{"id":49911,"date":"2024-03-06T16:55:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T16:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sheflive.co.uk\/?p=49911"},"modified":"2024-03-06T16:55:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T16:55:23","slug":"sheffield-steelers-wheelchair-basketball-club-secure-eurocup-finals-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/03\/06\/sheffield-steelers-wheelchair-basketball-club-secure-eurocup-finals-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield Steelers Wheelchair Basketball Club secure Eurocup finals spot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sheffield Steelers Wheelchair Basketball Club has secured a spot at the IWBF Eurocup finals in Spain marking their return to the European Basketball scene for the first time since the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Founded in 1987 by ex-patients from the Spinal Injuries Unit at Lodgemoor, a division of the NHS Sheffield Teaching Hospital Trust, the club has become a crucial part of the rehabilitation required to recover from life-changing injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike players in other European leagues who receive financial support from sponsorships, the Steelers rely on external sources of income, including charitable donations, as demonstrated by their fundraising efforts to participate in their qualifying game in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheflive.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/03\/fundraiser-1-1024x493.png\" alt=\"Sheffield Steelers Wheelchair Basketball fundraiser \" class=\"wp-image-49918\" style=\"width:642px;height:auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sheffield Steelers Wheelchair Basketball Club fundraise to get to the Eurocup<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Chairman, Maurice Hammerton, said: \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult in Sheffield with two football teams that dominate publicity, so it\u2019s hard to spread the word about our club.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to the financial challenges faced by its members, the club was reluctant to increase fees further this year, as doing so would create an additional obstacle for individuals with disabilities playing basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All players of the club took part in a sponsored 10km on the SkiErg machine at Sheffield Northern General, reaching a total distance of over 200km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: \u201cThe club has been a huge part of my life for the past 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s really good for the community and embracing those with a competitive nature with the added benefits of promoting physical and mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The British squad became packed with Steelers and went on to win medals at the European Championships, World Championships and took the silver medal at the Paralympics in Atlanta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Josh Makinson, 19, said: \u201cI have kept up to date with the club on social media for years; it\u2019s been amazing to see all of their success and its great how involved women get in a male dominated sport.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sheffield Steelers Wheelchair Basketball Club Women\u2019s team getting ready for their first weekend of games for this season!<br><br>Cheer for the Steelers ladies as they hope to get their 1st and 2nd Div teams off to a strong start! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/steelersbasketball?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#steelersbasketball<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/steelerswbc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#steelerswbc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/wheelchairbasketball?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#wheelchairbasketball<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ja4yLw8QWR\">pic.twitter.com\/Ja4yLw8QWR<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Sheffield Steelers (@SteelersWBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteelersWBC\/status\/1598773674361769984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 2, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Twitter post from 2022 showing Sheffield Steelers Women&#8217;s team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The club welcomes players of all skill levels, from amateur to world-class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Julie Tuffin, Activities Coordinator at the Spinal Injuries Unit in Sheffield said: \u201cThe players just bring joy to us all and our patient\u2019s often watch the games in awe of what people can achieve after life-changing injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSome of the people at the club will come and speak to us about their journey which has a great impact on the centre, it is truly inspirational to both staff and patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She added that the progress players of the club have made in a short space of time is \u2018motivational\u2019 making staff proud every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many former players have established their own teams in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Wolverhampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luke Holland, a player for the Premier Division team, said: \u201cThe club has given me my independence; you\u2019re with a group of people who understand the challenges we go through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI specifically went to the University of Sheffield to be closer to the club and my advice to anyone thinking about starting would be just do it, you won\u2019t regret it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the April finals approach, the team remains confident as they are the only unbeaten team in the English league so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their final league game against rivals Manchester, who will be seeking revenge after the Steelers beat them in the Eurocup which will take place on March 24th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: \u201cWe are all really looking forward to the Eurocup finals in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe hope to give a good account of ourselves there; the opportunities this sport has opened up for us are fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Steelers are the only British amateur team heading to the Euro Cup finals after finishing third in their qualifying tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who wish to keep up to date with the team\u2019s journey can do so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.steelerswheelchairbasketball.com\/\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheflive.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/03\/Hannover.jpg\" alt=\"Maurice Hammerton, Chairman of the club at qualifying game in Hannover\" class=\"wp-image-49921\" style=\"width:656px;height:auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Maurice Hammerton, Chairman of the club at the qualifying game in Hannover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sheffield Steelers Wheelchair Basketball Club has secured a spot at the IWBF Eurocup finals in Spain marking their return to the European Basketball scene for the first time since the Covid pandemic. Founded in 1987 by ex-patients from the Spinal Injuries Unit at Lodgemoor, a division of the NHS Sheffield Teaching Hospital Trust, the club [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,132,166,133],"tags":[12,208,309],"class_list":["post-49911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","category-top-stories","category-top-story-2","category-uncategorised","tag-sheffield","tag-sports","tag-wheelchair-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}