Objective Measurement of Ball-Handling Proficiency in Wheelchair Sports: A Systematic Review.

The included studies were small, with 13 to 65 participants in wheelchair sports and 14 to 120 participants in able-bodied sports, so each study had limited power. Data could not be pooled because study populations, throwing techniques, measurement techniques, and outcome measures differed across studies. Many wheelchair sport studies used existing classification classes as a proxy for impairment severity, but those classes are not evidence-based measures of impairment severity. Several studies grouped classes together to increase group size, which may have widened impairment variation within groups. Throwing, dribbling, and ball pick-up techniques were not always specified, and use of sticky material or gloves was not always reported, so participants may have compensated in ways that changed performance. Participants ranged from recreational athletes training once a week to elite international athletes, and this variation may have obscured differences between groups. Catching was assessed in only one study, and that study had a ceiling effect. Accuracy tests mostly used hit/no-hit or ordinal scoring, so small differences in throws can create large score changes.

The publication fee was paid or refunded by World Wheelchair Rugby. The authors declared no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Do not read this review as showing that a complete ball-handling test battery with established reliability and validity already exists. Only maximal throwing distance had consistently strong reliability and validity, while accuracy, dribbling, and catching evidence was incomplete or inconsistent.