International Wheelchair Basketball Federation
Encyclopedia
Sport governing body
A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...
for the sport of wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people in wheelchairs and is considered one of the major disabled sports practiced. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as the sole...
. IWBF is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee
International Paralympic Committee
The International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports...
(IPC) as the sole competent authority in wheelchair basketball world wide. International Basketball Federation (or FIBA) has recognized IWBF under Article 53 of its General Statutes.
History
In 1973, the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation (ISMGF) established the first Sub-section for wheelchair basketballWheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people in wheelchairs and is considered one of the major disabled sports practiced. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as the sole...
. At that time ISMGF was the world governing body for all wheelchair sport
Disabled sports
Disabled sports are sports played by persons with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. As many of these based on existing sports modified to meet the needs of persons with a disability, they are sometimes referred to as adapted sports...
s. In 1989, ISMGF accepted 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. Over the next five years IWBF membership grew in size and the federation configured itself into 4 geographical zones.
Zone Structure
IWBF studied several modelsMental model
A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about his or her own acts and their consequences...
before creating its current zone structure. Based on the number of National Organizations for Wheelchair Basketball (NOWB) with active programs at the national and international level it was decided that IWBF Americas and IWBF Europe could be the same as FIBA Americas
FIBA Americas
FIBA Americas is a zone within FIBA which contains the 44 FIBA Federations located in the Americas. FIBA Americas is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.- National teams :CONCECABACaribbean...
and FIBA Europe
FIBA Europe
FIBA Europe is a zone within the International Basketball Federation which includes all 49 national European basketball federations.-Division A:-Division B: -Division C:...
. However, because of the limited number of countries with active programs in the rest of the world, IWBF chose to combine some regions to create better developmental and competitive opportunities within the zone. As a result, the last two zones of IWBF are IWBF Asia Oceania and IWBF Africa.
As of 2003, IWBF has 76 NOWB actively participating in wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people in wheelchairs and is considered one of the major disabled sports practiced. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as the sole...
throughout the world with this number increasing each year.
Executive Council
IWBF is governed by an Executive Council that is elected at the World Congress every four years. Philip CravenPhilip Craven
Sir Philip Craven MBE is a British sports official and former athlete. He is the second and current President of the International Paralympic Committee .-Education:...
(Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
) who had served as Chairperson of the ISMGF wheelchair basketball Section since 1988 was elected to be the first President of IWBF in 1993.
In 2001, Mr. Craven was elected to the position of President of the International Paralympic Committee
International Paralympic Committee
The International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports...
(IPC) and retired as president of IWBF at the World Congress in 2002. Mrs. Maureen Orchard (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) was elected as only the second president of IWBF at that same World Congress in Kitakyushu, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 2002.
Classification
In order to make the competitions fair, each player receives a point in regard their physical ability called class, from 1.0 which is the lowest class with the maximum physical disability to the 4.5 which is highest class with the lowest physical disability.The person who performs classification called classifier. Classifiers have Bronze, Silver and Gold badges according to their knowledge and experience. Recently the classification rules made changes and have only two levels, namely the national classifier, the zone classifier and the International Classifier. http://www.iwbf.org/index.php/f-classification#F2
Don Perriman (Australia) is the current President of Classification Commission,
Kenneth McKay(Great Britain) Gold Classifier, Gholamhossein Shahrabadi(Iran) Gold Classier, Toufic Allouch (Lebanon
Wheelchair basketball national organizations around the world
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 MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
the wheelchair basketball organizations are a part of their National Paralympic Committee
National Paralympic Committee
National Paralympic Committees are the national constituents of the worldwide Paralympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Paralympic Committee , they are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Paralympic Games.The Paralympic Games are a major...
(NPC). Australia is part of the Australian Wheelchair Athletes Ltd., and others are under the umbrella of a National Disabled Federation such as Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
who are part of the Bahrain Disabled Sports Federation. In the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
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.
Member organizations
- Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association
- US - National Wheelchair Basketball AssociationNational Wheelchair Basketball AssociationNational Wheelchair Basketball Association is composed of 181 wheelchair basketball teams within twenty-two conferences. Founded in 1949 by Tim Nugent, the NWBA today consists of men's, women's, intercollegiate, and youth teams throughout the United States of America and Canada.The International...
- Australian Wheelchair Athletes Ltd.
- Mexican - National National Paralympic Committee
- Bahrain Disabled Sports Federation
- Holland - Nederlandse Basketball Bond
- Islamic Republic of Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled
Competitions
- Wheelchair Basketball World ChampionshipWheelchair Basketball World ChampionshipThe IWBF World Wheelchair Basketball Championship is an international wheelchair basketball competition contested by the men's and the women's national teams of the members of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation , the sport's global governing body.The first unofficial Wheelchair...
- Wheelchair EurobasketWheelchair EurobasketThe European Wheelchair Basketball Championship, is the main wheelchair basketball competition contested biennially by national teams governed by IWBF Europe, the European zone within the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation...
- IWBF Champions CupIWBF Champions Cup-Performance by club:-See also:*Wheelchair basketball*André Vergauwen Cup*Willi-Brinkmann-Cup*IWBF Challenge Cup*Kitakyushu Champions Cup...
- André Vergauwen CupAndré Vergauwen Cup-See also:*Wheelchair basketball*IWBF Champions Cup*Willi-Brinkmann-Cup*IWBF Challenge Cup*Kitakyushu Champions Cup...
- Willi-Brinkmann-CupWilli-Brinkmann-Cup-See also:*Wheelchair basketball*IWBF Champions Cup*André Vergauwen Cup*IWBF Challenge Cup*Kitakyushu Champions Cup...
- IWBF Challenge CupIWBF Challenge Cup-See also:*Wheelchair basketball*IWBF Champions Cup*André Vergauwen Cup*Willi-Brinkmann-Cup*Kitakyushu Champions Cup...
- Kitakyushu Champions CupKitakyushu Champions CupThis tournament commemorates the 2002 Gold Cup World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Kitakyushu, which was the first to be held in Asia. 2011 tournament is the ninth to be held, demonstrating the vitality of our citizens and the united efforts of volunteers, and also promoting Kitakyushu...