Opening Eyes

I have been thinking about power soccer a lot lately simply because I think that I am going through withdrawal since we didn't practice last week due to Labor Day and our venue being closed. In the United States, if you watch the elite teams or even the national team, you will notice that every player is using a rear-wheel wheelchair. In fact, if you watch most games, most players will use rear-wheel drive due to the obvious advantages that I've talked about before. However, I was watching a short video clip on YouTube the other day that featured a matchup between Team Canada and Team Denmark from the last World Cup. What struck me about the team from Denmark was that many of their players used front-wheel. I wonder how much of that is circumstantial simply because, like myself, when they bought their chair they were not thinking about power soccer. However, I also wonder how much of that is due to the general state of power soccer in Denmark. For example, when we played New Hampshire, my mid-wheel chair seemed more than adequate to play power soccer competitively. However, when we played Syracuse, it became obvious that rear-wheel was the way to go. So I wonder if that was what happened in Denmark. At home they were able to get by because of less competition, but when they brought it into international competition, I am sure that they realized the benefits like I did.
Photo by @boetter on Flickr