Home advantage in Para-Sport

This chapter will discuss the current knowledge and awareness of how the phenomena of Home Advantage (HA) impacts Para sport performers. The word “Para” is a prefix from the Greek meaning of “alongside”. More recently, “Para” has been used interchangeably with “disability”, extending beyond sports solely associated with the Paralympic Games. For the purposes of this chapter, “Para” will be used to define all sports that are competed by individuals who are unable to participate in able-bodied sports due to an impairment. The first part of this chapter will explore the current research that has focused on HA in Para-sports through the means of counting medals and the need for more specialised knowledge and expertise presented. After that, Carron et al.'s (2005) revised HA conceptual framework is drawn on, acknowledging the challenges surrounding player classification in team sport, to critically examine the phenomenon within blind football and wheelchair basketball.