29 May Victoria Returns
On the eve of round one, Shelley Matheson and the Victoria Wonders can barely believe they are finally here.
“I’m so excited to get on court with this team,” said Matheson. “We’ve been preparing for six months, just waiting for game day.”
The Wonders will be the first female team from Victoria since 2019. It was born from discussions between three time Paralympian Matheson and her former Gliders teammate, Leanne Del Toso.
“When we had to play for interstate clubs last year we thought, no one’s going to do this except us. Let’s put some pressure on our networks and make sure ourselves have somewhere to play but also so there’s somewhere in Victoria for girls to play wheelchair basketball.”
That began by forming a development program for female players called Play On, which boasts 30 participants with 18 trialling for the Wonders’ inaugural squad.
“We’ve got some pretty talented girls, I think we’ll have girls that come through our program that will represent Australia in 2032.”
With current Gliders Laura Davoli and Isabel Martin also joining the team, hopes are high in their inaugural season.
“The goal is definitely to make Finals, we’re going to be developing every single time we hit the court,” said Matheson.
The squad includes wheelchair tennis convert Sarah Calati, wheelchair rugby Paralympic bronze medalist Shae Graham as well as new faces like Harriet Caldwell who suffered a spinal cord stroke in 2023 while warming up for able-bodied basketball training.
Guiding the development program and the new national league team is Jeremy Synot.
“We’ve set high expectations of our cohort’s performance but basically if there are things that we can’t do on or off the court then we try and educate them, we try to adapt and we try and learn. We’re only accountable by the things we know, is kind of our mantra, if we’ve been taught it we can measure it,” said Synot.
“We have high expectations of ourselves but the reality is what we’re trying to do is just make sure as a cohort that we’re developing our group and whatever happens this year that we’re a little bit better next year and the year after.”
While on court results matter, the focus will also be on building a sustainable program.
“It’s so important that Basketball Victoria agreed to fund us for the next three years so we can really imbed wheelchair basketball in everything they do. I think it’s our job as leaders of this team to make sure things change within Basketball Victoria,” adds Matheson.
Matheson and Del Toso deserve high praise for the work that’s gone into the formation of the Wonders, but Matheson says she’s only following on from those before her.
“I think that drive comes from the previous Gliders having done that. Someone like Liesl Tesch or Lisa Edmonds, they created the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League. I remember being a 15 year old listening to them say ‘We have to have a national league, we have to have our own league’,”
“It’s that rich history of it being led by senior players, that is why Leanne and I are doing this. It’s so important having former athletes involved.”
ROUND 1 (30 May – 1 June)
Victoria Wonders vs Adelaide Thunder
Friday 6:30pm
Saturday 12pm (11am 3X3)
Sunday 10am (9am 3X3)
(MEL) State Basketball Centre, VIC