Women's Premier League

As current reigning U25 World Champions, today the GB camp announced the twelve talented athletes who will head to Thailand to defend the title.

The wheelchair basketball world’s attention will be firmly focused on the GB team as a serious contender for the 2019 U25 World Championship crown. The squad’s notable international success includes back-to-back U24 European Championship titles (2016 & 2018) and the 2015 U25 World Championship title.

The impressive roster boasts some big names of the sport with GB’s Joy Haizelden leading the squad as Captain, London 2012 Paralympian Maddie Thompson as Vice-Captain, and GB Senior Programme athletes Kayla Bell, Siobhan Fitzpatrick and Charlotte Moore. Each bring a wealth of international competition experience to the squad, including their historic 2018 Senior World Championships Silver Medal.

Making their debut international GB appearances at the U25 Worlds are the South East’s Bethany Wheeler and North East’s Brooke Mottram. Both deliver a broad depth of experience within wheelchair basketball with Beth having just returned from representing her British Wheelchair Basketball National League domestic club, London Titans, in Spain at the EuroLeague 3 Finals; and Brooke who is currently studying for a Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DISE) in wheelchair basketball.

The squad is completed with sisters Jade and Adele Atkin, Niamh Horan, Lucy Robinson and Freya Levy, each of whom have represented GB during their successful campaigns at either the 2016 or 2018 European Championships.

Reflecting on the road ahead, GB Women’s Junior Head Coach Dan Price commented:

“Undoubtedly we have an excellent roster and as a squad we are in a really good place for the U25 World Championships. However, we are not complacent about the quality of competition that awaits – we are aware that as current Champions teams will be looking for early wins against GB and that we will need to bring our A game from the moment we hit the courts in Thailand.

 “We are prepared and ready to defend our hard earned title.”

Echoing the words of the Head Coach, British Wheelchair Basketball Performance Director, Jayne Ellis added:

“We are extremely proud of all the players that took part in the selection process and huge congratulations to our World Championship team, their commitment and dedication to their ongoing development as players has been world class. We are indebted to those hard working families, coaches and clubs volunteers that give their evenings and weekends to support these young players on their journey. Our domestic Women’s League and Lord’s Taverners Junior League provide excellent opportunities for our young players to develop in competitive environments, appropriate to their age and stage of development and as performance programme, we are excited about the future talent coming through.”

Uniform number	PLAYER (FAMILY NAME, given name)	CLASS
4	MOORE, Charlotte (CWBA / CWBA)	1
5	WHEELER, Bethany (GLL & London Titans / Angels of the North)	2.5
6	BELL, Michaela (CWBA / Sheffield Steelers)	1.5
7	HORAN, Niamh (Manchester Mavericks / Angels of the North)	3.0
8	ATKIN, Adele (Blackhawks / CWBA)	1.5
9	MOTTRAM, Brooke (Tees Valley Titans / Sheffield Steelers)	3.0
10	ATKIN, Jade (Blackhawks / CWBA)	4.5
11	THOMPSON, Madeleine (Sheffield Steelers / Sheffield Steelers) – Vice Captain	4.0
12	LEVY, Freya (GLL & London Titans / Red Dust Warriors	2.0
13	FITZPATRICK, Siobhan (Warwickshire Bears / CWBA)	3.0
14	HAIZELDEN, Joy (CWBA / CWBA) – Captain	2.5
15	ROBINSON, Lucy (Sheffield Steelers / Leicester Cobras)	4.5

PRICE Daniel	Head Coach
FISHER Simon	Assistant Coach
WILLIAMS Rosie	Team-Manager
HEATHCOTE Laura	Physiotherapist
PAYNE Nathan	Performance Analyst
HOGG Andrew	Doctor
SHEEPSOMSONG Tanakom	Mechanic
ELLIS Jayne	Performance Director

CWBA claim the Women’s League title for a third consecutive year

The final weekend of Women’s League played out at Nottingham Wildcats Arena over the Easter Weekend (20/21 April). Title winners were decided for the first, second and third divisions, with the showcase first division finals being streamed via BBC Sport Online on the Saturday Night.

