Commonwealth Games: Meet the Welsh wheelchair 3×3 basketball couple

Phillips hopes the team can inspire the next generation of athletes.

“At eight years old, I was very anxious,” she said. “I wasn’t really accepting of my chair because I didn’t have any role models.

“My parents were always great and identified that sport was what that could be.

“The sport has given me confidence, I found family, community, everything. I found Will as well, also great!

“Without basketball, without sport, I don’t know where I’d be. I’d be very sad.

“You can learn so much about disability as a whole from this one sport. For young kids, even if you’re not into sport, just seeing representation on your screen at home means a lot.

“It meant a lot to me growing up and I’m excited to be the person they see.”

Bishop, who won bronze in the T38 long jump at the 2023 Youth Commonwealth Games in Trinidad and Tobago, is thrilled that the teams are trailblazers.

“It’s the first time for Wales to represented in any type of basketball at a Commonwealth Games,” he said.

“For it to be a wheelchair sport, a para-sport but also a sport that is inclusive of all people with an impairment, is really exciting.

“For example, Libi is a chair user and I’ve got cerebral palsy, but I’m ambulant, so I’m able to walk.

“The sport is for all people with disabilities, which growing up wasn’t necessarily something that I thought I could access until I went through Disability Sport Wales pathways.”