The appeal process
— twice.
Adaptive divisions only work if athletes are classified correctly. Mine wasn’t — not the first time, and not the second.
Lower Minor to Below Knee — and back through appeal.
Classification in adaptive sport determines which division you compete in, and it isn’t always right on the first assessment. I’ve gone through the formal appeal process twice, navigating the difference between the Lower Minor and Below Knee classifications.
First appeal
Assessed, classified, and immediately at odds with what my body actually does under load. So I put it in writing.
Second appeal
Same question, second time around — because the first answer didn’t hold.
Classification is the whole game.
Get it wrong, and an athlete is either competing against people with a meaningfully different level of function, or being held to standards their body physically can’t meet. Neither is fair, and both quietly push adaptive athletes out of the sport.
An appeal process only works if it’s accessible, transparent, and taken as seriously as the sport itself.