Wheelchair basketball club is making its mark
IT started out as fun between friends.
But now Women Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Club is a 32-member sports club mixing able-bodied and disabled players.
Shortlisted for Glasgow Club of the Year at the Sportsperson of the Year Awards, founder Annemarie Monaghan says she can’t believe her team’s success.
Annemarie, who will discover tomorrow whether they have won, said: “It’s just wonderful for recognition and a great achievement for everybody involved.
“We are the friendly club and I feel that this is recognition of that too.”
Annemarie had a long history of playing sport but became ill a few years ago and was unable to take part.
She has been a wheelchair user for the past three years and was inspired to set up her own basketball team during the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Initially six women played – four able bodied and two with a disability. But, thanks to their reputation for warmth and friendliness – as well as a focus on sport and fitness – the club has blossomed.
The team, which trains in Jordanhill School on Monday nights, now competes in the National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball league, the Scottish Development League and Wheelchair Basketball Masters.
Annemarie said: “Our performance is improving all the time. We go and have a great time and we find our women grow in confidence all the time. We have women who have been isolated for a long part of their life who are piling into minibuses and going off for the weekend with a gang of friends to play basketball.
“People love us, we are entertainment. We are just there to have fun and do our best.”
Thanks to funding from the Celtic FC Foundation and the Weir Charitable Trust, the Warriors were able to buy 15 sport wheelchairs in their team colours of pink and black.
They have plans to increase training to two nights a week and encourage more members to join.
Annemarie said: “What we would like to do is welcome as many women over the age of 16 as we can to come and join us.
“We are very determined to be a women-only club because of the camaraderie and support.
“But also, when I was first setting out, I went along to a mixed team and none of the men would throw the ball to me so I went in a huff.
“The dummy was out the pram so I thought, ‘I’ll set up my own team – and it will be just for women’.”
While Annemarie talks of the fitness, fun and social side of being a Wheelchair Warrior, being part of the team has other side effects.
She added: “Women grow in confidence and self-esteem.
“Yes, we are about being sociable and having a social network but we also help women physically and mentally by playing sport.
“Being in the team puts everybody on a level playing field. Able bodied play with wheelchair users – there’s no difference between us and while we are all at different levels, it’s not because of our physical disabilities.
“People with physical challenges are playing with people who have none and that has great benefit for everyone involved.”