Wings Themeset

GB squad: Joe Bestwick, Dan Highcock, Simon Munn, Ghaz Choudry, Ian Sagar, Jon Hall, Ade Orogbemi, Matt Sealy, Peter Finbow, Simon Brown, Lee Fawcett, Abdi Jama.

Men: Joe Bestwick, Andy Blake, Simon Brown, Matt Byrne, Terry Bywater, Peter Finbow, Jon Hall, Kevin Hayes, Abdi Jama, Simon Munn, Ade Orogbemi, Jon Pollock. Reserves: Ghaz Choudhry, Dan Highcock, Ian Sagar.

Women: Jill Fox, Helen Freeman, Joanne Harper, Caroline Maclean, Caroline Matthews, Pauline McDonald, Wendy Smith, Clare Strange, Louise Sugden, Helen Turner, Sally Wager, Ann Wild. Reserves: Paula Johnson, Laurie Williams

Today we received the sad news that Furness Falcon player Gordon Leith passed away on Friday the 14th March age 64 after a short battle with cancer. Gordon was often seen filming at the side of the court at Falcons home matches and also used as a 'supersub' on many occasions. Our thoughts go to his wife Barbara, children Rod and Tracey and his friends.
Rest in peace Gordon.

Oldham Owls, Sheffield Steelers and MK Aces have all been in action this weekend in the qaulifying stages of the Eurocup and Andre Vergauwen Cup. MK Aces have managed to progress to the finals after they won all four of their group games. Sadly Oldham lost all four of their group games and Sheffield only got one win from the group stage. Good luck to MK Aces in the finals later this year.

Yesterday we recieved the sad news that Dominic Cheshire of the Oldham Owls Club had died in a tragic car accident. Our condolences go to Dominic Cheshire's family and friends.

The two squads carrying the hope of qualification for the Summer Beijing
Paralympics next year have been named two weeks ahead of the European
Championships in Germany.

The Women’s Team will travel to Hamburg on the 16th August to play in a
warm-up tournament before travelling on to Wetzlar where the opening game
will be against the hosts and bronze medallists at the World Championships –
Germany.

The Great Britain Men’s team will embark on their final preparation camp
this week at Lilleshall National Sport Centre, having just returned from a
tour of Australia where there were mixed results, but some great
performances. Great Britain player Joe Bestwick said, ‘ We used Australia
to push ourselves to our limits, to try out new line-ups and new plays. It
was a very successful trip and gave us an ideal platform as we go to the
European Championships with our primary goal of qualification for Beijing’.

The chairman of the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association, Joseph
Fletcher said, ‘The teams are looking good, the preparations are going well
and whilst qualification for Beijing is our first target, we are hoping for
medal success from both teams.’

The Women’s team must secure a medal to qualify for next years’ Summer Paralympic
Games and despite lottery funding only being made available at the end of
last year, coach Garry Peel is confident that the team will perform well.
‘The Visa Paralympic World Cup in May gave us a great insight in to what we
need to do at the European Championships, we know we can go out there and
win a medal, and that is exactly what we intend to do’, said Garry,
sentiments have been echoed by everyone close to the squad.

GREAT BRITAIN MENS TEAM

Joe Bestwick - Rhinos
Daniel Highcock - Vikings
Kevin Hayes - Sheffield Steelers
Terry Bywater - Sharks
Simon Munn - Rhinos
Jon Pollock - Vikings
Abdillahi Jama - Liverpool Greenbank
Matt Byrne - Rhinos
Andy Blake - MK Aces
Pete Finbow - Sheffield Steelers
Colin Price - Sheffield Steelers
Ademola Orogbemi - Liverpool Greenbank

GREAT BRITAIN WOMENS TEAM

Caroline MacLean - Aces
Joanne Harper - Sheffield Steelers
Clare Strange - Aces
Jill Fox - Sheffield Steelers
Ann Wild - Force
Debee Steel - Knights
Sally Wager - Rhinos
Helen Freeman - Force
Helen Turner - Force
Louise Sugden - Force
Paula Johnson - Furness Falcons
Caroline Matthews - Cardiff Celts

The European Championships are the only opportunity for Great Britain to
qualify for the Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing. Only the top four teams
in the men’s competition will qualify for Beijing, only the top three teams
in the women’s competition will qualify for Beijing.
TEAMS TO WATCH – In the Men – The Netherlands, France, Sweden, Germany and
Italy. In the Women – Spain, Germany, Holland and France.
GB Men finished 2nd at the European Championships in 2005.
GB Women finished 4th at the European Championships in 2005.

