Irwin Mitchell Supporting The Wheelchair Basketball Team This Season

The Hampshire Harriers perfectly showcased the skill, talent, teamwork and determination that define disability sport during a special wheelchair basketball match to celebrate the team’s new sponsorship with national law firm Irwin Mitchell.

The firm, which has an office in Southampton, held the event to coincide with the start of the new season and raise awareness of inclusive sport following on from the amazing success of Team GB at the Paralympic Games in Rio.

During the evening, the Hampshire Harriers were presented with their new kit and had a series of matches again a team from Irwin Mitchell, who they went easy on and still ended up as deserving winners.

The Hampshire Harriers are a registered charity and as such is self-funding. The club was founded by Terry Marsh in the early 1980s for his nephew who suffered from muscular dystrophy.

Although wheelchair basketball is a disability sport, you don’t have to be disabled to play in their team and the Harriers encourage everyone to participate, which allows friends and families to compete together.

They run the club both for competition and for improving general fitness of the physically disabled and they have two teams who play in the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association national league.

Their season started with an emphatic 49 – 16 win last week against the Bury Bombers which was just one of the 14 matches they’ll play home and away during the 2016/17 season.

Irwin Mitchell’s Don’t Quit, Do It campaign aims to increase participation in disability sports by highlighting the many benefits of taking part and making it easier for people to access their local clubs and get involved. 

Although there are 9.4m people with disabilities in the UK only one in six takes part in sport regularly and Irwin Mitchell hope the campaign will also encourage more people to get involved in both individual and team sports like wheelchair basketball.

Specialist serious injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell ensure their clients are able to access rehabilitation programmes to help them make progress in their recovery so that they can live as independently as possible.
 
Serious injury expert Claire Howard is delighted to be involved with the Hampshire Harriers and believes this is a fantastic opportunity to promote disability sport.

Expert Opinion

“Yesterday’s event was the perfect occasion to celebrate our new partnership with the Hampshire Harriers wheelchair basketball team and showcase the many benefits of playing and supporting disability sport.

“We experienced being able to take part in wheelchair basketball, it truly is an inclusive sport and it’s brilliant that the chair acts as a levelling device which enables everyone to play together.

“Through the work we do, we see the role physical activity can play in rehabilitation, and how it can help our clients recovering from a serious injury to adapt to new challenges and changes in their lives.

“After the brilliance of our Paralympians in Brazil there is a feel-good factor around disability sport and it’s important that this continues and together we help increase participation and interest all year round – not just every four years.” Claire Howard - Solicitor

The Hampshire Harriers have three teams, so if you’re interested in playing for the club or coming to support them during our season then please get in touch.

More details on the Harriers and their upcoming fixtures can be found on their website.

More information on Irwin Mitchell’s Don’t Quit, Do It campaign can be found here.