Kristina Chetcuti tries her hand at wheelchair basketball to help break the taboo surrounding the sport.

This is definitely the most challenging upper-body workout ever. And I am not at a fully-stocked super gym, nor am I heaving my pair of mismatched dumbbells.

No. The credit goes to a sweaty, tough session of wheelchair basketball at Ta’ Qali. In 30 minutes, the intensive workout has boosted my back, arms and shoulders and I can feel my muscles being sculpted in manner of Lara Croft.

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

When Sue Debattista, a wheelchair basketball player, invited Pink to try out the game, I thought: “Heh! Playing while sitting down can’t be all that difficult.” Wrong.

I did not reckon with the little matter of dribbling, passing and shooting while at the same time having to wheel yourself around the court. The end result was a lot of spinning on the spot and chasing of the ball. After five minutes, I was panting. By the 10th minute, I was exhausted and nowhere near making a decent pass, let alone netting the ball.

“Don’t worry,” says Sue, 42, from Attard. “The first time I played wheelchair basketball I ended up with blisters all over my hands and aches all over my body. You have to give it some time until the wheelchair becomes part of you and you don’t even think about it during the game.”

Sue is, in fact, an ‘active’ player, the term used for the able-bodied. She joined the Malta Wheelchair Basketball last year. It was set up in 2014; today, they are a team of about 10 – a mix of players with disabilities and active ones. Pink is here because they would like to encourage more people to join the team to be able to organise a proper league.

“It would be great if you could tell everyone what a good workout it is. People tend to see the word ‘wheelchair’ and zone out. But, in fact, it’s brilliant exercise for everyone,” says Sue.

A mother of two sons, she used to play basketball when she was younger, but after a miscarriage, she decided to stop before her next pregnancy. However, she claims, she always felt the need to be part of a team.

I played basketball when I could still walk, so the fact that I can play it even now that I am in a wheelchair is great

“I never had the opportunity as I felt too busy to be committed to a team.

Thirteen years later, I came across the words ‘wheelchair basketball’ and decided to check out Facebook. I watched a video on how to play it and it struck me. I immediately thought this was for me and I never looked at it as a sport for ‘the disabled’ – a common misconception out there. People think of it as charity –
please don’t. It’s a workout.

“I decided to give it a go, and I must say, I really had a good time! Now, a year has passed, and even though we only meet once a week on Sundays, I always try my best to join for a great session.”

Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The youngest in the team is Bradley Zerafa, 12, from Fgura, who suffers from spina bifida and has been restricted to wheelchair use. He wants to tell me how much he loves the game, but at the same time, he’s fidgety: the longer he talks to me, the less time he’ll have zooming about, ball in hand, on court.

“I played basketball when I could still walk, so the fact that I can play it even now that I am in a wheelchair is great,” he says. Then he adds as an afterthought: “Actually it’s more fun!”

Wheelchair basketball is played in a regular-sized court, with five people against another five; the height of the rings is exactly the same as in active basketball. The skills are also exactly the same: dribbling, passing, shooting.

“It’s a very fast game, especially when two teams are playing against each
other,” the team’s coach Kristin Baldacchino, says.

Kristin, who is an occupational therapist by profession, also stresses how this is a sport for everybody: “Players of basketball, skilled ones, people who have never played basket in their lives, active people and people with any kind of disability.”

The wheelchairs are specially designed for stability: the seats are lower and the wheels are positioned further apart than those of regular ones and are inclined at an angle. They are lighter, more durable and agile, as well as being slightly different according to each player’s position on the court.

Wheelchair control is the challenging part. When you’re about to shoot, you can’t just focus on the hoop; you have to remember to stop the chair. The rules are the same as stand-up basketball, but you have to make triple the effort, which is what makes it an extensive upper-body workout.

World championships for the sport, which was founded by US veteran soldiers, have been held since 1973. However, it was only set up in Malta two years ago when then MEP candidate, Jonathan Shaw, played his first game of wheelchair basketball with fellow MEP candidates and kept toppling over because it was played on regular wheelchairs. By the time he got the hang of it, he declared it “one of the toughest sports I ever played”.

Jonathan took it upon himself to support the cause and make wheelchair basketball an regular sport. He fundraised for the purchasing of 10 basketball wheelchairs, and the Malta Wheelchair Basketball was set up.

Last year, a 24-year-old university student, Kelly Busuttil, launched a social media video to promote wheelchair basketball as a sport in its own right. She said that anyone can play wheelchair basketball and the more the players, the more the competitions that could be held. In fact, in countries such as Canada, Australia and England, non-disabled athletes using wheelchairs are allowed to compete alongside other athletes on mixed teams.

John Xuereb, 29, a clerk from San Gwann, also wheelchair-bound due to spina bifida, has been playing since its inception in Malta. “It is an ability challenge. When I’m on the court, I don’t see a thing except the ball. I forget everything,” he says.

The others tease him that he is the most competitive and would stop at nothing to get the ball. He acknowledges it with a grin. Then he targets his appeal at parents.

“The problem is that parents of children with disability are scared that they will get hurt. It’s a mentality we need to change. If Sue falls off the wheelchair, barely anyone notices. If I fall off, it’s the end of the world. Why? At most, I’d break my leg, like she could break hers, but just because I’m wheelchair-bound, everyone makes more fuss.”

It’s a taboo that needs to be stamped out, he says. People undergoing physiotherapy, for example, are reluctant to practise wheelchair basketball because they would be afraid of the stigma. “Maybe this is why we need to go to schools – so for children, the wheelchair would no longer be a taboo,” he says.
The coach and the players are very eager to extend their sport to corporate and team-building activities to create more awareness.

At the moment, their only slot to play wheelchair basketball is 90 minutes on Sunday afternoons in winter and mornings in summer. They are hoping that if more people joined and committed themselves to the sport, they’d have another practice slot during the week.

If they manage to find a sponsor, they hope to be able to give their 10 wheelchairs some much-needed maintenance, and maybe even be able to get more – a minimum of 20 are required to introduce a league.

“Mostly, we want to tell people to join us because it keeps you in great shape and it is good fun,” Sue reiterates.

Wheelchair basketball rules

It has the same rules and scoring of basketball, with the same 10-foot basketball hoop and standard basketball court. The exceptions are rules that have been adapted for the wheelchair, such as ‘travelling’ – in wheelchair basketball, it is when the athletes touch the wheels of their chair more than twice after receiving or dribbling the ball. The individual must pass, bounce, or shoot the ball before touching the wheels again.

For more information, check out the Facebook page Malta Wheelchair Basketball, or call on 7939 2139.

 This article first appeared in Pink Magazine.