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PRESS RELEASE - NOV 2011
COACHING ON TOP AT THE CELTIC WARRIORS
The Celtic Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Club get their season off to a flying start with a new coaching team and a growing club network.
The Warriors have been working hard throughout the summer to ensure they are ready to start the season as strongly as possible. The Club, based at Darland High School Rossett, now has a full coaching team with the aim of making the division play-offs in May next year.
The club has recruited a new Head Coach in Emma Tomkinson, who comes with experience from the running basketball game with Mold Magic and is now working hard with the squad. ‘It’s a great opportunity for me to work with the Warriors and I am really looking forward to the season ahead’ said Emma.
Emma, who is from Northop Hall, is being supported by two assistant coaches: Sophie Vaughan, a sports science graduate, who is working on skills and cardiovascular fitness and Steve Midghall a former Chester Jets’ player who has taken on coaching for the junior and development teams. Emma, Sophie and Steve are part of the first group of coaches in North Wales to be qualified at Level 2 in Wheelchair Basketball. To continue to develop their coaching skills, the Warrior’s have been working with coaching consultant Ian Richards who brings with him over 20 years of coaching and tutoring experience in the sport of basketball.
Mike Hayes, who is the Development Officer for the Club, has been working to establish satellite teams across North Wales. Rhyl Raptors are the first to get up and running and soon teams will be started in Conwy and Gwynedd. The Club’s goal is to have over 100 people participating in the sport across North Wales by the end of this season.
A number of the Warriors’ junior players have just returned from the National Junior Championships in Stoke Mandeville and from the UK School games where they represented Wales. ‘It is really exciting to see players who have come through our junior and development teams ready to step up to the senior squad. There is a real buzz in the whole squad this season and it is great to see how all the hard training over the summer is paying off’ said Mike.
‘Wheelchair basketball is a fast, exciting and dynamic sport, for people with and without a disability and of all ages and abilities, said Mike, ‘everyone is welcome to come and have a go with the Celtic Warriors and other teams across North Wales - we guarantee you will enjoy it!’
Fighting spirit of the Celtic Warriors
Wrexham Evening Leader
Published date: 23 November 2010 | Published by: Rob Bellis
WHEELCHAIR basketball is an incredibly fast-paced sport. Even in training the Celtic Warriors team exercise at a fast and furious pace.
The senior team has just moved up a division after a very successful season last year and they are on the lookout for new players to join their ranks.
But you don’t have to be an elite player to enjoy the sport as the team cater for all ages and levels of experience.
The Celtic Warriors have players of all ages and ability, from six and seven year olds to over-40s, including one Great Britain international and two juniors in the North West Juniors Team.
Mike Hayes, development manager at the club, explained how he got involved: “I’ve always competed in disability sports. I went to the Paralympics with track and field and I’d always been aware of wheelchair basketball. I knew there was a team here and I came along as a retired athlete and now I work harder than ever.”
Perhaps rather surprisingly, you don’t have to be a wheelchair user to give wheelchair basketball a go.
Wheelchair basketball can be played by people with or without a disability. Each player is given a classification of between one and five points, though in order to play at international level you must have a permanent lower limb disability.
“We’re a pretty exclusive club in that we’re the only one in the area,” Mike continued. “But it’s not just a sport for wheelchair users. There are older players and people who have maybe sustained an injury which means that they can’t run any more.
“If people want to have a go, we have the equipment and, whether they are five or 55 they can give it a go. We are trying to encourage people who’ve never done sport, people who have had an injury or disability in later life, it is a sport everyone can play.”
And the Celtic Warriors have been doing very well of late.
“We’ve just been promoted into the first division which, for a club of our size, is a great achievement,” Mike enthused. “We now need to expand and find new players in order to justify where we are. We can all play together – disabled and non-disabled people – and there is something for everyone. We have a juniors’ section as well as the seniors and we currently have between 15 and 20 players of varying abilities.”
Caz Ballard-East, club captain and chairman, is one of the players who is not a wheelchair user. She said: “I was at university in Chester playing rugby and I ripped the ligaments in my knee so that I couldn’t go back and play rugby.
“I knew Anna (Jackson, club secretary) and she suggested I come down and give it a try. I’ve been here 11 years now.
“Most of my friends say ‘how can you play when you don’t use a wheelchair every day ?’ but everyone can play, even fully able-bodied people.
“This means that if someone in the family is disabled, their brother or sister, parents or friends can come along and play as well.”
The club, based at Darland Sports Centre in Rosset, is looking at developing links with schools and 5x60 officers to increase awareness of the sport as well as encouraging more participants.
It is also looking to promote the club through the Artificial Limb and Appliance Centre in Wrexham and spinal units servicing North Wales, Southport and Oswestry.
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