Public invited to Wheel-Ability basketball demo

The public is invited to see how wheelchair basketball is played. A demonstration will be held on Sunday, January 31 when the Wheel-Ability Sport Club in Windhoek receives two basketball sport wheelchairs plus a hand bike from two United States not-for-profit organisations. The event will take place at 16:00 at the basketball field in the Independence Arena The public is invited to attend the event and meet disability sports expert Gregory Milano, representing the organisations that donated the equipment. “It all started with an e-mail from Gregory who found our Wheel-Ability Sports Club on the internet,” says Bjorn Magg, coach of Wheel-Ability, which is organised under the Paralympics Committee. “He said that he was coming to Namibia soon and would be able to bring some sports equipment.” A Skype call and three weeks later, he arrived with two basketball sport wheelchairs and a hand bike. “I arranged the donation to support the growing disability sports programmes in Namibia,” says Milano, who works at BORP Adaptive Sports in Berkeley, California, a centre that offers wheelchair basketball, adaptive cycling, fitness classes, football, canoeing, and other sports for people with physical disabilities. He is also involved with Inclusive Cycling International, the organisation that donated the hand cycle to Wheel-Ability Sports Club. “The hand cycle I brought to allow participants to feel and learn how good a form of exercise it is and to encourage Namibians to start a disability cycling programme,” says the disability sport expert and passionate cyclist. Milano and the team and coaches of Wheel-Ability will be available for questions, and there will be opportunity to try out the hand cycle and to watch a game of wheelchair basketball. “People can even join us on the field,” said Magg. “In Europe and elsewhere wheelchair basketball is quite big; the wheelchair is regarded as normal sports equipment, just like a racket, a ball or a bike.” SPORT REPORTER