Soccer Plow Transcript
LISA: Hey there! My name is Lisa Belcastro and I'm so excited to share with you some inexpensive ways to make sports more accessible to athletes with disabilities. For over a decade I have been working in the disability sport community as an adapted physical education teacher, volunteer, and advocate. Like many who run disability sport programs, funding is often limited. Even on a shoestring budget we must find creative ways to accommodate the needs of every athlete in our program. No one deserves to be left on the sidelines and we're here to make sure that never happens.

Today we'll be talking about soccer. In this sport the athlete would typically run up and down the field using their feet to advance the ball forward. What if we were working with an athlete that used a wheelchair? What could you do to make soccer more accessible to all your athletes? With some out of the box thinking and creativity we're gonna look at inexpensive ways to answer both of those questions.

Today we will be building a soccer plow. This idea came to me after realizing the difficulty in adapting soccer for athletes in wheelchairs. The soccer plow that we are going to build today is very inexpensive, it's easy to build, and it's very durable. Most importantly it will ensure all of your athletes can participate. Over the years I found that I really enjoy working with PVC. PVC is incredibly durable, easy to work with, and best of all it's really inexpensive.

To build the soccer plow, here are the materials that you'll need: PVC, elbow fittings, t-fittings, gear ties, and a pool noodle. You will also need a couple of tools: a saw, permanent marker, measuring tape, PVC primer, and PVC cement. When I built my first piece of equipment I'd never even picked up a saw. You might be a master builder or maybe you've never picked up a tool in your life. Regardless of your comfort level or experience, I want to assure you there's nothing to be intimidated by.

Building with PVC is as easy as one, two, three. Step one: cut the PVC into the lengths you need. Step two: connect the PVC using the proper fittings. And finally, step 3: cement the pieces into place.

PVC pipe is typically sold in 10-foot lengths and can be found at any hardware store. You will need one 10-foot length of half inch PVC pipe for this project. Grab your saw. Let's start by cutting our PVC into the lengths we need.

First, we're going to measure 12 inches of PVC and we're going to mark it with our marker.

Next using your saw you're going to cut straight down from where you made your mark. Mark the 12-inch piece with the letter A. You're going to need two of these. Next, you're going to need a 12-inch piece marked with the letter B, followed by two 6-inch pieces marked with the letter C. And finally, you're going to need two 8-inch pieces marked with the letter D.

For this project we will be inserting our PVC inside of our pool noodle. The pool noodles will be used as bumpers to advance the soccer ball forward. The PVC pipe will rest inside of the pool noodle and it's going to give a solid structure to your soccer plow. 

First, you're going to need an 11-inch piece of pool noodle marked with the letter B. Next, you're gonna need two 5-inch pieces marked with the letter C. And finally, you're gonna need two 7-inch pieces marked with the letter D.

First, you're going to start with the pieces that you marked with the letter A and you're going to secure t-fittings to the bottom of it. Next, we're going to take the letter B. We're also going to find our pool noodle marked with the letter B. We're going to slide that piece of PVC into the pool noodle and we're going to secure it together with the inside openings of the t-fitting. Next, you're going to take the pieces that you marked with the letter C, PVC and pool noodles included. You're going to slide those pieces of PVC inside the pool noodle and then one at a time you're going to secure them to the outside openings of the t-fitting. Next, you're going to grab a 90-degree elbow fitting. You're going to secure it to the ends of the pieces marked with the letter C. Finally, you're going to grab the pieces marked with the letter D, PVC and noodles included. Go ahead and slide them inside the pool noodle and secure them to the opening of the elbow fitting. Your last elbow fittings you're going to use to secure the pool noodle in place.

In this step we're essentially going to take the piece of equipment apart and put it back together again, but there's a reason for that. I find it helpful to build a piece of equipment to make sure that I'm happy with the measurements and the structure prior to cementing the pieces together. Let's say I cemented the pieces together as I was building it. What if at the end I realized one of the measurements was off. The problem is the cement is so strong it's almost permanent. If I realized I made a mistake after they were cemented together I may have wasted a lot of time and resources. Now we're going to cement our soccer plow together. This can get rather messy, so I put down a piece of cardboard. Let's get started. 

We're going to start off by priming our joint and our piece of PVC. We'll follow up with cementing the PVC and the joint. I'm holding these together to give an opportunity for the cement to dry. Before you cement the final joint into place make sure you slide your pool noodle on. 

Now we'll prime and cement all of our joints. Now we're going to secure our soccer plow to the chair. This soccer plow can be customized. Depending on the width of your student's chair, you'll adjust right here at the piece marked with the letter B. Now we're going to secure the plow using gear ties. When connecting your soccer plow to the chair you want to make sure the bottom of it hovers just above the ground. 

Now that the soccer plow is connected we're going to see how it works. The soccer plow can be used to trap the ball and also to advance the ball forward.

I told you that was going to be easy! In just a few simple steps we've created a piece of equipment that increases independence and accessibility. With all the benefits this soccer plow brings it can be built for just seven dollars. 

Be sure to tag us on social media with your builds. Links to our social media accounts are available in the description. I'd like to thank the U.S. Department of State especially the Sports Diplomacy Division and the University of Tennessee Center for Sport, Peace, and Society.

We hope this project design serves you and your athletes well. Thanks for watching.