DUBAI // “Love when I park in a disabled spot and people look at me in disgust,” Billy Bridge wrote in a recent Twitter post. “Then I get my chair out and they don’t know where to look.”
The looks of consternation are nothing new to Bridge, a wheelchair basketball player who suffers from post-polio syndrome, a condition that affects polio survivors years after recovery from an initial acute attack.
Bridge was part of the Great Britain team which recently took part at the Fazza International Wheelchair Basketball Tournament held at the Al Ahli Club last week, leading the team to a third-place finish.
A leader on the court – despite his tender years, Bridge, 20, was the senior member of the British team – his passion is matched by his skill set. Whether it’s blocking opponents, bellowing instructions to his teammates or shooting three-pointers, his classification in the sport, Bridge’s presence is always felt.
“I love being a leader, I love being able to guide the younger players and be able to lead them on the right path and show them the way, show them how to play,” Bridge said.
With an eye on next year’s Men’s Under 23 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Toronto, Britain sent their Junior men’s team to Dubai in a bid to give the players an “opportunity to challenge” for a spot on the world championship team headed for Canada next June.
“We do it for a purpose,” said Haj Bhania, coach of the Great Britain team. “We have to have a purpose why we come here ... to give the players the opportunity to come and play, and become better; for them to understand what it is like to travel to a different country, eat different food, meet different people, different cultures – experience all that, but also experience the basketball and a good level of basketball that we play.”
Coming to Dubai for the first time, Britain did indeed play at a good level, especially in the thrilling play-off for third-place when they were trailing Thailand by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter, but levelled the scores with only 16 seconds left on the clock and then edged it 53-52 in the extra period.
Bridge, who comes from Ellesmere Port, a port town in Cheshire in England’s north-west, was the star of that comeback win, scoring a team-high 18 points.
“We got a young team and it’s been really good just helping and guiding them and stuff,” said Bridge, who started playing basketball at the age of 12, made his Great Britain debut age 14 and has played professionally in Italy, Germany and Spain.
Bridge played for Dinamo Lab Banco di Sardegna in Italy last season, but says he now wants to return home. “Next season I want to be playing in England,” he said. “I want to play for Liverpool. I want to train hard for four years and hopefully make it to the Tokyo Olympics.”
For now, though, he is just happy he made this trip to Dubai.
“The country is absolutely incredible,” he said. “It’s a place where you come in and the people are so friendly. The Dubai Mall was incredible. It’s one of the best places I have ever been.
“The other day we went to the shopping mall, it was just incredible. We went to Burj Khalifa, the tallest building and all of it was just incredible. We had the fish tank with the sharks in it. It was just a beautiful place.
“The tournament was great as well. It’s good to see wheelchair basketball is being developed here and people are spending time on it, spending money on it.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