Photographs from the 2007 Championship Finals are now online and can be found by visiting the Basketball Gallery on this website.

Click here to read an Oldham Owls report from the recently held Champions Cup 2007

The first batch of photographs from the Visa Paralympic World Cup are now online. The pictures are now being stored on our Flickr account and can be accessed via the Basketball Gallery page on this website.

Today we recieved the sad news that John Rainey of the Vikings Wheelchair Basketball Club passed away after a short time of ill health. John has played baskeball for many many years with teams including Southport, Meteors and Greenbank. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts go to his wife Alison and children Stephen, Brett and Georgina. Rest in peace John.

The Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association (GBWBA) is proud to announce Murray Treseder as the new GB Men's team Head Coach.

Murray will take up the position in April and comes to Team GB from the Australian Wheelchair Basketball Team under whose direction won the

silver medal at the Summer Paralympic Games, Athens in 2004 and bronze at the World Championships in 2006.

Chairman of GBWBA, Joseph Fletcher was delighted when Murray accepted the position of Head Coach and welcomed him saying, "We are extremely

positive and pleased to bring Murray to the United Kingdom. His track record, ability to motivate and enthusiasm is unmatched in wheelchair

Murray is stepping down as Head Coach of the Australian Wheelchair Basketball Team, Head coach of a professional women's team and as a Head

Coach at the West Australia Institute of Sport to join the Great Britain Team. "His appointment will be instrumental to our successes in Beijing

and more importantly the World Championships in 2010 and London Summer Paralympic Games," said Charlie Bethel, Chief Executive of GBWBA.

On accepting the position Murray said, "I am delighted to be the new Head Coach for Great Britain. I am looking forward to the challenge and

getting the team to the highest level of the wheelchair basketball. With the World Championships in 2010 and Paralympic Games in Britain,

this is a great opportunity for the sport and I hope this will be a real opportunity for young and energetic players to stake a claim in the team

over the next couple of years." Murray, a life long supporter of West Ham, is also looking forward to the opportunity of watching them play in

Murray joins a team that has an excellent track record and has shown the British fighting spirit many times, with a silver medal at the World

Championships in 2002 and a bronze at the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games in Athens. David Titmuss, Performance Director of GBWBA's High

Performance Programmes, commented: "We are delighted to have signed Murray, he is a proven programme-builder having taken over the

Australian men's team after their fifth place finish in Sydney and lead them to world level medal success. This is an extremely exciting time

for British Wheelchair Basketball with the 2010 World Championships coming to Birmingham and the 2012 London Paralympics, and I am confident

that in the years ahead Murray and his staff will take the GB programme to new heights".

Dan Johnson is the first member of a team to win the Lifetime Achievement Award. Dan has been an inspiration and role model at the highest level in wheelchair basketball for over 20 years. Dan started playing wheelchair basketball in the 1980’s and he represented Great Britain at the Seoul Paralympic Games in 1988. Dan continued to be a member of the GB team and amongst his achievements won a Silver medal at the World Championships in Edmonton in 1994, Gold at the European Championships in 1995, and in 1996 was an inspirational leading figure when the GB team won the Silver medal at the Atlanta Paralympic Games.

Dan retired from the GB team after finishing fourth in the Sydney Paralympics but he still competes at the highest level for the Oldham Owls. After retirement he went on to become a commentator with BBC Sport and a regular authority on basketball matters on the BBC Sport website.

Haj Bhania was awarded as the Coach of the Year in recognition of his continuing success with the GB Junior team and also the Aces team. Both wheelchair basketball teams continue their success as the GB Junior Wheelchair Basketball Team won the silver medal at the 2006 European Junior Championships held in Turkey and the Aces won the National League in the 2005/6 season.

We have added a new player interview the the website. Under the microscope this time is David Robertson who explains the reason's behind is summer move from Storm WBC to the Chester Jets.

We have added a picture gallery to the website that can be accessed by clicking the Basketball Gallery link in the options menu on this page. We hope to add many more pictures to the gallery and would welcome any photo's that you feel are good enough to go onto the site.

