Historic First for WA Paralympic Sport as WAIS Launches Wheelchair Basketball Program

Published On: 28 November 2017

The Western Australian Institute of Sport officially launched its first dedicated Paralympic sport program on Tuesday, November 28 with the Minister for Sport and Recreation, the Hon. Mick Murray MLA on hand to declare the WAIS Wheelchair Basketball Program open.

The WAIS Wheelchair Basketball Program will provide specialist coaching, sports science and high performance services to scholarship athletes (both men’s and women’s) and will seek to maximise Western Australian contribution to Australian representative teams at targeted competitions including, World Championships and Paralympic Games.

The program will commence operations from December 1, with recruitment of a program head coach currently underway.

The WAIS Wheelchair Basketball Program, which will cater for 14 scholarship holders and will operate out of the WAIS High Performance Service Centre in Mt Claremont, which opened in 2015 and is entirely accessible to wheelchair athletes.

The Minister for Sport said he was thrilled to see a specialist Paralympic sport program launched in WA and believed the program would boost WA’s talent pipeline at the elite level.

“This program is the first of its kind for Paralympic sport in Western Australia and will provide excellent support to these elite athletes.

 

“Wheelchair basketball athletes who dream of wearing the green and gold at the highest level can now have the confidence they have the support of a dedicated program,” Minister Murray added.

The WAIS Wheelchair Basketball Program is a strategic partnership with Basketball Australia and Basketball WA.