Globetrotters, Bandits and Abbotsford Centre Announce Celebrity Wheelchair Basketball Game
Fraser Valley Bandits • January 20, 2020
ABBOTSFORD, Jan. 20, 2019 –
The Fraser Valley Bandits and Abbotsford Centre have partnered with the Harlem Globetrotters to host a Celebrity Wheelchair Basketball Game at Rick Hansen Secondary School in Abbotsford on Tuesday, January 21 at 11:45 a.m.
“Partnering with the Harlem Globetrotters and Abbotsford Centre to host a wheelchair basketball game was a tremendous opportunity to shine a light on how we as a community can work together to make sports more accessible for everyone to participate,” said Dylan Kular, Vice President of the Fraser Valley Bandits.
“Rick Hansen Secondary School is the perfect place to continue this conversation by bringing athletes from the Bandits, Globetrotters, as well as local universities and colleges together to take part in a game of wheelchair basketball. The BC Wheelchair Basketball Society (BCWBS) offers programming for individuals with physical disabilities and people who do not. Our hope with this event is to showcase the important work that has been accomplished toward making spaces more accessible and inclusive, and to generate discourse surrounding how we can encourage participation and the removal of barriers.”
Zeus McClurkin will be representing the Harlem Globetrotters and will be bringing his full bag of tricks to get fans excited for the team’s upcoming stops in B.C. as part of the Globetrotters’ Pushing the Limits World Tour, which features a performance at Abbotsford Centre on January 31, as well as stops in Vancouver on February 1 at Pacific Coliseum and Nanaimo on February 2 at VIU Gym.
“Rick Hansen Secondary School is proud to be home of an important event that aligns with our mandate of being accessible as a school. As a school which has earned a Gold Standard for accessibility by the Rick Hansen Foundation, we are excited to welcome all students and athletes into a community that is open for all to participate,” Linda Pollastretti, Principal of Rick Hansen Secondary School.
Joining McClurkin will be Sukhjot Bains, who played for the Bandits as a U SPORTS Development Athlete last summer and is currently starring as a fifth-year player for the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades. Fellow student-athletes participating are Amanda Thompson from the UFV Cascades women’s basketball team, Jayden Gill and Jack Nadelhoffer from the Trinity Western University Spartans women’s and men’s basketball teams and Michael Chifan from the Columbia Bible College Bearcats men’s basketball team.
“Bringing together a variety of basketball greats, young junior players and linking our local programs and partnerships, is a superb way to showcase the great partnerships with BC Wheelchair Basketball Society in the Fraser Valley,” stated Sian Blyth, Executive Director of BCWBS. “This is a fun way to showcase the game of basketball to new audiences and show that players of all ability can play the wheelchair game.”
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Andrew Savory, Director of Operations, (604) 217-6213, asavory@thebandits.caLATEST NEWS
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