Originally scheduled for November 2022, the IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships are finally ready to tip off in Dubai this weekend after a seven month delay and Team GB are ready and raring to go! Back in Germany in 2018, GB took home Silver after a hard fought game against the Netherlands who won 56-40, the team will be looking to go one better this time around as they head into the tournament with a slightly changed but still stacked squad and momentum in their corner.
FocusHoops caught up with Team GB’s Charlie Moore and Joy Haizelden a few days before their first group game against Spain. Moore and Haizelden made their first senior appearances for GB in 2013 and 2014 respectively and have gone from strength to strength over the course of their careers. Moore is currently playing for Amiab Albacete out in Spain while Haizelden is studying at the University of Alabama and winning back to back championships for the Crimson Tide in the NWBA intercollegiate League. Both players were part of Team England’s first Wheelchair Basketball 3×3 squad at last years Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (along with Amy Conroy and Jade Atkin) where they medalled with a 12-10 win against Scotland in the Bronze medal game.
FocusHoops: What’s the feeling been like in the (GB) camp? How’s preparation been going?
Charlie Moore: “As a team we’re in a good place and just excited now to get going and get out on court and compete.”
Joy Haizelden: “We’ve done all the preparation now, now it’s… (time) to show the world what we can do and show them how we can play and just play team Basketball.”
FH: Has the delay with the Championships (originally scheduled for November) been difficult?
CM: “Yeh definitely…when that delay was announced it changed the whole layout of our season and when games were meant to be and when rest was meant to be so it did change a lot of things and it meant that its been non stop cos of when they got postponed to, so its been a lot of build up, both from the season and from build up specifically for this. So I think now it’s just exciting that its actually here to go and play.”
FH: And obviously straight after you’re almost straight into the European Championships.
JH: “We’ve just recently had a new coach..Miguel (Vaquero Maestre) so having the World Championships being delayed has kind of helped us, especially in terms of what the coach wants us to play and just getting to learn a new style of play…so it’s kind of helped us abit more.”
FH: You two have been playing together since you were 13/14 years old. What’s that experience been like, being able to share that journey together?
JH: “Its pretty amazing. Its kind of crazy to look back at all the tournaments that we’ve played together, thinking back…2014 was my first one…how much we’ve both progressed in our careers and as a person as well, the confidence that we’ve got now its just so good to see.”
FH: What’s your favourite thing about each others game?
CM: “I like how mobile and agile and quick Joy is. Just how seamlessly she is as a ball handler and makes everything look so easy and so good and I think its amazing.”
JH: “I think she is probably one of the best 1.0 pointers in the world and her shooting is phenomenal and the way she plays defence is like no other 1.0 pointer in the world.”
FH: You’re both playing overseas, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned or developed about your game being overseas?
CM: “For me, I’m playing in a mixed league so it’s predominantly men. So I’ve learned that you have to be so physical in that league and I think thats something that’s good to bring over for playing here. Roles are so different playing out there to here so I’ve developed a lot more playing different styles so its nice to bring it all together when I come back.”
JH: “Playing at Alabama I think it’s helped me in various different ways, mostly its helped me to be able to play with different players but also develop my leadership role as well.”
FH: Speaking of leadership, you two are veterans of this GB team, how important is it for you to be able to share your experience with some of the younger players coming through?
CM: “I think it’s really amazing to be in that position…we were that age once and I think its really exciting for them to be here and get all these amazing experiences and I think we just want them to enjoy it and make the most of the opportunity.”
JH: “We’ve got a couple of rookies…and its nice and refreshing to have them on the team because we have been on the team for so long, its nice to have that new perspective, that energy, the buzz, excitement for the first tournament and its rubbing off on both of us.”
FH: Was there any particular player when you both started playing that you looked up to on the squad or took you under their wing abit? Or a general role model?
CM: “I’ve got a couple of players that I look up to, Jitske Visser.(Netherlands), I think she’s one of the best 1.0 pointers in the world and a German player called Annika Zeyen when she was playing, she was just incredible. They’re two low pointers that I watched a lot and have tried to learn off them and to make them the player that I am now.”
JH: “Within GB, Laurie Williams, she’s recently had a baby, but her physicality and the way she finishes around the rim is something that I aspire to be like and she’s just a good person as well so I look up to her.”
FH: You both played in the Commonwealth Games, we had the Women’s Premier League in the UK, the growth around Women’s Wheelchair Basketball just seems to be getting bigger and bigger. Have you enjoyed being part of that?
CM: “The Commonwealth was an amazing experience and it opened our sport up to such a new range of people, players and people that necessarily wouldn’t have watched our sport. Because it was linked with the able bodied and women’s game, it was all in the same place, it made it a lot more accessible to so many people. It was really nice to have that crowd and that energy and hopefully so many more people will have seen Wheelchair Basketball and thought ‘Oh yeh I enjoyed that, that’s something I want to go and see again.’ “
JH: “Yeh definitely, especially as being part of a home team, it was kind of cool to have the backing of the crowds there and it was also good that both able bodied and Wheelchair Basketball were joined together so it felt more like one team.”
FH: What do you want people to know about Wheelchair Basketball and the World Championships? Why should people watch you this weekend and next week?
CM: “I think our sport is so fast and physical and it’s such a dynamic sport to watch, there’s so many different plays and different things that happen..I think its an exciting sport to watch and especially at a Championship like the Worlds there’s so many good teams here that a lot of the games you watch will be high calibre games.
JH: “Like Charlie said, Wheelchair Basketball is a very a fast paced sport. When people have come to Wheelchair Basketball games and watched live … they can smell the rubber off the tyres and see people crash and fall out of their chairs! That’s all part of the game but thats what’s amazing about it, we just get right back up and get to play Basketball. The teams will be very, very good here at the World Championships so we’re just looking forward to that.”
Watch all the Team GB’s games live on the IWBF YouTube channel GB’s first group game against Spain is at 3.45pm BST Saturday June 10th.
More information on Wheelchair Basketball can be found here. Follow @BritWheelBBall on Twitter and Instagram.
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