Intellectual or physical disability is not an obstacle to the practice of sports, quite the opposite. It has really been defined that this practice is especially beneficial for the personal and professional well-being of these athletes. In this case we refer to Karate.
Thanks to the REINDIBE project, elite athletes, including champions of Spain, Europe and the world in para-karate, have been developing skills and competencies that have substantially exceeded initial expectations.
In 2021, was created the International Research Network for Inclusive Sport and Wellbeing (REINDIBE), a scientific project financed by the Higher Sports Council (CSD), whose main objective was to measure the well-being of elite athletes and para-karate coaches of the Madrid Karate Federation (FMK). In this network, coordinated from the Autonomous University of Madrid participated a total of 28 investigators from 8 Spanish universities and 3 Ibero-American universities.
ELITE RESEARCHERS FOR ELITE ATHLETES
In the REINDIBE project, whose responsible researchers were Dr. Mónica Gómez Suárez (Autonomous University of Madrid) and Dr. Pedro Cuesta Valiño (University of Alcalá and 7th Dan of Karate), the para-karate athletes of the FMK were evaluated through evaluation models based on algorithms with the aim of developing improvement actions through the practice of this sport.
Given its success, in 2022, the Higher Sports Council gave continuity to the project as REINDIBE-2, coordinated this time from the University of Alcalá and expanding the research to the rest of Spain and with the collaboration of the Royal Spanish Karate Federation (RFEK). It is expected to reach intercontinental coverage in the coming year.
To carry out these measurements, has been used the exclusive algorithm technology the DNAe® of the Spanish company Jacobson, which simulates the neuromodulatory model of people evaluated through a simple test of 29 brief statements: The psychogenic test of Azulay Bernstein. This test is also applied to coaches, contrasting their results with those obtained by athletes to know precisely their affinities and thus reduce or eliminate risks in their relationship, communication and personal and professional evolution.
In fact, the results of the athletes confirm an increase of 3.81% in organization and peripheral mentality, also appreciating an increase of 6.48% and 7.44% in collaborative activity and in the breadth of learning, respectively. Likewise, has been evidenced a reduction of 3.12% in rebellion and reactivity.
Both groups, athletes and coaches, are identified with an alphanumeric code, thus avoiding prior knowledge of intellectual and / or physical disability, gender, age, etc … not only to ensure the protection of your data but also to eliminate biases or prejudices in the sequencing, obtaining and interpretation of results.
DIVERSITY AND/OR DISABILITY? LIMITATIONS TO OVERCOME!
The truth is that psychogenic factors are decisive to guarantee the progression of elite athletes, but it is even more when it comes to people with intellectual and / or physical disabilities. For example, how does a person with Down syndrome assimilate being in the elite of karate? Which mental conditions must a blind athlete has to possess to be awarded with the gold medal in the World Championship?
It is clear that we are not referring to sick or weak people, but to athletes whose disability forces them to be even stronger, thus assuming an exceptional level of self-demand.
Broadly speaking, their training is based on obtaining excellence in synchronization, concentration, strength and precision. Also, they study and / or work enjoying the autonomy, independence, security and enjoyment offered by sports.
But really, the fundamental objective is that they are happy people… Something within their reach, when they are accompanied to reach it. Summarizing, sport, academic research and algorithms have created a perfect partnership.
