Wheelchair basketball

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Wheelchair basketball game

Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varyin' physical disabilities that disqualify them from playin' a holy non-disabled sport.[1] These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of the legs, or other parts), and many other disabilities. Be the holy feck, this is a quare wan. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the feckin' governin' body for this sport.[2] It is recognized by the feckin' International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the feckin' sole competent authority in wheelchair basketball worldwide. Listen up now to this fierce wan. FIBA has recognized IWBF under Article 53 of its General Statutes.[3]

The IWBF has 95 National Organizations for Wheelchair Basketball (NOWBs) participatin' in wheelchair basketball throughout the bleedin' world, with this number increasin' each year. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people play wheelchair basketball from recreation to club play and as elite national team members.[4]

Wheelchair basketball is included in the oul' Paralympic Games. The Wheelchair Basketball World Championship is played two years after every Paralympic Games. Major competition in wheelchair basketball comes from Canada, Australia, the feckin' United States, Great Britain, the bleedin' Netherlands, and Japan.


1940s to 1960s[edit]

In 1944, Ludwig Guttmann, through the bleedin' rehabilitation program at the bleedin' Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, adapted existin' sports to use wheelchairs.[5] It was known as wheelchair netball.

At around the oul' same times, startin' from 1946, wheelchair basketball games were played primarily between American World War II disabled veterans.[6] It was used as an oul' way for these soldiers to rehabilitate and socialize with other disabled veterans, what? Wheelchair basketball helped the bleedin' veterans become more physically active and improve in skills such as coordination and communication.[7] This began in the United States at the University of Illinois. Dr. Timothy Nugent founded the feckin' National Wheelchair Basketball Association in 1949 and served as commissioner for the first 25 years.[8]

The Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games, held in 1947, were the bleedin' first games to be held and included only an oul' handful of participants (26), and few events (shot put, javelin, club throw, and archery).

The number of wheelchair events and participants grew quickly. Right so. Wheelchair netball was introduced in the 1948 Games, like. In 1952, a team from the oul' Netherlands was invited to compete with the oul' British team. Here's a quare one. This became the first International Stoke-Mandeville Games (ISMG), an event that has been held annually ever since.

Wheelchair basketball, as we know it now, was first played at the oul' 1956 International Stoke-Mandeville Games. The US "Pan Am Jets" team won the oul' tournament.[9]

1970s to present[edit]

Wheelchair basketball at the oul' University of Worcester, England (video)
Competitors in the oul' 2012 Euroleague tournament

In 1973, the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) established the first sub-section for wheelchair basketball. At that time, ISMGF was the bleedin' world governin' body for all wheelchair sports.

In 1989, ISMGF accepted for its former wheelchair basketball sub-section to be named International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF).

Full independence came in 1993 with the oul' IWBF becomin' the bleedin' world body for wheelchair basketball with full responsibility for development of the feckin' sport. Over the followin' years, IWBF membership grew in size, and based on the number of National Organizations for Wheelchair Basketball (NOWBs) with active programs, the bleedin' international federation configured itself into four geographical zones: Africa, Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe.

Wheelchair Basketball World Championship[edit]

World championships for the sport have been held since 1973, with Bruges, Belgium bein' the first host city. The first world championship for men was won by Great Britain. Be the holy feck, this is a quare wan. Of the oul' first 11 men's world championships, six were won by the United States (1979, 1983, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2002), two were won by Great Britain (1973, 2018), two were won by Australia (2010, 2014); and once each by Israel (1975), France (1990) and Canada (2006), would ye swally that? Canada has won five of the women's world championship titles (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2014), the feckin' United States two (1990, 2010) and the Netherlands one (2018).[10]


Australian women's wheelchair basketballer Amanda Carter challengin' for the bleedin' ball in a game against the US at the bleedin' 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games

Wheelchair basketball retains most major rules and scorin' of basketball, and maintains a 10-foot basketball hoop and standard basketball court. The exceptions are rules which have been modified with consideration for the feckin' wheelchair. C'mere til I tell ya now. For example, "travellin'" in wheelchair basketball occurs when the feckin' athlete touches their wheels more than twice after receivin' or dribblin' the oul' ball.[11] The individual must pass, bounce, or shoot the ball before touchin' the feckin' wheels again.[12]

In some countries, such as Canada, Australia, and England, non-disabled athletes usin' wheelchairs are allowed to compete alongside other athletes on mixed teams.


