This weekend marks the start of Northern Ireland’s involvement in the British Wheelchair Basketball Women’s League for the first time. The sport of Wheelchair Basketball, which is usually played by men and women together up until the international level, has grown domestically with; more clubs forming, more opportunities to play and, as a result, more female players participating in the sport in recent years. This allowed for the formulation of the NI Women Development Group, which has grown in a short time, from their first-ever pre-lockdown session to sticking together during the pandemic. This team now has the first chance to travel away and play in the British League. This team is just starting out but they hope to continue to play together to create a strong team with an opportunity to play at the commonwealth games.
Danny Cooper, Wheelchair Performance Development Officer, whose passion is infectious stated, “now the group wants to be trailblazers for the sport in Northern Ireland, and by going away this weekend they are starting the process of paving the way for other girls and women with a physical disability to get involved and start playing the sport in Northern Ireland and further afield -something which the group is very proud and passionate about”.
Danny and the team hope that progressing at the national level will mean that people will see that they too could play. The sport supports individuals with a physical disability, however, the sport works well for those who may once have played hockey or rugby and want a way to still be competitive
The team has weekly practice at the Antrim Forum, as part of the NI Academy. This practice is a mix of both men and women with players working on being able to play in both the new 3×3 and the more traditional 5×5 formats of the game.
The Women Development Group has been working with Disability Sport Northern Ireland (DSNI), which is Northern Ireland’s main disability sports charity working to improve the health and well-being of disabled people through sport and active recreation.
The Women’s team will be travelling to the University of Worcester for games on the 3rd and 4th of December for their debut. Future games are listed below and will be played in the new year.
The Female Sports Forum hopes to continue to follow this team in their debut first games as they are a great example of role models in the sport and sport/physical activity in general. As the Female Sports Forum revamps its role model project, we are so excited to have not just this team to represent sport but awhole host of women and girls who are exemplifying what it means to be a valuable member of society. If we cannot see ourselves in sports, then why would we play? So let’s keep sporting these incredible women in their debut season and show that everyone can plsportsort.
If you are interested in playing wheelchair basketball or would like to know more please reach out to Danny Cooper at DSNI (dcooper@dsni.co.uk) and take a look at their Facebook Page.
COMPETITION DATES:
- 3rd & 4th Dec – University of Worchester
- 21st & 22nd Jan – London
- 11th & 12th March – University of Nottingham