My Name is Liam Barker, I am 16 years old, I attend St Crispins School in Wokingham, and I have Cerebal Palsy Spastic Diplegia and Autism, I eat sleep and play Wheelchair Basketball. 

My love of the Wheelchair Basketball started during the 2012 London Paralympics when my Physio was lucky enough to receive tickets to the event and was allowed to give them away to her patients at my school, my instant passion for Wheelchair Basketball has never gone away. 

It took my Mum 8 months of emailing various different places to finally find Thames Valley Kings Wheelchair Basketball Club. I started playing there when I was 8 years old being awarded most improved player within the first month  

I played in my first competitive game in 2014 when I was 10 years old at The Lord Taveners National Junior Champs for the Southeast region. During this competition that sees the whole of the UK  (10 regions) compete against each other. I won British Wheelchair Basketballs Most Improved Player out of the whole competition (roughly 100 players).

This drove me on to want to be the best I could be and I quickly set myself the target of one day playing professionally and representing my country. 

I train 2/3 times per week along with a gruelling personal training programme in between. this is aside from monthly trips to an elite trining academy.

To date I have played in; 

6 Junior League competitions

2 Elite 8s (the best 8 junior teams in the UK)

5 Southeast U15 regional teams. 2017 & 2018 I captained the team and won Gold, the highest placed Southeast team in the history of the competition. 1 Under 18's Regional team winning Bronze in 2019.

2018 I won British Wheelchair Basketballs The Most Improved Player again (voted by the other competing teams)

2017/18 season I played in my first (adults) National league season, debuting on my 14th birthday.

The same season we won the Division 3 Southwest title, which led to National finals to play against the other 3 title winning teams from across the UK, being placed 2nd and leaving with a silver medal. This also sprung us into Division 2 South for the 2018/19 season!

2018 I made my debut at School Games for England South.

The 2018/19 season was huge for me. Our Junior League team once again made the cut for Elite 8’s, which is happened at the end of April 2019 in Sheffield at the English Institute of Sport. With the National League Team of Thames Valley Kings we secured promotion to Division 1 South. This meant another trip to Sheffield, this time for National Finals where all the wheelchair basketball divisions from 3rd Division all the way to Premier League compete for the top spot in their respected Leagues.

In December 2018 I was selected to try out for the Men’s Under 22’s Great Britain Team along with just 40 other players from around the UK. This was a one-day event where we were trained by the Head Coaches of The GB U22’s and had the chance to play alongside some of the elite players that have already played in the team. 

In February 2019 I received the news that I had been dreaming of! I had secured a place in the training squad for the GB Mens U22’s, in doing this I have become one of the youngest players in the squad at just 15 years old. This is just the first step within the newly developed GB pathway.

I am now part of the new improved GB Academy which is a structured pathway developed to give a fair playing field for the best 30 players to shine from across the UK.

I hope this will eventually lead to a strong career in Wheelchair Basketball. My dream is to play at the Paris 2024 Paralympics for Great Britain  (I’d like to aim for Tokyo 2020 but I’m told by my parents to dream small for the time being!)   one day  I’d like to play professionally either in the UK or abroad.

I am currently studying for my GCSE’s at St Crispins School Wokingham. For the last 3 years I have led my school IZB (Inclusive Zone Basketball) Team to finals. the first year we came 4th 2nd year 2nd and this year we won the much sort after gold medal! Inclusive Zone Basketball uses 2 wheelchair players and 2 running players on court at the same time. 

My whole life revolves around basketball. If I’m not training, competing or coaching,  I can be found in my bedroom playing NBA on my Xbox or watching it on TV. 

Wheelchair basketball has given me a purpose, something as a young child, my parents were worried I may never find. I do literally eat, sleep and breathe Wheelchair Basketball, it is everything to me. I have made so many friends across the UK and love nothing more than attending competitions where I get to spend hours talking and socialising with like minded friends, where disability isn’t a barrier and jokes are the theme of the day!

I have an older Brother and younger Sister who equally support me. My Brother plays in the same team, this started when he was grounded as a 14 year old and made to go everywhere with us, now as a 20 year old he plays, as he’s developed a currently undiagnosed condition meaning he cannot play the running basketball game. My sister takes hundreds of amazing photos of all of our games and competitions.

I am trying to raise funds  as my success means many costly trips to Sheffield (Where British Wheelchair Basketball is based) I am required to attend training camps throughout the year (once per month) also training days, Regional Performance Centres and Centralised training (days of training with the entire squad) also I am encouraged to hire court time between official training to ensure I can meet the personal goals set by the Coaches. When we go to Sheffield it requires hotel stays for my parents (as I’m under 18) as the days are long, usually starting around 7am and finishing around 7pm. Its also costly keeping my basketball chair in good condition for all the extra training I require as well as keeping our car up to scratch and fuel costs. Although my parents work really hard to cover these costs and have done over the last few years now the enormity of the commitment is huge and even more pressurised. Being able to cover the costs of my dream is becoming harder but I know one day it will all be worth it ♿️