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History

In 1973 the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) established the first Sub-section for wheelchair basketball. At that time ISMGF was the world governing body for all wheelchair sports. In 1989 ISMGF accept the name International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) for its former sub-section. With this step wheelchair basketball began its journey for full independence and in 1993 IWBF was established as the world body for wheelchair basketball with full responsibility for development of the sport. The first official World Congress of the new IWBF was held in Edmonton, Alberta on the occasion of the Men’s Gold Cup in 1994. Here Philip Craven who had served as the Chairperson of the ISMGF wheelchair basketball section from 1988 was elected the first President of IWBF.

Over the next four years IWBF membership grew in size and the federation configured itself into 4 geographical Zones. IWBF studied several models before settling on the zone structure in 1998. Based on the number of National Organizations for Wheelchair Basketball (NOWB’s) with active programs at the national and international level it was decided they should be: Europe, Americas, Afro-Arab and Asia-Oceania.

IWBF is the world governing body for wheelchair basketball. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as the sole competent authority in wheelchair basketball world wide. FIBA has recognized IWBF under Article 53 of its General Statutes.

IWBF is governed by an Executive Council that is elected at the World Congress every four years. In 2001 Mr. Craven was elected to the position of President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and retired as president of IWBF at the World Congress in 2002. Mrs. Maureen Orchard (Canada) was elected as only the second president of IWBF at that same World Congress in Kitakyushu, Japan in 2002. Mrs Orchard was re-elected at the World Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2006.

As of 2006 IWBF has 82 NOWB’s actively participating in wheelchair basketball throughout the world with this number increasing each year. It is estimated that more than 100,000 people play wheelchair basketball from recreation to club play and as elite national team members. Wheelchair basketball is played by boys and girls, men and women.

Wheelchair basketball national organizations have developed in a variety of ways. Most started out the same way as IWBF, as a sub-section of a national wheelchair sport organization. As IWBF matured so did many of its member organizations and now there are several models that IWBF embraces within its membership. In Mexico the wheelchair basketball organizations are a part of their National Paralympic Committee (NPC). Australia is part of Wheelchair Sports Australia and others are under the umbrella of a National Disabled Federation such as Bahrain who are part of the Bahrain Disabled Sports Federation. In the Netherlands wheelchair basketball is fully integrated into the Nederlandse Basketball Bond and in Canada the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association is fully independent. In all cases where a member is part of a larger federation the IWBF only recognizes the part of that federation responsible for wheelchair basketball.

In 2004 IWBF adopted a new logo and invited the four zones to use a modified version of the logo to show the continuity of the game world wide. In 2005 the Afro-Arab Zone voted to become IWBF Africa and the NOWBs who more appropriately belonged in Asia were placed there. This created four zones: IWBF Africa; IWBF Asia Oceania, IWBF Americas and IWBF Europe. With this change IWBF became much more closely aligned to the structure of FIBA and IPC.

The game of wheelchair basketball had its roots much earlier than the IWBF or ISMGF when World War II veterans who were former "running" basketball players invented wheelchair basketball in the USA in 1946. At much the same time World War II veterans in England at Stoke Mandeville were becoming active in net ball. The sport moved across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe in the mid 1950s with the participation of the Pan-Am Jets of the USA at the International Stoke Mandeville Games. Wheelchair basketball associations were then set up in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Oceania during the 1960s and 1970s with African and Middle Eastern countries following on in the 1980s.

The first unofficial world championship for men was held in Bruges, Belgium in 1973 with only European teams involved it was won by Great Britain. The first official World Championships for Men, named the "Gold Cup" by its founder Andres Raes, took place in Brugges, Belgium and this time it was won by Israel. 1979 was hosted in Tampa, Florida and won by the host USA. In 1983 the Gold Cup moved to Halifax, Canada and the USA defended their title.

In 1986 it was decided to hold Gold Cup every four years, Melbourne, Australia hosted it but the USA retained their title. In 1990 it returned to Bruges where France took the title. In 1994 in Edmonton, Canada the USA once again became World Champions. They would repeat as Champions in 1998 in Sydney, Australia and again in 2002 in Kitakuyshu, Japan but Canada would end their domination with a win in Amsterdam in 2006.

The Women began their World Championships in 1990 in St. Etienne, France with the USA taking the first championship. The Canadian women won their first world championship in 1994 in Stoke Mandeville. Starting in1998 IWBF brought the men and women together at one site for the World Championships with the Canadian women winning in Sydney in 1998, Kitakuyshu in 2002 and Amsterdam in 2006.

In 1997 IWBF introduced world championships for junior men. The first tournament was held in Toronto, Canada with only seven nations attending. The host nation Canada took the Gold. This was followed with the 2001 Championships in Blumenau, Brazil where Canada defended its title against a very strong challenge from Brazil with the competition dropping to six nations. Finally, in 2005 the tournament came of age with a full compliment of 12 countries from all four zones competing in Birmingham, Great Britain. It seemed that many nations finally realised they had to invest in the juniors if they were going to be successful. Japan surprised everyone by defeating Australia to get into the gold medal game before finally losing to the USA. In 2005 IWBF allowed the teams to include female players. The teams were given a 1 point bonus when a women player was on the court. Still IWBF knows this is not the best way to develop young women players and we are working hard towards having a separate championship for junior women in the future.

Wheelchair basketball has great success at the Paralympic Games and indeed is the fastest growing sport for athletes with a disability. Most countries have club competitions for men and women and youth. Recreation wheelchair basketball is flourishing everywhere. In fact the biggest challenge might be the ability of IWBF to train coaches, classifiers and referees to meet the demands of the players. It is a challenge that IWBF is pleased to have.