Nihat Demir, a stalwart of wheelchair racing with numerous national accomplishments, has found a new passion in the sport of darts after retiring from athletics – helping disabled children socialize and find joy in life.
Demir, who became wheelchair-bound due to childhood polio, discovered sports during his high school years and began running marathons with the aid of crutches.
His marathon journey commenced at the Mudanya Armistice Run, and after researching various forms of para athletics, he decided to continue competing in wheelchair racing.
Demir, a seasoned para athlete who participated in numerous international marathons, proudly returned from Paris and Finland marathons as the national champion.
After a successful career in para athletics spanning several years, Demir transitioned into coaching disabled children in dart sports.
For the past four years, he has been contributing to the fun and learning experiences of disabled children in the world of darts.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency (AA), Demir revealed that he currently serves as the Bursa Provincial Representative of the Turkish Bocce Bowling Dart Federation (TBBDF) and began coaching darts for disabled children at the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Disabilities Branch Directorate after retiring from active sports.
During his time as an athletics champion, Demir often received requests from his disabled friends to help them embark on athletic journeys.
He recalled, "Many of my disabled friends in Bursa would ask me for help when they saw me. They'd say, 'We want to be engaged in sports too. Can you assist us?' Unfortunately, I could not help my disabled friends at that time. What was particularly requested of me during association meetings was to increase the number of disabled athletes. My focus was on athletics, which I personally competed in. Finding or developing athletes in that category was challenging. However, I wanted to help these friends of mine. I embarked on research to identify which sports would be suitable for disabled athletes to participate in. That is when I realized it was darts because, in our disabled community, darts had not been attempted much as a sport, and it hadn't been extensively explored."
Demir delved into the world of darts through research, completed coaching courses, and subsequently founded the "Barrier-Free Darts" group.
He emphasized that darts is an inclusive sport that transcends barriers, saying, "In fact, we've seen that darts is beneficial for our disabled community, especially in the orthopedic and intellectual disability categories. We noticed that it has benefits in terms of their recovery and even improvement. Observing these positive effects, we decided to pursue this path."
Demir highlighted that people from different disability groups, including orthopedic, hearing-impaired, visually impaired, and intellectually disabled individuals, come together to develop their skills in darts.
He noted, "One of the biggest advantages of darts is that it's an 'inclusive sport.' In the same setting, we can play with a team comprising of orthopedically disabled, hearing-impaired, visually impaired, and intellectually disabled individuals. We play games together, socialize, and have fun. Families are delighted to see this, and they show significant interest and enthusiasm in our activities."
He mentioned that their numbers have been steadily increasing, and they now have a team of approximately 60 members.
Demir concluded, "We have reached a point where we organize special tournaments among ourselves. In fact, we've begun categorizing participants during these tournaments. We're making remarkable progress in darts. Even when our students compete against non-disabled friends, they achieve great success. Each of our students has a dedicated practice schedule. We train here five days a week. They diligently follow their normal training routines under my guidance. Currently, everyone is very happy. We're progressing beautifully. We believe that one day we can represent our country abroad."