Canadian town starts wheelchair basketball recreational club

From Comox Valley Echo:

Making sports and recreation accessible to people of all abilities is the name of the game for Comox physiotherapist Anna McCarthy.

"Our real target area is anyone who is wheelchair-bound and doesn't have access to activities, but also their friends and relatives who want to join in with them," said McCarthy, who helped launch the Comox Valley Wheelchair Basketball Club.

The club started in mid-April, and there are about 20 players who drop-in on a weekly basis.

People who find it hard to participate in sports due to age, injury, or disabilities are welcome to join.

Others, who just want to experience the game on wheels, are also invited to play.

"It just makes it far more inclusive if it's not restricted to people in a wheelchair," McCarthy said.

"If we don't have 10 wheelchair-bound people in the Valley who want to play basketball then in order for the people who do want to play we need to fill those roles."

Karin Kratz, who uses a wheelchair, is a founding member of the club.

"It breaks all kind of barriers and stereotypes. Wheelchair basketball is the great leveler," she said. "And it's just a blast."

However, both McCarthy and Kratz worry the season might be cut short.

The wheelchairs the club relies on are on loan from the Nanaimo Wheelchair Basketball Club until September.

In order for the Valley club to continue into fall, it would have to raise $30,000 to purchase wheelchairs of its own, McCarthy said, adding the chairs could serve to make a range of sports available to the Valley's disabled.

"We very much are looking for funding," she said.

Originally from England, McCarthy settled in the Comox Valley last September with the intent to join a wheelchair sports club.

"I realized there weren't any wheelchair team sports in the Valley at all," she said.

McCarthy said she was surprised the Valley, which promotes itself as an outdoor pursuits and activity oasis, had little on offer for the disabled.

"You look around and it's only accessible to fully able people and I find that quite shocking really, especially in a place like Canada," she said.

She hoped her dream team of players would spark other sports and activities to become more accessible to the disabled.

The club gets together Friday evening from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Comox Recreation Centre.