Local wheelchair basketball hits the national stage
Head down to the Police Citizens Youth Club (PCYC) in Dee Why on a Wednesday night, and you’re sure to find a fast and fun game of wheelchair basketball in action. It’s home to Manly Wheelchair Basketball (MWB), whose top team, the Manly Wheel Eagles have just made the finals in their first national competition.
Curl Curl’s Koen Jansens is the assistant coach of the Wheel Eagles and was a pivotal figure in getting the MWB off the ground. “We are incredibly proud of our journey from grassroots beginnings to competing on a national level,” Koen says.
Following a glittering wheelchair basketball career covering four Paralympic Games competing for his native Netherlands – winning a gold and silver medal along the way – Koen retired from his basketball career to focus on his two children. Keon met his Australian wife Donna at the Atlanta Paralympic Games in 1996 and eventually moved to Australia.
Just after COVID-19, Wheelchair Sports NSW reached out to Koen. “They said they wanted to start something locally at the Dee Why Police Citizens Youth Club, and they asked myself and another local Paralympian, Lisa Edmonds, to come and help out. Just to help coach a little bit and to lead the session.”
Koen and Lisa started the Manly Wheelchair Basketball program, inviting all ages to come along on a Wednesday night to be active and have fun while learning valuable basketball skills.
“They are very much an ‘anyone can join’ social type of get-together,” Koen says. “That’s how the club was really born.”
The games are five a side, and the variations to able-bodied basketball games include the ‘travel’ and ‘contact’ rules.
Koen says they started to ‘build a community,’ and soon they were putting teams into the local competitions, which then progressed to having a team in a state competition. “Then this year, for the first time, we decided to enter a team into the National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL). And that’s when it became pretty serious,” Koen says.
The Manly Wheel Eagles team recently reached the finals of the NWBL in Shellharbour, NSW, finishing in the top four. The mixed gender team features current Paralympian Bill Latham, who is in Paris for the Paralympics, along with Koen who is assistant coach, and top female players Annabelle Lindsay, Kylie Gauci and Victoria Simpson.
Wheelchair basketball is an expensive sport, so thankfully the Wheel Eagles have a number of sponsors, including LiveBig, a specialist allied health and assessment services provider for people with disability.
“Our focus isn’t just on elite competition,” Koen says. “We’re dedicated to offering opportunities for athletes of all levels of ability and ambition, from those aspiring to be Paralympians to those seeking the social and health benefits of sport.”
For more information on wheelchair basketball sessions and competitions, visit manlywheelchairbasketball.com
