Goalkeeper Scores with New Foot Guard

By Lateef McLeod

For most people, five months is a short time but for Kendra Scalia it was all she needed to reach the United States Power Soccer Association (USPSA) National Championship Tournament.  As starting goalie for the Berkeley Bay Cruisers, Kendra helped her team reach the quarter finals this June in Fishers, Indiana.

While a newcomer to the sport — she has been playing power soccer for only five months — Kendra is already an impressive goalkeeper. Her skills in playing power soccer have improved rapidly especially since she found a new metal pipe foot guard that wraps around her chair. 

Power Soccer is a sport played by athletes in electric powered wheelchairs. It is played on a basketball court with two teams with four players on each team. Although power soccer has been played in the United States for over twenty years, the USPSA was founded just over a year ago to help develop more teams in the United States and encourage and support international competition.  The USPSA has recently formed a national team that will compete in the first ever power soccer World Cup happening this year in Japan.  One of their main goals is to make sure as many people in electric powered wheelchairs know about the sport as possible. 

Besides the athlete’s chair and the ball, the foot guard is the main piece of equipment a player needs to play power soccer.  The foot guard’s main purpose is to help the player move the ball down the court either by pushing it or kicking it, which happen whenever a player side swipes the ball.  The foot guard also protects the player and her chair if it happens to get hit by another chair. 

Kendra first foot guard was made out of Plexiglas and it allowed her to play the sport the first time she showed up for practice.  The disadvantages of this first guard, however, were that it was flimsy and would bend out of proportion when hit.  Also, Kendra couldn’t kick the ball as far as she wanted with the Plexiglas guard because it would bend when hitting the ball and absorb much of the force that would have sent the ball forward.

Kendra’s new foot guard is made out of metal pipes, which are much sturdier than her old one. Some advantages that she finds with the new guard are that it curves in around the frame of her foot guard instead of having the sharp corners of her old one which limited her ability to move the ball.  As metal, it also does not bend as much and doesn’t have to be bent back into its original shape whenever Kendra’s wheelchair takes a hit.  With the new foot guard, Kendra moves the ball around more accurately and can kick it farther down the court.  Because of its increased durability, Kendra found that with her new foot guard she could stay in the game for longer periods of time. It also enabled her to improve her skills as a player.

Kendra’s new foot guard was made by both her husband Joe, and her coach’s wife, Robin. They designed, cut and bent the metal pipes in the shape of a foot guard. Then another friend helped out by welding the metal pipes together to form the shape of the guard.  After the guard was built, Kendra then went to San Jose to meet up with Robert Book, a technician who made brackets that would secure the foot guard to her chair.  Because no two chairs are alike each set of brackets need to be customized. Altogether, it took a full two days to make Kendra’s guard, an effort she appreciates with each match as she continues improving her power soccer skills.

Power soccer has now become part of Kendra’s life. It has brought her the experience of playing a sport and has taught her the value of team work. The Berkeley Bay Cruisers is a soccer team made up mostly of women and for Kendra it was a powerful personal experience to see all the other women competing at this summer’s USPSA Nationals. Kendra plans to continue playing power soccer next season and looks forward to improving her game even more, all with a little help from her new foot guard.

The AT Network is dedicated to protecting the rights of our consumers and allowing them to remain independent in the community. If you have a question, concern, or a story to share with us then please don't hesitate to contact us:

Toll-Free: 800-390-2699
TTY: 800-900-0706
E-mail: info@atnet.org