are much harder than the chime balls.

Drop down lines to mark the court may be necessary to ensure a high contrast to the floor and even act as a tactile reminder of the student or athlete's position on court. Similarly, the use of tactile lines with a high contrast tape could support students or athletes with vision impairment orientate and correct their position on court (see PE adaptations pages for how these can be created).

The image shows 5 cones sitting on grass. One white, one yellow, one red, one blue and one green. This high lights the importance of colour contrast to the grass.

Selecting the correct colour of cone to ensure high contrast to the environment and surface is important.

The image shows four yellow drop down lines on a dark surface, two straight and two corner lines.

Use of drop down lines can be a simple and effective way to ensure the field lines are marked clearly with a tactile element.

Image shows a hand touching a black tactile line taped to a wooden gym floor.

Tactile lines are useful to support students or athletes orientate themselves on court.

Audible markers for the rebound nets are also useful, this allows athletes to orientate themselves while playing. An audible marker in tchoukball can be simple buzzers (see below) or a volunteer, coach or teacher behind the goal clapping or tapping the rebound net with a relay baton or tapping two relay batons together.

A buzzer or beeper allows the teacher/coach to walk away from the rebound net to support the play and is a constant audible orientation tool for the student or athlete with vision impairment. The downside is the buzzer or beeper does not move as the athlete does to always give the centre of the goal and unless the correct beep or buzz is produced it can bounce off of hard surfaces or not give a clear positional reference.

Clapping or using batons allows the sound to rotate around the rebound net to give the correct shooting angle to the athlete or student as they move laterally on field. Simultaneously the coach, teacher or volunteer behind the goal can give short instructions like "throw now" or "defender to the left" so the student has more confidence in their attack. This method also allows the parameters of the net to be tapped to give a clear representation of where the ball can be thrown to attack the rebound net. This method does, however, take personnel to work and in many cases this is not possible all the time.

Depending on the court size it maybe important to have two different buzzers or beepers available to mark the two different rebound nets.

Hands clapping as an audible marker

Image shows two batons, one red and one yellow, tapping together

Batons tapping as an audible marker

The photo shows a black pouch with a grey buzzer attached to a red and black wire travelling into the pouch and then travelling out the top to a battery snap with a batter attached.

A simple buzzer can be used as an audible marker

How can all students be involved?

By ensuring the adaptations above, the lesson, unit or training will automatically become more inclusive and encourage all students or athletes to be involved. However, further rule changes could also encourage inclusive practice. They could be as simple as all students must touch the ball (instead of the three throw rule) before it can be thrown at the rebound net. This forces all students to turn to their team members or peers and support their involvement in the game.

More information

For more information, contact your advisory teacher or Andrew Whisson (PE Teacher at the SA School for Vision Impaired).