Basketball wheelchair

Basketball is probably the oldest and best established wheelchair sport and one that has a very large and enthusiast fan base. Interestingly there are also leagues for “able bodied” wheelchair basketball players which illustrates just how popular this sport is.

Basketball wheelchairs probably have the most demanding manoeuvrability characteristics of any wheelchair and they also participate in a sport that (unlike regular basketball) is very physical and has lots of impacts. This is the fastest and most reaction-based wheelchair sport and it is probably the one that draws the biggest number of players and crowds.

All of this has resulted in a wheelchair (or rather a range of wheelchairs) that need to be fast reacting, very stable, extremely tough and protecting of their passenger. In fact similar design objectives to a formula one racing car.

As a result basketball wheelchairs have a very characteristic appearance that is defined by a strong semi-circular frame that projects around the front lower section of the chair. This frame acts both to protect the legs of the user during collisions and to prevent (or reduce) overturning during impacts or rapid changes in direction.

Additionally, these wheelchairs will normally have one (or sometimes two) further stabilising wheels at the back of the wheelchair in order to add to the machines stability. These small wheels can help prevent the chair tipping backwards when a player makes a sudden moving-backwards to moving-forwards change in direction.

Extra durability is added by a fixed oversize axle and the rear wheels splay out in the typical sports wheelchair style. The front wheels of these chairs are usually something in the region of 3 inches in diameter.

Adjustable features can include the backrest, the footrests and interchangeable axle inserts that allow the splay or camber of the rear wheels to be adjusted to personal preference.

All of the materials used to construct this type of wheelchair will be strong and lightweight and the chair represents a state-of-the-art ergonomic design.

Further features

Most wheelchairs will have options and extras and in the case of basketball wheelchairs these typically include items like, frame colour options (which may be two or multi tone), seating colour and fabric choices, different side guards, pads and straps, wheel and rim options, and choices of frame styles (e.g. extra impact and protection zones etc).

Here are some links with further information about this sport, www.gbwba.org.uk (for the UK) and www.nwba.org (for the USA).

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