Understanding barriers and enablers towards physical activity is an essential first step to developing interventions and increasing activity levels of people with intellectual disabilities. Virtus Academy manager Dr. Debbie Van Biesen along with her team of researchers recently published a paper where they investigated the correlates of physical activity in people with intellectual disability.

“I and my colleagues performed a review of all existing literature and identified that the three most consistent correlates of physical activity were age, the presence of more severe ID and the presence of physical mobility problems,” said Dr Debbie.

A total of 83 PA correlates were identified, retrieved from 39 studies with a total involvement of 26,456 participants with ID.  A correlation was considered consistent if it was reported in four or more studies.

“Despite the abundance of evidence of the PA benefits for people with ID, we only found consistent evidence for three correlates reliably being related to PA in adults with ID. More research, particularly among young and older people is urgently needed.” Dr. Debbie added. 

As more severe intellectual disability and the presence of physical health problems were found to be important barriers to being active in adults with intellectual disability, this study is supporting the II-2 class (athletes with an intellectual disability and significant additional impairment) development within Virtus Sports Competitions.

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It is well known that intellectual impairment affects people differently. For some people, it means they might struggle to remember things, but for others it can be a very different experience.

Tennis player Andriana Petrakis from Australia is one such person who is blessed with an amazing memory which, with her autism, helps her remember even the smallest details.

“She remembers peoples’ names, people’s birthdays with the exact year, and registration numbers of cars, she is very good at navigation too,” said Andriana’s mother.

While Andriana’s memory retention is a gift, it can put a lot of pressure on the athlete.

“There is information everywhere around us. And because Andriana can remember things very easily, her brain gets overwhelmed from time to time with all the information she acquires from her surroundings. We started hiding magazines and newspapers from her and also limited her television time so that she doesn’t get exposed to too much information” says her mother.

Andriana was diagnosed with autism when she was twenty-two months old. This is a condition which means that people might see the world around us differently, might find it harder to communicate and find loud noise and light overwhelming. Her parents practised having eye contact with her as she was not looking at them while talking. She did a lot of occupational therapy and speech therapies. Andriana’s younger sister played tennis, which motivated her to give it a try the sport and soon fell in love with the sport. Later, she started playing tennis as an alternative to her occupational therapy.

“There was not much help twenty years ago for children with Autism. We talked to many different people looking for help, took Andriana for early interventions, etc. She didn’t start talking until she was five and a half or six years; her first word was ‘bubble’” said Andriana’s mother.

“Andriana had her routine since she was a child, and it took us a while to adjust to her schedule but afterwards it was very easy for us to take care of Andriana than my other two children. She was always very positive, she keeps the family grounded.”

Talking about her positivity, Andriana’s mother told Virtus how she never gets disappointed even if she loses a match and feels proud of herself for playing well and never cries.

Andriana is also a tennis/pickleball coach with South Australia’s first disability sports organization registered with the NDIS. She trains young children with autism and learning disabilities. In 2020, Andriana won the ‘Most Outstanding Athlete with a Disability Award.

Andriana is supported by Sport Inclusion Australia.

The finals of the Women’s II1 Table Tennis match couldn’t have been more thrilling.

At the Virtus European Summer Games, in Cracow Poland, 20-year-old Ebru Acer from Turkey defeated the ITTF World no.1 Lea Ferney with 3-2 result. What a fantastic debut performance by the Turkish player.

Ebru was playing an attacking game from the first set and took a lead by 2-1 in the first two sets, putting pressure on Lea. However, the French made a terrific comeback in the fourth set and pushed the game into the final deciding match.

The Tokyo Paralympic medalist took a lead in the fifth match with 5-1, and the cheering audience from the French team added to the pressure on Ebru. But, Ebru brought back her ace game and took away the Gold from the world champion.

“I am extremely happy today and proud to win this medal for my country. I defeated my toughest opponents today “

Ebru dedicated her medal to the president of Virtus turkey for all his support.

Portugal took the championship title for the II1 men’s basketball match at the 2022 Virtus European Summer Games.

Both the finalists, Portugal and France staged a heart-stopping match for the crowd at the Hala 100-Lecia KS Cracovia stadium today.

France took the lead in the first quarter by 23-18, but the Portuguese reversed the game in the second leading 28-24. But scoring 29 points more in the third quarter, the Portuguese created a massive lead of 57-28 which was then increased to 74-39 in the fourth quarter.

“Our strength was the teamwork and our coach’s strategies for the game. ” the team captain told Virtus.

Despite tasting defeat, the French team were seen demonstrating something extraordinary on the court. The team congratulated and cheered for the winning team whilst they made their way to the podium for the champions.

The French team had many first time players who had a great learning experience in this game according to the team coach.

“It was a very difficult match for our team as the team had new players. I think it was a fantastic experience for the team before the Global Games next year” said the French coach.

Bronze for Poland

The host country played against Italy for third place today and won with a huge lead of 67-31.

The Italian team was under a lot of pressure from the first quarter and could not recover until the end. With the match points of 22-8, 39-16,46-28 and 67-31, the Polish team thrashed the Italian team.

The star player from the Polish team was Patryk Nowakowski, who scored 32 points for the team, more than the total baskets of the Italian team.

“This win is very important for the team. We are a little disappointed that we didn’t make it to the finals but we are happy with what we have got,” said Kamil Nowakowski

Best Five Players

1. Fabio Soares from Portugal
2. Christiano Correia from Portugal
3. Maduka Ndelo Junior from France
4. Patryk Nowakowski from Poland
5. Beiman Julio Pagliasacchi from Italy

Fair play award

The fair play award was presented to Matteo Galli from Italy.