For Noel Aquilina, an amputee basketball coach with spina bifida, the barriers created by society for people with a disability are just like those in an obstacle course – they are there to be jumped over.

He was once told he could not show “all the moves” to the children. So Noel Aquilina, the person who introduced wheelchair basketball to Malta, moved to another nursery – where his sense of determination is already rubbing off on his students.

“The best things in my life are the barriers, or in other words, society’s perception of disability, because striving to overcome them is what keeps me going,” he said, his eyes never leaving the basketball court where his team was warming up.

“My relatives tried to stop me from working, driving and gaining independence… and thanks to them I now work full time, drive my own car, have moved into my own place and got married.”

Born with spina bifida, his left leg had to be amputated about five years ago. Now 38, he coaches about 25 Under 10 children at the Siġġiewi Basketball Learning School.

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He joined the Siġġiewi nursery after being told he might be let off by another club he used to coach for. The reason for his dismissal, he was told, was that someone high up in the club – who had never turned up for any of his games – believed he could not show “all the moves” to the children.

Striving to overcome them is what keeps me going

“I resigned immediately. Had this person expressed his concern face to face, I would have shown him how I use other tools during my coaching,” he recalled.

Once a child picks up a move, for example, Mr Aquilina asks him to demonstrate it to his mates. He also makes use of two assistant coaches and two captains.

His determination has rubbed off on the children, who look up to him, head coach Karl Borg told The Sunday Times of Malta. The school, Mr Borg added, was “very satisfied” with Mr Aquilina.

The coach’s bad experience with the previous club was not a first for him.

In 2009, his friend Sergio Sciberras challenged him to cycle from Ċirkewwa to Birżebuġa, but someone who overheard the conversation remarked that Mr Aquilina would never make it.

“Irritated, my friend said: ‘So we’ll do it from Messina to Pozzallo!’ Equally irritated I immediately agreed.

“Later that day I asked him: ‘So where are Messina and Pozzallo exactly?’

“When my friend said he was only joking, I would have nothing of it.

“We trained in the rain – him on a bicycle and me on a handbike.”

The following year, the pair cycled 318 kilometres across Sicily in three days with another two cyclists.

“I have to break negative perceptions, not for my own benefit, but for the benefit of society. Over here, at the basketball school, inclusion is natural, because we have coaches and children of different abilities.” And they don’t go over budget to do so.

Mr Aquilina knows that inclusion comes natural with children. And ultimately, children with disabilities actually manage to do what their peers are able to do.

“They will manage in their own way, but we persist, and we can get the results. We all have our different attention spans and we all take our time to reason out how things are done. If we give children the time they need, they will all get it.”

Mr Aquilina believes that society tends to “medicalise” disabilities too much.

“If instead of pointing at ‘dis ability’, we look out at ‘this ability’, we automatically change our perception.”

‘Limited opportunities’

While sport has made life for Dean Borg Myatt more fulfilling, the seven-year-old’s opportunities are limited when compared to his peers. Dean attends the Siġġiewi Basketball Learning School but apart from Special Olympics, this seems to be his only feasible option.

Born with Down Syndrome, Dean used to train with a football team for children with special needs and also learns basic sports skills with Special Olympics Malta.

Initially scared of even walking on his own, he is now a keen basketball player.  His mother noted that since joining a team with mixed abilities at Siġġiewi, his physical and intellectual development has accelerated, because there is a variety of abilities that he can emulate.

But when an attempt was made to enrol him with Skolasajf  she was told someone needs to accompany him throughout the classes – not a feasible or cheap solution.

“At school we are very happy with the level of inclusion but for extracurricular activities, our options are limited,” she said.

“The more we want our children to be independent, the more we feel there is a large gap for children with special needs.”

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