The dramatic and exciting weekend of women’s team sport saw CWBA (Div 1), Blackhawks (Div 2) and Wakefield Whirlwinds (Div 3) named League Champions for their respective Divisions.

CWBA won the Division 1 title for a third consecutive year following a 20pt strong win over Sheffield Steelers on Saturday evening for the televised final (55-35). The Blackhawks clinched their division win with a respectable 49-33 final score against Leicester Cobras, the win will see the southern team promoted into Division 1 for the 2019-20 Women’s League season.

Taking the title in Division 3 was the Wakefield Whirlwinds following a closely fought game against Eastern Blue Stars (34-26). The 2019-20 season will see two teams promoted from Division 3 into Division 2, meaning that both Wakefield Whirlwinds and 2nd in the Division team The Bears will move up next year.

Head Coach of CWBA Women’s Team, Ally Hope was clearly delighted by the side’s win on Saturday evening and commented:

“It’s been a fantastic season for the CWBA side, resulting in a perfect season. I think for me though, and I know the other coaches at CWBA think the same, the most impressive thing with the team is how they conduct themselves, showing calmness under pressure, and an ability to think through the problems they face on court. The strength of the league is increasing all the time, and so teams are really challenging us, but it doesn’t phase them, they just regroup, adjust, and then play better wheelchair basketball.

“The whole team contributes and buys in to the philosophy, and in truth, it leaves me and the assistant coach Rosie Williams with very little to do. I’m very proud of what they have done this year, and look forward to the challenges moving forward as the league continues to get stronger.”

British Wheelchair Basketball’s Women’s League is to hit screens from February 2019 as the sport’s National Governing Body commits to live streaming more games from the League.

Today British Wheelchair Basketball announced that four games from the popular Basketball’s Women’s League First Division will be broadcast via BBC Sport Online marking a historic first for the League. Last year saw the Women’s League final delivered via BBC, as part of the sports National Championships coverage.

This season First Division games from the second round, and the Division’s medal games in the final round will all be made available online for fans of the sport. This will include games featuring 2018 league winners CWBA, as well as Sheffield Steelers, Angels of the North and Vixens.

2018 was a remarkable year for women’s team sport in the UK, with memorable successes for England Netball, GB women’s 4x100m relay team and GB women’s wheelchair basketball team, who secured a silver medal at the Hamburg World Championships.

In what is another huge progression for the coverage of women’s sport in the UK, Co-Founder and joint CEO of the Women’s Sport Trust, Tammy Parlour said:

“The interest in women’s sport continues to build at pace and with it, the demand to watch these inspirational female athletes in action grows. It’s fantastic to see broadcasters like the BBC Sport recognise this appetite for women’s sport and give sports fans the opportunity to watch the fast paced and dynamic game of wheelchair basketball live – a first for British Wheelchair Basketball’s domestic women’s league.

“This is a huge step forward for the sport and by increasing the visibility of these world class athletes it should bring a wealth of new fans to the sport.”

This will mark the first time since the final of the World Championships that women’s wheelchair basketball will be available for fans to watch from the comfort of their homes. The four teams competing will be made up of many of the GB silver medallists making the women’s league, the largest of its kind in the world, a must watch event.

The following Women’s League fixtures will be available via BBC Sport Online (please note the below is tip-off – all games will be live 15 minutes prior to tip):   

Sunday 3^rd February 2019: 

17:00    Angels of the North v Vixens

19:15    CWBA v Sheffield Steelers

Saturday 20^th April 2019:

16:00    3^rd/4^th Final

18:30    Final

British Wheelchair Basketball’s Women’s League 2018/19 season runs from December to April, with three centralised rounds held in Sheffield and Nottingham Wildcats Arena. The League see’s 17 teams competing across three divisions. 

The incredible year continues as a triumphant GB Junior Women’s team are crowned U24 European Champions.

The GB U24 Women’s squad have delivered an outstanding tournament in Bordeaux and clearly laid down their world class credentials on the European stage as they defeated Germany in a dramatic final game 48-27 to retain their European title.

Undefeated throughout the tournament, the 2018 European Championships witnessed the GB Women dominate the courts of Villenave-d’Ornon as GB, France and Germany all battled for the coveted title.