Organiser: CS Meaux (FRA)
RSC Rollis Zwickau (GER)
CD Once Andalucia (ESP)
Beit Halochem Tel Aviv (ISR)
CV Binnenland (NED)

Organiser: KIK Una – Sana Bihac (BIH)S. Lucia Sport (ITA)
CP Mideba (ESP)
Besiktas Jimnastic Klub (TUR)
MK Aces (GBR)

Organiser : CD Fundosa Grupo (ESP)
GSD Anmic Sassari (ITA)
Oldham Owls (GBR)
Hyeres Handiclub (FRA)
SV St Jan Brugge (BEL)

We have received the sad news that Wolverhampton Rhino's player Scott Lloyd passed away yesterday (29th July). Our condolences go to all of Scott's family and friends at this time.

July 7th - Group Stage
GB 63-44 Sweden
July 8th - Group Stage
GB 60-66 France
July 9th - Group Stage
GB 46-66 Australia
July 10th - Group Stage
RSA 59-75 GB

GB Mens's coach Dave Titmuss took timeout from his hectic schedule to speak to Stephen Orford prior to the recent trip to the North American cup competion staged in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.To read this interview please visit the player interview section on the site.

GBWBA league secretary Trevor Winyard has resigned from his position and will not be putting his name forward at this years agm for reelection. Below is Trevor's resignation letter that we are publishing with his permisssion.

I feel the time is right to inform you that I will no longer be putting myself forward as League Secretary after the AGM on 21^st May, 2006. There are several reasons why I have made this decision and I would like to outline some of these in my last report to the Executive Committee.

I feel that at the last AGM, where I was not voted on to the Executive Committee, showed a lack of respect for the work I have put into all aspects of the League in the last 15 years. Since this AGM, the lack of support has reached even lower points by some of the remarks made by some of the senior players in the League regarding my ability to make decisions as League Secretary. After all the years I have put in to be told that I know nothing about the game of wheelchair basketball, and to be told that I am senile, and that I am fining clubs to such an extent that these clubs will go out of existence because of my attitude to the sport of wheelchair basketball, I find unacceptable.

In my view the GBWBA is becoming disjointed, in that communication between Executive members is non-existent, the communication between the Executive members and the membership is haphazard and the communication between the office and club secretaries is spasmodic. This leads to an atmosphere of distrust and misunderstanding about why decisions have been made and who made them. I have pointed out this fact to several of the Executive members and nothing has been done. We now have two full time employees, manning the office, and the management of the League itself seems to have got worse rather than better. There are many more mistakes made with registrations, with players playing with wrong details on their cards, and because the office is closed sometimes for a week at a time, players have to play without cards. This cannot be a good situation.

The registration system seems to have been simplified and it would appear that we have gone back to a system which was in place when I took over as League Registrar in 1990. All of the improvements which have been made over the 15 years I was League Registrar have been swept away in the last season and this has led to many more mistakes being made than are necessary.

There seems to be an atmosphere created by the players throughout the League of winning at all costs. This season, this has led to unsportsmanlike conduct, which amounts to cheating, and lack of acceptance of referees decisions. This attitude to the sport has got worse over the years and it would appear that the players are taking a leaf out of football players books and treating the officials of the game in a disrespectful manner. I cannot see this changing, as certain players seem to think they are above the game and consequently can do as they like without retribution.

There have been many good club secretaries over the years who have done a very good job for their clubs, some of whom are still with their clubs. If my decision to leave affects them adversely, then I regret this, but I feel the aggravation which is coming into the game of wheelchair basketball is escalating and I do not want to be associated with this progression.

Steve Spilka, General Secretary of the League, has been very supportive over many years, and without his friendly advice I would probably have left before now.

Will club secretaries and players please contact the GBWBA Office for any information that is required after 21^st May.

Great Britain Men's team won the Bronze medal in the 2006 Paralympic world cup staged in Manchester.GB where missing key players Jon Pollock, Simon Munn and Colin Price and came face to face with the formidable Canadian duo of Patrick Anderson and Joey Johnson plus an Australian team boasting the likes of Brad Ness, Shaun Norris and Justin Everson.
The GB Women's team equaled last years silver medal when they lost out in this years final to Mexico.

The International Paralympic Committee is proud to introduce the new global internet television channel www.paralympicsport.tv where you can watch all your favourite Paralympic sport.

ParalympicSport.TV will bring you interesting and previously unseen footage from various Paralympic Games and competitions. From 10 to 19 March 2006 the internet channel will also broadcast live from various competitions of the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games.

With your support we hope to establish the channel as a global media platform for Paralympic and IPC Sports.

