Wheelchair Basketball celebrates 21 years

The Vodacom Wheelchair Basketball Challenge celebrated 21 years of showcasing the inspiring talents of athletes with a disability at the Vodacom Mandeville Indoor Sports Centre on December 5.

Paralympic star Kat Swanepoel served as the ambassador for this year’s event.

Swanepoel’s inspiring story ushered in a weekend of intense wheelchair basketball action as the North West looked to defend its title in the chase for the R100 000 prize on offer in both the senior men and senior women’s finals.

In 2019, the last time the Vodacom Wheelchair Basketball Challenge was played before the Covid-19 pandemic, the North West became the first province in the history of wheelchair basketball in South Africa to win the u-23, senior men and senior women’s finals.

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They again faced strong competition from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape in this year’s Vodacom Wheelchair Basketball Challenge.

But the focus of this year’s event was on the victory of every single athlete to have overcome the seemingly insurmountable odds against them and rise to the challenge of inspiring a new generation of wheelchair basketball athletes.

Swanepoel’s journey served as ample inspiration.

Swanepoel, who in 2008 was diagnosed with progressive multiple sclerosis, has represented her country in wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and swimming, and missed a bronze medal by only half a second in the 50m S4 backstroke event at the Tokyo Paralympics.

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The Vodacom Wheelchair Basketball Challenge is a competition that she is passionate about as someone who benefited from finding and joining this community of athletes when she was at her lowest after her diagnosis.

“I’ve had the privilege of playing in a few Vodacom-sponsored wheelchair basketball tournaments. You have to have the opportunity to compete to get better. With funding drying up and people with disabilities often being overlooked, Vodacom stands out as a company that gives its all for disabled sport.

“They believe in it, even to the extent that they’re passionate about giving equal support to the men and women,” said Swanepoel.

Swanepoel is the perfect illustration of how the power of opportunity combined with her determined nature can create new heroes in South African sport.

For over two decades now, Vodacom has supported South Africa’s disabled athletes through the provision of a world-class facility such as the Vodacom Mandeville Indoor Stadium and competitive opportunities on both the domestic and international front.

The Vodacom Wheelchair Basketball Challenge finals were played on Sunday and were broadcast on SuperSport.