As reigning U24 European and U25 World Champions, GB was undoubtedly the team to watch during the tournament. The game statistics speak for themselves with Captain Joy Haizelden delivering the treble double in the second GB v Germany clash, with 11 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds:

Game	Result	Points	Rebounds	Assists
FRA v GBR	25-45	14 – M Thompson12 – J Haizelden	8 – M Thompson8 – J Haizelden	6 – J Haizelden
GBR v GER	57-17	18 – S Fitzpatrick10 – J Atkin	11- J Haizelden	13 – J Haizelden
GER v GBR	14-63	11 – J Haizelden9 – C Moore	11- J Haizelden8 – M Bell	11 – J Haizelden
GBR v FRA	53-18	24 – M Thompson	7 – M Thompson	8 – J Haizelden
GBR v GER	48-27	16 – M Thompson16 – L Robinson	9 – L Robinson7 – J Haizelden	5 – J Haizelden

Three of the GB U24 Women’s Team were also named in the tournament All Star 5: Maddie Thompson, Joy Haizelden and Charlotte Moore.

Testament to the strength of the talent pathway in the UK, the European Championships saw a staggering seven GB Junior Women make their international debut for GB. The mix of established senior players and new squad members was clearly a winning combination.

Following the Gold Medal game GB U24 Captain Joy Haizelden commented:

 “This tournament saw everyone working together as a team; some of the newer girls being integrated with some of the older ones with more experience which has helped us so much – they are learning from us and we are learning from them as well.”

Delighted by his team’s win, GB U24 Head Coach Dan Price echoed Joy’s sentiment and added:

 “We are two time defending U24 European Champions – I could not be more proud of the group that we have played in France. As Joy mentioned it’s a mixed group with some senior members and some junior members, and the integration of those two working together is key.

“We’ve only been together for a very short amount of time, we still have a lot to learn about one another – we are still very raw but this is just the tip of the iceberg and we are very excited for the journey going forward.  We still have a lot of work to do going into World Championships but we are looking forward to getting back to work.”

Name	Region	National League 18/19	Women’s League 18/19	Junior League 18/19
Charlotte Moore (1)	West Midlands	CWBA	CWBA
Michaela Bell (1.5)	South East	CWBA	Sheffield Steelers
Adele Atkin (2)	South East	Tornados	Blackhawks
Joy Haizelden (2.5)	South East	CWBA	CWBA
Jessica Dowdeswell (3)	West Midlands	CWBA	CWBA	CWBA
Siobhan Fitzpatrick (3)	West Midlands	Warwickshire Bears	CWBA
Niamh Horan (3)	North West	Manchester Mavericks	Angels of the North
Anastasia Blease (3.5)	Wales	North Wales Knights	North Wales Knights	North Wales Knights
Maddison Martin (3.5)	South East	Tornados	Red Dust Warriors	Tornados
Maddie Thompson (4)	Yorkshire	Sheffield Steelers	Sheffield Steelers
Jade Atkin (4.5)	South East	Tornados	Blackhawks	Tornados
Lucy Robinson (4.5)	East Midlands	Sheffield Steelers	Leicester Cobras

Staff:

• Head Coach – Dan Price
• Assistant Coach – Ally Hope
• Team Manager – Rosie Williams
• Physio – Laura Heathcote

GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team is announced on the shortlist for Team of the Year for Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Award (SWOTY)

The incredible year continues for our GB Women following today’s announcement in the Sunday Times that they are one of four all female teams nominated for this year’s Team of the Year Award.

Following their historic World Championships campaign this August in Hamburg the team captivated a nation as they broke new ground for British women’s wheelchair basketball. They are the first GB women’s team ever to secure a place in a major final, and the first in history to bring home the silver medal from a World Championships.

This success marks the current GB women’s squad as the most successful team in our sports history – the squad who finished fourth in Rio and secured the bronze medal at the Europeans have tipped off their Tokyo campaign with a World Championships silver.

On hearing the news GB Head Coach Miles Thompson commented:

“This summer our GB Women demonstrated their true grit and determination, representing our nation with pride. They have committed countless hours of hard work to securing the silver medal success at the Hamburg World Championships.

“This is a young squad whose average age in Hamburg was just 23 – Hamburg is just the start of our team’s journey to the Tokyo Paralympics and undoubtedly there is much more to come.

