Thanks to McGill, plumbing and heating specialists, a group of talented young wheelchair basketball players were able to head south this weekend to take part in the first round of the Lord’s Taverners Junior League. The company, based in Dundee, kindly allowed the team the use of one of their vans to help transport the ten specialist sports wheelchairs that were needed to enable these young disabled athletes to take part in this prestigious competition.
The youngsters who currently play for local teams Dundee Dragons WSC and Lothian Phoenix teamed up with players from Carlisle WSC to take part in this event that pits U15 and U19 teams from across the UK against each other in a highly competitive tournament. The first three rounds take place at Durham University and see the teams take on north division rivals RGK Tees Valley Titans, Wakefield Whirlwinds, North Wales Knights and Leeds Spiders. The finals in April will see the top teams from the north, south and central regions meet and fight it out for the number one spot.
As defending champions the under 15s first team are keen to repeat their victory of last year and got their campaign off to a storming start by winning all their games whilst the more inexperienced second team put in three thrilling performances winning one match and narrowly missing out on the other two.
Equally the under 19s showed real potential during their three high intensity games that saw end to end play with the teams trading baskets throughout the halves.
The second round is to be played in December and, based on the performances given, all teams have high hopes of success.
Sally Lumsdaine, DDWSC Basketball Lead.
Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports 