The former British Wheelchair Basketball Academy Lead and Interim Women’s Coach for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games has been appointed as the Head Coach of the Worcester Wolves’ new women’s wheelchair basketball premier league team.
Simon Fisher, a qualified wheelchair basketball and basketball (running game) coach, has a rich basketball pedigree, working with Basketball England’s national teams as Head Coach of England U16s from 2007 to 2011 and then England U17s Coach from 2011 to 2014. During his time with the U16s, Fisher was the first coach to lead an England age group team to promotion to Division A.
He has also played an integral part of the British Wheelchair Basketball (BWB) coaching set up. Simon joined BWB in 2014 as Talent Development Officer, progressing to Academy Lead in January 2018. Alongside this, he was the GB Men’s Team Manager when they won the World title at the 2018 World Championships, as well as Silver and Gold respectively at the 2017 and 2019 European Championships.
In March of this year, Simon was named as Interim Head Coach of the GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team and led them at the re-scheduled Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
In 2018, he was also Head Coach of the Wales Under 16’s National side.
As Head Coach, Simon will now lead the new women’s wheelchair basketball premier league side at the Worcester Wolves, which has already announced a fantastic line-up of players.
“I have close ties to the West Midlands region through Basketball, as a coach and administrator, in which time I have developed respect for the Wolves organisation, therefore, to have the chance to work with them, as well as the local community, athletes and students to develop Wheelchair Basketball is exciting,” he said. “It is with immense pleasure and pride to have the honour of being the inaugural Head Coach for Worcester Wolves.”
Worcester Wolves Managing Director Mick Donovan said he was very excited to have Simon Fisher as the team’s Head Coach.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be welcoming Simon to the Worcester Wolves,” he said. “He has an outstanding reputation for his contribution in all forms of the game at all levels. As well as Head coach of the High Performance Partnership team, Simon will bring so much more to the club and we believe that he will have a great impact throughout our basketball programme.”
The League will be the first of its kind for women’s wheelchair basketball in the world, and the very first professional para-sport league in the UK.
The University of Worcester will be one of four High-Performance Partnerships, which also include Cardiff Metropolitan University, Loughborough University and the University of East London, that will each be home to a women’s premier league team.
The club will be making further announcements over the coming weeks. Keep up to date with all things Worcester Wolves across their social media channels and website.
For more information about the new Women’s Premier League, visit www.britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk/womens-premier-league.
Press Release: University of Worcester
To find out more about BWB’s High Performance Partnerships, including athlete study and playing opportunities, visit www.britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk/womens-premier-league.