“It is incredible to be shortlisted for Team of the Year at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards and we hope that the British Public and the fans of our sport get behind all the shortlisted teams and start voting.”

To vote for the GB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team visit https://sportswomenoftheyear.co.uk/awards

Voting closes on Monday 29 October at 12pm

British Wheelchair Basketball announces the GB teams for the Women’s U24 European Championships and Men’s U22 European Championships.

Whilst the UK’s wheelchair basketball community is still basking in the gold and silver glow of the 2018 World Championships success, a number of the squad members are now looking forward to their next international competition following their selection to the GB’s junior teams.

Announced today are the selected 12 athletes for both the GB U24 Women’s team and U22 Men’s team – the men’s tournament will play out in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy between 10  September and 15 September.  The women’s Championships will take place in Villenave-d’Ornon, France between 31 October and 4 November. 

Captaining the men’s team will be Sheffield Steelers Jim Palmer; Jim has just returned from completing his international debut with the GB senior team at the Hamburg World Championships. Leading the women’s side will be GB’s Joy Haizelden, a seasoned junior and senior GB team member Joy has also just returned from Hamburg with a silver medal.

The men’s selection will see a total of six players making their major international debut’s for the GB Junior team – Lanre Sowami (Tornados), Callum Doherty (Manchester Mavericks), Oliver Griffith-Salter (CWBA), Will Bonner (Sheffield Steelers), Conn Nagle (NI Knights) and Ben Leitch (Glasgow Rocks).

On the women’s squad a total of seven players will make the international debut for the GB Junior side – Adele Atkin (Tornados), Jessica Dowdeswell (CWBA), Niamh Horan (Manchester Mavericks), Anastasia Blease (North Wales Knights), Maddison Martin (Tornados), Jade Atkin (Tornados) and Lucy Robinson (Sheffield Steelers).

The women will be joined by GB senior squad members Charlotte Moore, Joy Haizelden, Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Michaela Bell and Maddie Thompson.

In total 8 National League teams will be represented across the two GB junior teams, including three home country club representation.

Head coach for the GB Junior Men’s Team, Scott Wallace commented:

“The GB programme has such a strong pathway of talented young wheelchair basketball players coming through right now; it is great that we are welcoming six new international debutants onto the squad for the forthcoming European Championships.”

Supporting Scott Wallace’s comments, GB Junior Women’s Head Coach, Dan Price added:

“I’m delighted to see so many exciting new players on our GB Talent Pathway – it shows the appeal of the sport and the drive our junior players to represent their nation.”

“This will be our GB Junior Women’s Team’s first major since 2016; however our philosophy of building a team on and off the court still holds true with this women’s squad having trained and competed both in the UK and abroad as preparation for the Europeans.

“We are the current U25 World Champions – I imagine this will mark us as a team to watch in France.”

Men’s Selection:

Name	Region	National League 18/19	Junior League 18/19
Jim Palmer (1)	London	Sheffield Steelers
Jake Robinson (1.5)	East Midlands	CWBA
Lanre Sowami (2)	South East	Tornados
Callum Doherty (2)	North West	Manchester Mavericks	Lancaster Spinners
Sam Mack (2)	East	CWBA
Oliver Griffith-Salter (2.5)	Wales	CWBA
Lewis Edwards (3)	South East	CWBA
Will Bonner (3)	Yorkshire	Sheffield Steelers
Peter Cusack (3.5)	West Midlands	CWBA
Conn Nagle (3.5)	Northern Ireland	NI Knights	Northern Ireland
Lee Fryer (4)	Yorkshire	Sheffield Steelers
Ben Leitch (4.5)	Scotland	Glasgow Rocks	Scottish Wizards

Staff:

• Head Coach – Scott Wallace
• Assistant Coach – Peter Finbow
• Team Manager – Phil Robinson
• Physio – Rachel Spanner

Women’s Selection:

