by Shelley Matheson

I love Wheelchair Basketball! I first found wheelchair basketball when I was 13 years old, and for a teenager with a disability I couldn’t think of a better time to find my community. 

I fell in love with the sport quickly (although I couldn’t even reach the ring!) and progressed through the ranks. When I was growing up in the sport I was mentored and nurtured by some legends of the game, and I went on to represent Australia. 

I have loved being a part of the Australian Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team – The Gliders, but most of all I love the wheelchair basketball community. After having children, myself and a former teammate Leanne Del Toso and I wanted to return to the sport and give back to the community. 

We identified that there was a missing piece in Victoria, there was no safe, welcoming, supportive space for women and queer people to fall in love with our sport!

We decided to start the Victorian Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Program as a space for women to get together and enjoy the sport. To take the sport to wherever they want to take it – some already represent Australia, some will go on to, and some just come and be around people like them. We want this program to support anyone and everyone.

Details

When: Wednesdays 5:30pm

Where: Essendon Football Club 270 Melrose Drive, Melbourne Airport VIC. There are two entrances, one off Melrose Drive and one off Link road. If the gates are closed please call and we will assist.

Parking: free, the entrance is near the accessible parking. Ubers will be able to get into the facility for pick up. Please request their entry via link road, rather than Melrose drive so we can help them gain access. 

Accessibility: Swipe card access is required to access the facility. We only have two swipe cards amongst us so please send a message if you are going to be late and we will send someone down to assist you to gain entry.

Contact: Shelley 0439998475 or Leanne 0412922938

  • September 25, 2024

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AQA acknowledges that we live and work on lands stolen from the oldest continuous culture on earth. While our office is on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, we live and work on First Nations lands across Victoria. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded, and that this was, and always will be, Aboriginal land. We pay our deepest respect to Elders past and present, and we thank them for holding wisdom and caring for country. We also acknowledge that AQA’s work of building a more caring and inclusive society - where everyone has the resources they need to live well - follows in the footsteps of a long and ongoing struggle of First Nations peoples across the continent to be afforded the self determination, respect and resources they need to live well.

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