Welcome to the Cardiff CELTS Wheelchair Basketball Club website!
We are a thriving, vibrant and friendly Club which supports two competitive teams and runs weekly training
sessions in Cardiff and Caerphilly.
The 2006/2007 season was the Club's first competitive season - we entered teams into the third and fourth divisions and have gone from strength to strength since those small beginnings.
2007 saw the CELTS recognised as the "Best Performing New Club" by the Great Britain
Wheelchair Basketball Association.
Our 4th division team has consistently won the national league development division and our first team gained promotion to the second division at the end of the 2008-09 season.
Expecting an extremely tough first season in the second division, our first team have done incredibly well to finish fourth in the southern region during the 2009-2010 season. The Club's future is looking bright!
We are always aiming to progress and build (whilst having as much fun as possible!) and be the best Club we can be. We'd love to hear from you if you are interested in getting involved (as a player or volunteer) - we have lots to offer! There's lots more information about the Club and the sport of wheelchair basketball on these pages - but please get in touch if you have any futher queries. And PLEASE come along to support us at our home games...entry is free to all our matches!
If you fancy "having a go" we would love to hear from you - new players are ALWAYS welcome.
The Cardiff CELTS Wheelchair Basketball Club forms part of the Cardiff CELTS Basketball Academy. Further details about the CELTS women's section is available here.
Spectators are always welcome but if you would like to join in on your first visit to training please contact us first.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Club History
The Cardiff CELTS Wheelchair Basketball Club began approx 8 years ago (in 2002) as the Cardiff Bay Tigers. It was not until the 2006/07 season that the Club was ready to enter teams in the Great Britain National League - it took that long to build up a core base of players and raise the funds necessary to buy the basketball wheelchairs that are needed for people to participate.
During 2006 the Club changed dramatically. It began with moving from its original venue, in Cardiff Bay, to Coleg Glan Hafren's Trowbridge Campus and, as part of that move, the Club became part of the Cardiff CELTS Basketball Academy.
The Cardiff CELTS Basketball Academy originally had mens and womens, senior and junior able-bodied teams as well as the Club's two wheelchair teams - giving it a complete range of basketball teams. The Academy had absorbed the well established and respected mens and womens Cardiff Clippers teams and will benefit from coaching by Tony Hinchey (former Welsh Women's Senior Coach), Chris Horrocks (an ex-professional, GB and Welsh International player) and Holly Hinchey (Sports Council for Wales' Coach of the Year 2007 in the "Coach to Disabled Persons : Participation" class).
The Cardiff CELTS Wheelchair Basketball Club has also benefited from signing Cardiff's Wheelchair Basketball paralympian Caroline Matthews during 2006.
2008 saw the CELTS successfully bid for a slice of the Norwich Union Community Sports Fund. The Club managed to secure the Bronze award which meant it received a financial boost of £1,000 - which was put towards the considerable cost of running the clubs two national league teams.
2009 was an amazing year for the CELTS - our first team was promoted to the 2nd Division of the Great Britain National League...AND the CELTS Wheelchair Basketball Club has been awarded the Disability Sport Wales's Clubmark accreditation. These achievements reflect the dedication of the Committee to making the Club a safe and friendly environment where individuals can receive quality coaching and have specific player pathways enabling them to learn and enjoy basketball - and reach their full potential.
The Club currently has two teams competing in the Great Britain National League...there really is something for eveyone (whatever your current standard).
If you would like to get involved with the Club, as a player or volunteer or supporter, NOW is the perfect time to get involved and we'd love to hear from you!
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