Windhoek
The Wheel-Ability Sport Club, which operates under the auspices of the Namibia Paralympics Committee (NPC), recently received two additional basketball wheelchairs including a hand bike from two United States not-for-profit organizations.
The official handover took place on Sunday at the basketball field in Independence Arena.
Members of the press and the public in general attended the event and met disability sports expert Gregory Milano, who represented the two organizations donating the equipment.
“It all started with an email from Gregory who found our Wheel-Ability Sports Club on the internet. He said that he was coming to Namibia soon and would be able to bring some sports equipment,” says Bjorn Magg, coach of Wheel-Ability.
“I arranged the donation to support the growing disability sports programmes in Namibia,” says Milano who works at BORP Adaptive Sports in Berkeley, California, which offers wheelchair basketball, adaptive cycling, fitness classes, soccer, canoeing, and other sports for people with physical disabilities.
He is also involved with Inclusive Cycling International, the organization that donated a hand cycle to Wheel-Ability Sport Club.
“The hand cycle I bought aims to allow participants to feel and learn how good a form of exercise it is and to encourage Namibians to start a disability cycling programme,” says the disability sport expert and passionate cyclist.