FEATURE
Former Capetonian Shane Williams captains the side which booked their berth by beating Nigeria in the qualifying event held in Luanda, Angola earlier this year.
These days he plies his trade for the UCAM Murcia club in the Spanish league, along with fellow South African Ayabonga Jim, while another member of the squad for Scotland is Xola Yalezo, playing for Marseille in the French league.
The other players are Simanga Mbhele from Klerksdorp and Zakhele Shelembe from Durban, showing how hard it is to come together for training as a unit.
Williams, 33, has been playing wheelchair basketball for close to 15 years now and knows very little about life other than being differently abled.
“ I picked up meningococcal meningitis at a very early age in life and then developed septicaemia and had to have both my legs amputated above the knee when I was about two years old.
“ But I’ ve always been keen on sport from when I was a youngster at the Astra School in Montana, Cape Town, although to be honest, wheelchair basketball was probably near the bottom of the different sports I fancied at the time.”
But he says he eventually grew to love the sport, comparing it to soccer with the passing and distribution of the ball and the different tactics.
“ I eventually got called up to represent Western Cape and then started competing on a higher level, which was the Supersport Series at the Mandeville Sports Centre in Johannesburg.”
Williams says the league is a highly competitive one with many excellent players moving between the various teams. He now represents the Kirloskar Lions, who are nine-time winners of the SuperSport national league.
“ I’ ve been part of the national team set-up since 2013 but never part of a Paralympics or Commonwealth team, so this is a first for me.
“ Every player wants to compete at the highest level, so it was very exciting when UCAM Murcia approached me, but to wear the green and gold at the highest level and against the best players in the world is a dream come true.”
To get to Glasgow, Team SA played a qualifying tournament in Angola earlier this year where they lost to Morocco in the five-a-side format but beat Nigeria in the shorter version.
“ We were fortunate to have a few training camps beforehand and it was very exciting to book our place.
“ I was really stoked to win the 3x3 title in Luanda – that definitely marked a new chapter in my career.”
While in Spain, it’ s a full-on sporting experience for Williams.“ We train all day, almost every day and get a lot of work done on and off court. Sometimes South Africa has a training camp and then we all get together but we do the bulk of our training here in Europe.
“ The Spanish league is rated in the top three global leagues and is super competitive – we learn so much here, even though the format is five-a-side.
“ To be honest, I prefer the five-a-side, it’ s longer game time and more tactical with teamwork which I love … The 3x3 is faster and quicker and I’ m still quite new at it – it certainly tests your reaction and you have to think very quickly.”
As a professional athlete, Williams doesn’ t have too much time away from the court. But in his off-time, he’ s usually found watching other sports.
“ I do have a few hobbies and one of my favourite things is relaxing and listening to music and also watching all sorts of sport, with football being one of my most-watched sports apart from basketball.
“ I’ m basically just a normal person, a dude who loves playing sport and listening to music. I keep to myself a lot and don’ t need company to keep me busy.”
National coach Cecil du Mond is based in Klerksdorp, along with national player Mbhele, and is positive about the team’ s chances in Glasgow, but admits there are challenges.
“ It’ s really difficult to train together with the guys all over the place, some in Europe, others around South Africa, almost impossible really.
“ But with the team we have this year, we can truly compete. Canada are defending Commonwealth champions and England always have a good team – but our guys are getting better by playing in the overseas leagues against the best players.”
Wheelchair Basketball is one of the world’ s oldest Para sports and was one of the eight sports at the first Paralympic Games in Rome, 1960.
Birmingham 2022 marked 3x3 Basketball ' s first-ever appearance at the Commonwealth Games and was also where 3x3 Wheelchair Basketball made its major multisport debut.
Basketball has Scottish roots! In 1891, Dr James Naismith created the sport. Naismith was the son of Scottish parents and first developed the game in Springfield, Massachusetts.
( Info courtesy of Glasgow2026. com) www. modernathlete. co. za
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