Wheelchair Basketball with a Pro

Hey it’s Nicci, and I recently had the opportunity to attend an Educate through Experience event at Kesser Torah in which students learned from and played wheelchair basketball with Stephan Rochecouste from Wheelchair Sports NSW. Over 180 students have taken part in the Educate through Experience program, which is run by Maccabi All Abilities and funded by the Choice Foundation. The program aims to foster change and promote inclusion through positive learning, interactive activities and thought-provoking experience.

The students got to jump straight into the demo wheelchairs and play wheelchair basketball before getting the opportunity to ask Stephan questions about his experiences as a person with a disability.

It was such fun to watch the students try manoeuvre their wheelchairs across the court, passing the ball to their teammates and trying to shoot some hoops. While there was lots of cheering, laughter and fun on the court, once off the court, the students shared some deeper reflections with me on their experience. Only one of the students had played wheelchair basketball before and everyone agreed that it was much harder than they had expected, especially having to use your hands to both push the wheels and also be open to catching the ball. Aryeh, who plays basketball regularly, remarked that playing wheelchair basketball is definitely harder, especially since there is no height advantage. I chatted to Eliana, Eli and Liora who commented that being in a wheelchair and playing wheelchair sport is no longer a foreign concept to them and they’ll now have greater understanding and respect when they see someone in a wheelchair or when they watch wheelchair sport.

One of the most impactful aspects of the program for me was when all the students got to stand up out of their wheelchairs after the game, which Stephan is not able to do. However, I believe they definitely walked off the court with more empathy, having been able to step into Stephan’s shoes momentarily.

During the Q&A, Stephan, who has been in a wheelchair for over 20 years, shared how his experiences when growing up with a disability such as not being invited to parties, sparked his passion for advocating for conversations about inclusivity in order to close the gap between able-bodied people and those with a disability. While there are regulations and legislation in place, Stephan believes that in social settings, in sport and in fashion, these important conversations still need to happen and he encouraged the students to start these conversations, even though they may be confronting.

Stephan’s genuineness, humour and resilience was inspiring and he has really lived his life to the best of his ability, travelling the world representing Australia in wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby and I think this illustrates one of my favourite quotes that Stephan said: Don’t let anybody else tell you that you can’t do something.

The program was extremely impactful for me and for the students in promoting empathy and inclusion and I’m very grateful for the Choice Foundation and Maccabi All Abilities for running programs like this and for inviting me to attend.