IWBF Asia Oceania held its second women’s development camp for the zone to help continue the development and growth of women’s wheelchair basketball across their nations.

Over seventy women from ten nations attended the five-day development camp which was hosted at Thailand’s National Paralympic Training Centre in Suphan Buri.

Players from Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Australia, and India were coached by two renowned faces of the game; Germany’s Paralympic gold medal-winning coach Holger Glinicki, and player-turned-coach Australian gold medallist Troy Sachs.

Cecille Naceno, one of the players from the Phillipines, said, “Being here has let us improve our skills which we can bring back home to the Phillipines.”

The camp also gives the players an opportunity to travel outside of their own country and engage with other cultures and gain unique social experiences.

Thailand’s Nuttaporn Lasopa, said, “I have developed new relationships with other countries. I have gotten more knowledge and discipline and a really strong understanding of the basic skills needed to play.”

There was a new element to the camp this year which included the running of clinics for coaches, referees and classifiers from the region to assist the developing nations with the infrastructure to continue to progress the sport when they return home. IWBF Asia Oceania Zone Technical Officer, Matt Wells and IWBF Asia Oceania Zone Classification Officer, Toufic Allouche both ran the relevant clinics that included ten referees and eight classifiers, whilst fifteen coaches observed and engaged with the coaching at the camp.

IWBF Asia Oceania Zone Secretary General, Don Perriman, said, “The second Asia Oceania Zone women’s development camp proved to be everything we hoped for. The enthusiasm and energy of all the girls and the expertise of the hard-working coaches combined for a terrific week.

“The improvement of the players’ skill levels from start to finish was dramatic, as was the level of fun had by all. It was particularly pleasing for the zone to have players from Bangladesh and Philippines for the first time, and for Indonesia to have several girls attending to build on the success of last year’s Jakarta-based Asian Para Games.

“The addition of clinics for coaches, referees and classifiers proved a great success, with over thirty people attending and gaining the knowledge to assist their national programmes going forward.

“I would like to thank the continued support of the zone’s nations for this type of development giving the Asia Oceania Zone’s Executive Council the confidence to go ahead with future planning for similar events.”

Take a look at the gallery of images below.