More than a game: The inclusive spirit of the Hamsphire Harriers

The Hampshire Harriers are more than just a game.

Wheelchair basketball alongside the Hampshire Harriers offers an honest commentary that sport at its best is about more than its level of competitiveness.

Players are on the move all the time pushing, turning, defending and shooting, all whilst manoeuvring a chair at high speed. For lots of athletes that challenge is precisely what makes the sport so captivating.

Chatting with members of the Harriers tells you how rigorous the game is. Keeping up with the acceleration puts up great pressure on upper-body endurance, and accuracy comes into play when every action must be generated from the seat.

But more than that physicality, players always emphasize something significantly more significant: the spirit of inclusivity that is what the team represents.

Lucy Stansby summed it all up when she told me about how special the club is.

“It’s so good because it demonstrates what we’re about,” she added. “It has demonstrated that we’re inclusive of all disabilities and some able-bodied people also. We’ve got a diversity of ages, try it out.”

That sentiment is very much at the heart of Hampshire Harriers.

The team isn’t just a place to compete, it’s a home to people who have differing disabilities — and even the ones without — who train, learn and grow.

Whatever a player’s background or ability, they’re encouraged to give the sport a go, take on its challenges and become part of a group where hard work counts just as much as success.

It can be tough, grueling and unforgiving but for the Harriers, wheelchair basketball is also empowering.

It is a sport — and all sport should be welcomed — in which all players play a safe, comfortable and valued space, a place where the game becomes a channel or a conduit of confidence and resilience and connection.