The wheels are already turning at a new wheelchair basketball club who meet at the Arfon Tennis Centre in Caernarfon every Monday night.
The recently established Caernarfon Celts Wheelchair Basketball Club meet every Monday from 6pm to 8pm with top quality coaching on-offer for players of all ages.
Wheelchair basketball is the largest and one of the blue ribbon leading Paralympic Sports that can be played from grass roots all the way up to elite level performance. Caernarfon Celts is the first club of its kind in Gwynedd and will play a big part in the development of the sport across the north Wales area.
Marcus Politis, Disability Sport Wales Development Officer for Gwynedd Council said: “It’s a very exciting time for disability sport in Gwynedd and I am so pleased that we have such an exciting new sporting club in the area. We have a fantastic bunch of volunteers leading the Caernarfon Celts club with a number of Bangor University Sport Science students who have all recently attended a wheelchair basketball course recently held in Gwynedd.
“We are also very fortunate to have the support of the Celtic Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Club and particularly their club captain Mike Hayes. The sport is really addictive and as soon as you get in a chair you realise how much fun you can have – I know I was hooked after the first session. If anyone is interested please get in touch – as it’s a brilliant opportunity that could have a massive impact on your life.”
The sport offers a fantastic sporting experience for people with a wide-range of disabilities including paraplegia, spina bifida, amputees, brittle bones, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis. You don’t need to be a wheelchair user to play and non-disabled people also take part in sessions and play on a national level making the sport truly inclusive. It is only the Super League and International level that non disabled people cannot play in.
Mike Hayes of the Celtic Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Club added: “As a former Paralympic athlete, it’s great to see Gwynedd embrace the amazing sport of wheelchair basketball and offer access to an amazing sport without having to travel out of Wales as I had to in my early years. As a player and captain of north Wales only current National League club, it is vital that we begin to offer locally-based opportunities to talented individuals to have fun and participate in one of the most social sports there is for people with and without a disability to play together.
“Also, with the development work across north Wales for wheelchair basketball, if an individual shows that they have the drive and ability, the opportunity will now exist to play the sport at the highest possible level, making the north Wales area a real force going forward, beyond the expected surge in interest after the 2012 Paralympics.”
Caernarfon Celts offer junior sessions for just £1.50 a session and just £2 for adults making this the cheapest wheelchair sport club across north Wales. As well as this, there are a fleet of top spec lightweight sports chairs available and a number of qualified coaches at the sessions at the Arfon Tennis Centre. As well as the support of Mike Hayes from the Celtic Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Club, Arwel Wyn Jones and Sion Parry (Level 2 & Level 3 Running Basketball coaches) are also on-hand to help the development of the club by mentoring the coaches and offering high level coaching.
Club sessions are held at the Arfon Tennis Centre on Monday evenings between 6pm and 8pm and they are open to juniors and seniors. For more information contact Marcus Politis on 07766 505320 or [email protected] or club Secretary Debbie Bashford on [email protected] or 01286 678675
