Cardiff Met Archers have been called ‘ones to watch’ in the Women’s Premier League
CARDIFF Met Archers Women’s Wheelchair Basketball team will play their first match in the Women’s Premier League this Friday.
The league is the first of its kind worldwide and the UK’s first women’s professional parasport league. For their opening game, Cardiff will play East London Phoenix in Newham.
Sarah Wagstaff, Director of Basketball at Cardiff Metropolitan University, said: “It is an amazing achievement for us to be selected as one of only four teams in the UK.”
The Archers’ side is made up of twelve women, including cardiff Met student Jade Atkin, who is part of Team GB’s senior women’s wheelchair basketball team.
The first match in the league took place last Saturday between Worcester Wolves and Loughborough Lightning. It was broadcast live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport app.
Speaking on Woman’s Hour, Jo Richards, Development Director at British Wheelchair Basketball, said: “This is incredibly exciting for the sport. It gives us visibility which is especially important for disability sport.
“Look out for the Cardiff Met Archers squad, they have some really talented young Welsh athletes coming through who are exciting to watch.”
Subsequent games will be broadcast live either on British Wheelchair Basketball’s YouTube or BBC iPlayer.
Ms Wagstaff said: “We hope this will get more people in and around Cardiff involved. The BBC live shows are broadening people’s horizons and raising awareness of disability sport.
“Some people see disability as an inability to participate but this just shows that there is basketball for everybody.”
Among those being inspired by the side is Imogen Ashwell-Rice, a 10-year-old from Monmouthshire. She has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.
Imogen started basketball through Inspire a Generation sessions and now attends every week at Cardiff Met.
Her mum, Catherine Ashwell-Rice, said: “We were both thrilled to hear about the Women’s Premier League.
“Most of the sports Imogen is involved with are very male dominated so having the ladies Archers players as role models for her is priceless.”
The league is made up of four brand new franchise teams, which are Cardiff Met Archers, East London Phoenix, Worcester Wolves and Loughborough Lightning.
The teams will be playing each other three times, week in week out for the next three months, which is a first for women’s parasport.
