Basketball has been played for over 100 years; it was first played in 1891 in Springfield Mass. and is the only major sport of strictly US origin. The inventor of the game, James Naismith, supplied just five rules.
Wheelchair basketball in of far more recent origins. It was proposed by Sir Ludvic Guttman before the last War as one of many games that disabled people could play but it was not until 1974 that the first British league was started with just 5 teams. Since then it has grown enormously and is one of the cornerstone Paralympic events.
With only some minor modifications the basic principles of the game remain the same. Both teams are on the same court with a ball, there are 5 players per team, the ball has to be bounced regularly to make progress and the baskets (or goals) are elevated and horizontal - the same height as for able bodied players (10ft), although the slam dunk can be a bit tricky in a chair. The only bit I'm less sure about is the contact; if it is not direct physical contact then the chairs certainly take a hammering, often at great speed. It is this physical aspect combined with the skill and speed that I believe make this far more exiting and entertaining than the able bodied version.
Wheelchair basketball is the most popular of all sports played by disabled people. As everybody's awareness of disability and the associated issues has increased, there is a growing realisation that disabled people can play sport at the highest level with the greatest skill and competitiveness; wheelchair basketball is one fine example of this being true.
Our club, which is not unusual, has players whose disabilities include spina bifida, paraplegia, polio, amputees, cerebral palsy, haemophilia and spinal tumour. Moreover age is not a barrier either and the age range of our team is between 12 and 66 with an average in the mid 20s.
In Britain wheelchair basketball is organised into 4 divisions (some of which are split regionaly) plus a development league and junior competition. There are around 40 clubs, some, such as us, fielding multiple teams in different divisions, making up the league and over 600 players regularly take part. To compensate for differing levels of disability each player is allocated a classification; an able bodied player is 5 points and the most disabled is 1 point. For instance a below knee amputee would be 4.5 points. Each team is then limited to 15 points on court at any time, ensuring a balance of disability between teams. This does not mean, however, that 1 pointers are less skillful than those with higher ratings.
Specialist wheelchairs are used in the sport. These are lightweight, strong, and designed to provide maximum speed and manoevrebility. Ordinary NHS chairs are not only too slow but are positively dangerous to play in. However, basketball chairs should not be used in every day life unless you want to collect door frames.
In Britain the sport continues to flourish, the number of teams competing has increased, and the senior GB team finishing second in the world at the Gold Cup in Japan with the under 23 team winning the European Championships in Frankfurt.
Force were formed in 1985 as Hounslow Hurricane Force with a membership of just four, one of whom, Ian Laker, is still the club supremo. They worked hard to train players from other clubs and persuade local people to take up the game. Local in wheelchair basketball terms is relative and it is not unusual for most of the counties in south-east England to be represented in the club. Given the scarcity of players it took a while to build up the club and it was not until 1987/88 that we made it into the league, by picking up the fixtures of the failing Haringay Hornets II, who couldn't complete the season. By 1990/91 the club gained promotion to Division 2 and a second team was started in Division 3 (there was no premier division at this point).
From then on there was no stopping us. In 1993 the first team remained unbeaten all season and made it into the top flight and have remained there ever since, without ever quite managing to win the top prize. The second team spent much of this period at the top of the division below and only the presence of the first team prevented them from gaining promotion.
Since then the club has gone through many transitions, but has continued to provide Great Britain internationals for the mens senior and junior teams and the womens team. At the moment we have 4 Gb women internationals (Ann Wild, Georgie Laker, Sonia Dawes and Sarah Burrett), 2 under 23 mens internationals (Adam Young and Simon Brown) and of course Ian Laker represented the full GB team for some time with distinction.
The club is now probably younger than ever with several juniors playing competatively at league level. The average age of the second team is about 25. Having said that we also have several players in the 40-65 age reange, demonstrating what a diverse club we are. The club is proud of this diversity and we regularly play more women and juniors in our teams than most of the other clubs in the league.
Last season the first team retained it's Premiership status, though not without a struggle, and the second team only failed to qualify for the Division 2 play-offs because of their record against the two other teams on equal points.