Classification is an international regulation for playin' wheelchair basketball to harmonize players' different levels of disabilities. Arra' would ye listen to this shite? All teams which compete above a recreational level use the oul' classification system to evaluate the feckin' functional abilities of players on an oul' point scale of 1 to 4.5. Sure this is it. Minimally disabled athletes are classified as an oul' 4.5, and an individual with the oul' highest degree of disability (such as an oul' paraplegic with an oul' complete injury below the feckin' chest) would be classified as a bleedin' 1.0. I hope yiz are all ears now. Competitions restrict the bleedin' number of points allowable on the court at one time. Here's a quare one. The five players from each team on the oul' court durin' play may not exceed a total of 14 points. Sufferin' Jaysus. In places where teams are integrated, non-disabled athletes compete as either a feckin' 4.5 in Canada or a 5.0 in Europe; however, non-disabled athletes are not allowed to compete internationally.[13]

Wheelchair design[edit]

Basketball wheelchairs are designed for enhanced stability. The center of gravity is where the oul' chair and the feckin' athlete's mass are equally distributed in all directions. Arra' would ye listen to this shite? Points at which the feckin' wheelchair can tip over sideways are the bleedin' fulcrum, bedad. A wheelchair with an oul' higher seat is easier to tip. Holy blatherin' Joseph, listen to this. Basketball chairs have lower seats and wheels that are angled outward so that the oul' center of gravity has to move a bleedin' greater distance before it passes over the oul' fulcrum and tips the chair. Bejaysus this is a quare tale altogether. Guards use wheelchairs different from those of centers and forwards, fair play. Forwards and centers are typically under the oul' net, so their chairs have higher seats and therefore less stability, but the bleedin' height increases the bleedin' player's reach for shots at the oul' hoop and for rebounds, enda story. Guards have lower seats and therefore greater stability for ball handlin' and gettin' down the court as quickly as possible.[14]

Wheelchair 3on3[edit]

Was started since 2019.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "What is Wheelchair Basketball". Jaykers! ActiveSG. Jesus Mother of Chrisht almighty. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  2. ^ "Home page", to be sure. International Wheelchair Basketball Federation, grand so. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  3. ^ "Wheelchair basketball". Chrisht Almighty. Capstone. Jaykers! Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  4. ^ Estimates of number of players accordin' to the bleedin' IWBF website Archived 2008-12-16 at the oul' Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "History of the feckin' Sport". Wheelchair Basketball Canada. G'wan now. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  6. ^ "History of Wheelchair Basketball". Jaysis. International Wheelchair Basketball Federation. 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  7. ^ Skučas, Kęstutis; Stonkus, Stanislovas; Molik, Bartosz; Skučas, Vytautas (2018-10-29). Whisht now and listen to this wan. "Evaluation of Wheelchair Basketball Skill Performance of Wheelchair Basketball Players in Different Game Positions". C'mere til I tell ya. Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences. Sufferin' Jaysus. 4 (75), fair play. doi:10.33607/bjshs.v4i75.412. I hope yiz are all ears now. ISSN 2538-8347, bejaysus. S2CID 239919988.
  8. ^ "Nugent, Timothy J. Jasus. (1923-)". Sure this is it. University of Illinois Archives. Retrieved 2016-11-17.
  9. ^ Otero, Michael (21 May 2011). "Sprint, agility, strength and endurance capacity in wheelchair basketball players". Biology of Sport. Biology of sports. Would ye believe this shite?32 (1): 71–81. doi:10.5604/20831862.1127285. PMC 4314607. G'wan now and listen to this wan. PMID 25729153.
  10. ^ Fontaine, Pamela (2000), the cute hoor. Wheelchair basketball. Bejaysus. Boston: 66 leaves, bedad. p. 20.
  11. ^ "Basic Rules of the bleedin' Game". BC Wheelchair Basketball Society, Lord bless us and save us. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  12. ^ Syzman, Robert (January 14, 2014). "Ball Size and Distance". Whisht now and eist liom. Consumer health. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ^ "Basketball". Would ye swally this in a minute now?International Paralympic Committee.
  14. ^ "Science of the feckin' summer Olympics: engineerin' for mobility" Cooper R. National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineerin'. Retrieved 9 October 2014

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