Katherine Reed, left, and Ella Sabljak training for the WNWBL season opener on 3 June at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium. 64923 Picture: Jarrod Potter
By Jarrod Potter
THREE wheelchair basketball players from the Dandenong Rangers will represent Australia at the under-25 women’s world championships in Canada.
Cobie Crispin, Bridie Kean and Katherine Reed made the team, while a fourth Dandenong Ranger, Ella Sabljak, was invited to be part of the trials at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
Despite taking different paths to get into the sport, Sabljak, 19, and Reed, 22, agree wheelchair basketball is fantastic for athletes to play as a competitive team sport.
“I’ve been playing for three or four years and got into it just because I couldn’t run,” Sabljak said. “I’ve got a neuro-muscular disorder and it’s impaired my abilities. So (wheelchair basketball) is a great way to get out and get fit, meet new people and explore a whole new world out there,” Sabljak said.
“I had a horse-riding accident a couple of years ago and broke my back,” Reed said. “I did my rehab at the Royal Talbot, where Campbell Message, from the men’s national team, works. He’s the leisure co-ordinator and it’s his job to get the patients into sports and recreation; he got me into wheelchair basketball.”
Crispin, Kean and Reed will head to Canada on 11 July for the 2011 Women’s Under-25 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships at Brock University, Ontario.
“It’s very exciting to get in the team, and be on the way to Canada to be in the first women’s under-25 world championships,” Reed said.
“It was a really good camp for me (at the AIS) because as far as the Australian squad is concerned, I’m one of the new girls, so it was a good chance for me to step up and take a bit more of a leadership role.
“I think the idea behind this tournament in Canada is to give girls like myself and the other girls on the team a chance to break into the international ranks. For most of us, in the past, it’s been junior national competition in Australia but no international competition, so this is a great stepping stone to the national team.”
Besides the international events, there is also the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) which commences on 3 June and the girls also play in a mid-week competition in Knox.
“We have a local competition which is run at Knox Basketball Stadium on Tuesday nights,” Reed said.
“All the kids coming into that level, or for people who recently had accidents, it gives them an opportunity to get out there and learn the sport.”
The Victorian Dandenong Rangers tip off the WNWBL season against the Western Stars at 7pm, Friday 3 June at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium.