Name	Region	National League 18/19	Women’s League 18/19	Junior League 18/19
Charlotte Moore (1)	West Midlands	CWBA	CWBA
Michaela Bell (1.5)	South East	CWBA	Sheffield Steelers
Adele Atkin (2)	South East	Tornados	Blackhawks
Joy Haizelden (2.5)	South East	CWBA	CWBA
Jessica Dowdeswell (3)	West Midlands	CWBA	CWBA	CWBA
Siobhan Fitzpatrick (3)	West Midlands	Warwickshire Bears	CWBA
Niamh Horan (3)	North West	Manchester Mavericks	Angels of the North
Anastasia Blease (3.5)	Wales	North Wales Knights	North Wales Knights	North Wales Knights
Maddison Martin (3.5)	South East	Tornados	Red Dust Warriors	Tornados
Maddie Thompson (4)	Yorkshire	Sheffield Steelers	Sheffield Steelers
Jade Atkin (4.5)	South East	Tornados	Blackhawks	Tornados
Lucy Robinson (4.5)	East Midlands	Sheffield Steelers	Leicester Cobras

Staff:

• Head Coach – Dan Price
• Assistant Coach – Ally Hope
• Team Manager – Rosie Williams
• Physio – Laura Heathcote

The GB Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team claim the 2018 World Championships Crown in a dramatic final game showdown against the USA

The GB teams have dominated the 2018 World Championships held in Hamburg this month as the squads return to the UK with twenty four medals in their hand luggage. 

In what was undoubtedly a battle of the wheelchair basketball titans as Paralympic Bronze medallist GB met Gold Medallist the USA in the final game of the 2018 World Championships. The USA side having served GB their only defeat in an otherwise unblemished tournament record during the pool stages.

Phil Pratt’s men left their hearts on the Hamburg court in the final as they delivered a commanding and unstoppable performance – the numbers speak for themselves with George Bates, Harry Brown, Gregg Warburton, Phil Pratt and Lee Manning all adding to the GB points tally. Bates achieving an incredible 87% FG average and Pratt making 12 assists.

Seeing the gold within their sights the GB men ratcheted up the pressure in the final quarter and cleared a strong seventeen point win; an emotional moment for Head Coach’s Haj Bhania’s team who headed to Hamburg with the singular mission of bringing home the gold.

Much has been said about the changing of the guard within his World Championship squad but ultimately what they brought to court was a true GB team through and through.

Following the win Phil Pratt commented:

“Unbelievable feeling right now – to beat some of my idols growing up like Steve Serio and Matt Scott – these guys were my role models growing up and I used to watch hours and hours of their games.

“To beat them by 17 points in the final is unbelievable – I don’t they’ve lost a game for nearly four years, so to be the team that break that streak, wow. We are such a young team – but we are good friends. This showed on the floor when times got tough – we dug in deep and knew it would come good at the end. As a team our future as a team is huge”

The British Wheelchair Basketball’s GB Performance Programme can rightfully be proud of its squad today – the men’s senior, men’s junior and women’s junior teams all now hold current World Championship titles and our GB women holding the silver.

History has been made at the 2018 World Championships with the GB men having won their first ever World Championships and the women securing their first ever place at a final and silver medal at a major.

With yesterday marking exactly two years until the Tokyo Paralympics the future is looking very good for our British Wheelchair Basketball players.

All Star Women: Helen Freeman

MVP Tournament (Men): Gregg Warburton

Tournament Results for GB Teams: link

Men’s Gold Medal Game Stats: link

A historic day for British Wheelchair Basketball as both the men and women’s team qualify for the semi-finals of the 2018 World Championships.

Today’s GB women’s quarter final win over the USA (70-47) marked the first time a GB women’s team has ever reached a semi-final at a World Championships. 

Alongside the men’s quarter final win over Spain (67-62) on Tuesday means that both the men and women’s teams will compete in semi-final games. The last time the GB men qualified for a World Championships semi-final was in 2002.

Great Britain is the only nation to have both its men and women’s teams’ progress through to the semi-final stages of the 2018 World Championships.

The GB Men will face Iran tomorrow evening (Friday 24 August) at 5pm (BST) and the women will play their semi-final game at 2:45pm (BST) – although it is still to be decided which team they will play. 

Both GB squads are having an incredible tournament with fantastic support from British fans and families cheering them on.

All games are live streamed – www.youtube.co.uk/2018wbwc

Results and schedule link

Photo Credit: Steffie Wunderl