Goldmine takes aim to support Shooting Para Sport athlete
Goldmine Innovation Mechanical Engineer, Bex Cider, and Performance Physiotherapist, Isobel Freeman, became that team and attended Neelam’s training to identify opportunities to improve her shooting position and hence performance.
“In the simplest terms, Neelam’s old backrest on her wheelchair didn’t give her the support she needed,” says Bex.
“It lacked structure which led to her trunk position being a dynamic problem. Layered on top of this was the sport’s requirement for repeated accuracy and precision.
“Fortunately, Neelam’s old backrest was also shorter than regulations permitted, leaving us ample opportunity to make an impact.”
Together with Neelam, the team came up with a design for a very solid backrest which provides a stable foundation to help reduce variability between shots.
“We’re hopeful this change will help Neelam to achieve greater repeatability in competition,” says Bex.
With a World Cup in the UAE on the horizon (currently underway), there was a very specific time the team had to work towards to develop the new backrest.
Bex says developing the backrest was more of an iterative process than she had expected. “Neelam and I learnt we needed to treat her equipment as a system rather than a group of discrete parts. With competing in UAE the goal, we had to work quickly knowing she would need training with her new setup before leaving New Zealand.
“Fortunately Neelam has a good understanding of the regulations of her disciplines and was able to get the new backrest reviewed by an official in time for us to make modifications before she heads overseas. It was important for Neelam to have confidence her equipment worked safely within the rules, while still aiming to maximise the ability of her setup to push for peak performance.”
From Neelam’s perspective the benefits are already very evident.
“The new backrest keeps me upright so I don’t bend and shuffle. This has made a huge difference, a difference I didn’t know I needed,” says Neelam.