In PARS, there are many places you will see "GGHA Average" or a variation of it.  It stands for Group, Gender, Height, and Age.  As the population of PARS Boxers grows, we will be able to filter the database in real time so comparative results are more relevant.    

Within the PARS world, there are several tests where a Boxer's Parkinson's Group (Level), or their gender, or their height or their age impact their performance.  PARS is designed to be used as an individual boxer point-in-time assessment tool and generally we don't compare them against another boxer.  It is not a competition.  However, a boxer may want to know how they are doing when compared with other boxers ......

In the beginning, 16 years ago, Rock Steady Boxing adopted the FAB, TUG and S2S as its default assessment tools.  Good choices since they were accepted by the medical community world-wide and it would be easy to train RSB coaches without medical backgrounds to administer them.  Instant credibility.  They have served Rock Steady well.  There may be as many as 100,000 intake assessments in manila folders in Rock Steady gyms all over the country!  I know that although I currently have about 50 active boxers, I have administered several hundred assessments in my 5 years as a Rock Steady affiliate.

It has become apparent that a new approach to assessing the improvements or declines in people with Parkinson's, ......

PARS has been in development for 3 years with no budget and little professional development support.  Starting with students from a local college, we eventually hired a development firm to complete the project.  The result is 2 years late and 4 times over budget.  We had a great working prototype that was not ready for commercial release.  Reliability and performance problems persisted and the underlying technology and code was never going to meet our client's expectations.

BwP’s PARS 3.0 is being rewritten as a Progressive Web App.  A PWA.  Progressive Web Apps provide similar functionalities and user interface as native apps, but we only need to build and maintain one version of the app to run......

The PARS FAB 8 Standing Jump has 4 special considerations.  Below is a brief description of the considerations followed by extended explanations.

• Size matters:  Traditionally, this test score is based on jumping greater than the length of the Boxer's foot  (Score 3) or twice the Boxer's foot length (Score 4).  So, coaches need to know the length of their Boxer's feet!  
• However, scoring a "4" by jumping greater than twice their foot length doesn't tell the whole story:  A boxer with an 11 inch foot jumps 36 inches scores a 4, the highest score, because it is more than twice their foot length.  In their next assessment, they could jump 25 inches losing distance or 48 ......
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Auto dealers belong to an auto dealers association.  Subway and Burger King restaurants belong to a restaurant association.  Membership in an association is how small businesses pool their voices to be heard and aggregate their numbers to qualify for pool discounts and services they could not afford on their own.  It is how they increase their clout in negotiations and raise their voice when needed for protection.

Just to be clear...  The BwP association does not compete with Rock Steady Boxing in any way.  We are passionate supporters of the RSB programs and our founder has multiple RSB locations.  BwP members balance their desire to help people with Parkinson's with the needs of running a .........

Good question.  First, as a 5 year, multi-location RSB affiliate, I'm not sure RSB HQ has any clue what each RSB affiliate is doing regarding assessments.  There is no compliance effort or reporting.  With no compliance requirement, you can't expect what you don't inspect.  Second, the RSB assessment process had not been updated in 16 years.   

In the development of PARS, we have been diligent in including as much as possible of the information in the recommended RSB HQ forms.  And, we have added significant additional information.  As an example, the RSB forms don't ask male or female!  How basic is that?  WE store Boxer information in the cloud.  We provide ......

Great question.  And, an important one.  Read on.

There are several time elements to consider.  First is separating the time elements an assessment appointment might include compared to the actual assessment.  As an example, a new boxer intake assessment appointment might include welcome and introduction, Rock Steady program description and benefits, workout observations, the assessment, glove fitting and going over membership, media waiver, and, physician's release paperwork.  We don't make a deliberate point of noting when the assessment is started or finished.  It all kind of runs together.  For some coaches, a comprehensive intake appointment might take up to 2 hours!

Using PARS on a tablet, .........

BwP recently enhanced the Symptoms module to become a full Fighter's Parkinson's Profile with several changes.

• The Parkinson's Profile has been added as part of assessments so you create a new record of the  fighter's symptoms with each assessment. This allows you to compare which symptoms the fighter has and changes in their severity over time.
• We added a new Severity Slider to rate symptoms from 1 (minor) to 10 (major).
• We organized the sections better.
• We added new symptoms and changed the names of some symptoms to make things clearer and to follow professional nomenclature.
• We enhanced the PARS Assessment Report to reflect the new information and organization. 

The Parkinson's Profile ......

The PARS app is intuitive and easy to use.  However, it is comprehensive and coaches have lots of questions as they use it the first few times.  Coaches become more comfortable and more efficient as they use the app. 

• Coaches can get familiar with the content and features of the app by creating a couple fake boxers.  Go slow and think about the pages.  Create a fake intake assessment (ENB) using a date a year ago and a fake reassessment dated today for that boxer.
• Study your fake boxer PARs.  What information is on the BAR?  What do they tell you about your fake boxer?  What would you talk to your boxer about during a PAR consultation.  If you were a coach who did not do the actual ......
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Your boxing program is in a unique assessment situation. Historically you might have been very disciplined in your assessments or, like me, it was hit and miss. The Covid-19 break has been a huge disruption.  So your assessment implementation of PARS will be unique.  Here are some things to think about.

From the Boxer Directory there are 2 assessment filters.

• Upcoming Assessments:  Assessments due in the next 14 days.  This gives you time to set a specific time for their assessment.
• Overdue Assessments:  This filter shows all boxers with a next assessment date before today.  You should check this filter weekly and set new assessment dates as appropriate.

First, understand where each boxer is now. ......