British Paralympian encouraging young disabled people to participate in sports

From BBC News:

Exeter's Judith Hamer (pictured) is one of Great Britain's most promising young wheelchair basketball players.

Alongside holding down a job and training five days a week, the 19-year-old finds time to act as a role model for other disabled youngsters, encouraging them to get involved with Paralympic sports.

Hamer was born with one leg significantly longer than the other and endured many operations to correct the problem before deciding to have her right limb amputated in 2006.

Fast-forward four years and Hamer is now part of the GB wheelchair basketball squad, whilst also using her experiences to a positive effect - persuading others in her position that playing sport to a highly competitive standard is possible.

Hamer said: "I was really lucky that Paralympics GB saw me and wanted me to help, get involved and encourage new people to join in with sports.

"Sport can be a really great thing for a lot of people - it opens a lot of doors.

"I was only playing for two years before I joined the GB squad.

"2012 will be the biggest thing I ever do, and I won't be able to play at a home Paralympics ever again."

In July, Hamer was part of the GB squad that finished sixth at the Wheelchair Basketball World Championships, and is now hoping to build on that experience in the run up to the London Paralympics:

"We're aiming higher than that now," she said.

"We're seeing this cycle as a development cycle, to improve our ranking at 2012, so now our target is third or fourth, so that's a big step up from eighth at the Beijing Olympics.

She added: "All the major tournaments I've been to have been on home soil, so I'm used to playing in front of a home crowd, and it's definitely an advantage."

At club level, Hamer has recently joined Aylesbury-based Super League club, The Aces, where with the help of head coach Haj Bhania she is hoping to increase her ability on the court even further.

She said: "I was playing in division two for the past two years and that was really good for me to get used to playing and learn how to play, but now I have to move to a higher division to push myself further."