We received an email today from Charlie Bethel informing us that Ben Klerks the former Dutch National team player and current Women's team coach has passed away.
Our condolences go to Ben's wife and children.

Able-bodied players are to be allowed to play in the 1st Division of the GBWBA National league from season 2006/2007.

The wheelchair basketball community and in particular Vikings Wheelchair Basketball Club mourns the passing of Tom Baines on Tuesday December 6, aged just 29.

Tom joined the Vikings, then known as Meteors Wheelchair Basketball Club in 1989 as a teenager, and represented the club with great distinction for more than ten years. Tom was also a valued member of the North West Junior squad which picked up several national titles during the 1990’s and competed in Minnesota, USA in November 1991.

Two years later Tom was selected to represent a Great Britain under-18 team in Australia and helped the side beat all five state teams in the Australian national junior games. The Great Britain side then narrowly lost out to an Australian national under-18 team by a single point in a one-off test match, with Tom playing an integral part in the effort.

Though Tom‘s interest in the sport faded in later years, he visited club training sessions on occasion and remained a popular figure among club members.

A talented and skilful basketball player, Tom will be sorely missed by everyone involved with Vikings Wheelchair Basketball Club and by many involved elsewhere in the game.

We have received information that former GB player Jon Pollock (pictured above) has returned to the the mens squad.Jon left the squad after the Athens Paralympics but has now returned to the GB setup after a year away from the team.

Caroline Matthews has supplied us with some excellent basketball photographs from the 2005 playoffs.The pictures where taken on the afternoon of Saturday 21st May 2005.
Click here to go to the photographs.

1st Division
Winners Aylesbury Aces *Match Report*
Runners up Tameside Owls
2nd Division
Winners Vikings
Runners up Wasps
3rd Division
Winners Sheffield Steelers
Runners up Manchester Mavericks
4th Division
Winners Lancaster Bulldogs
Runners up Wolverhampton Rhinos
League Cup
Winners Vikings
Runners up Bristol Pirates
MVP
Kevin Hayes
All Star Team
Garry Peel Tameside Owls
Joe Jayaratne Aylesbury Aces
Kevin Hayes Sheffield Steelers
Peter Finbow Tameside Owls
Dean Cavanagh Manchester Mavericks

Congratulations to Sheffield Steelers who finished second in the 2005 Andre Vergauwen cup.
Steelers only lost two games in the final stages both of these against Tabu Cantu from Italy.

Sheffield Steelers 65-46 Villeneuve d" Ascq
Tabu Cantu 71-69 Sheffield Steelers
Sheffield Steelers 57-53 KIS UNA Sana

Today (29th March) we received the sad news that Ayrshire Cougars player Denis Bonnar has passed away after short illness.Our deepest sympathies go out to Denis's family and you can leave your own message on this matter by visiting the messageboard.

The family have asked that tributes to Denis be made in the form of a donation to organisations promoting Menigitis awareness.
You can donate on line at http://www.meningitis-trust.org/

Four teams represented Great Britain the European competitions this weekend.
Oldham Owls and MK Aces where competing in the Preliminary round of the Eurocup whilst Sheffield Steelers and Storm WBC were competing in the preliminary round of the Andre Vergauwen cup.
Unfortunately the weekend was not a great success for our teams with Oldham Owls,MK Aces and Storm WBC all being elimated.
A report on Oldham's exploits can be found by clicking here.
However Sheffield Steelers did manage to qualify for the finals and we wish them all the best when they travel to Milan.

We are sure you will all know that the UKWBF website has been experiencing problems during the last few days.The kickme redirecting service is getting very unreliable and therefore we have now purchased our own url that will hopefully eradicate any future problems.Please can all visitors update their bookmarks and replace the old web address (www.kickme.to/ukwbf) with the new one (www.ukwbf.co.uk).

Welcome to the Uk wheelchair basketball forum.
This site is dedicated to the sport of wheelchair basketball and is run by myself Tony Peel and Sue Conroy.
Currently Sue plays for Liverpool based team Vikings in the 2nd Division North of the GBWBA while I am am member of the Oldham Owls club who are currently playing in the 1st Division North of the GBWBA
We have added a couple of new features to the site that will hopefully make the site more interesting for visitors.
The player interview section will be written by Vikings player and qualified journalist Stephen Orford.
If you would like to have your thoughts on the game put onto the site I am sure Ste will be very willing to conduct an interview with you so send an email to me vulnavia40@hotmail.com or ste can be reached using this email address meteors07@hotmail.com