Junior Development

The Lord's Taverners Junior Development Programme

In supporting the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association, The Lord's Taverners continue to make the single most significant contribution to the development of wheelchair basketball and creation of opportunities for young and aspiring athletes who use a wheelchair since the organisation’s inception in the 1950s.

The support has come at the most opportune time, with the United Kingdom hosting the World Championships in 2010 and the Summer Paralympic Games in 2012. The impact of supporting a junior programme will result in not only a structural legacy for the sport and drastically increase participation, it will provide quality opportunities for the UK's talent to increase their confidence, take leadership roles at a young age, and to develop into truly world class athletes competing at the Paralympic Games.

The programme creates partnerships not only between the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association and The Lord's Taverners, but it will also open doors to other opportunities, allowing for sustained development and enabling clubs to build a workforce that will see a legacy of clubs and participation throughout the country.

The Junior Development Programme is approaching its third of a five year programme, and concentrates on providing competitive opportunities, developing clubs, developing coaches, and developing sport in the Home Countries. The strap line we are using for the programme is, 'developing wheelchair basketball, developing young people!'

Targeted resources will also be directed towards the Home Countries. Wales has received funding support from the programme, this commitment also received match-funding from the Federation of Disability Sport in Wales in terms of officer support and additional resources. The programme has set in motion the development of clubs in Wrexham (Celtic Warriors) and Cardiff (Celts) , as well as the establishment of two new clubs in Swansea and Powys. It is hoped that the success of the programme can be duplicated in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the future.