Laurie Williams (wheelchair basketball)
 Laurie Williams at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |
 United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||
| Born | 4 February 1992 | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 153 cm (5 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||
| Country | Great Britain | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wheelchair basketball | |||||||||||||||
| Disability class | 2.5 | |||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Women's team | |||||||||||||||
| College team | University of Alabama | |||||||||||||||
| Club | Coyotes (Nottingham) | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Laurie Williams (born 4 February 1993) is a 2.5 point British wheelchair basketball player who participated at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Biography
Laurie Williams was born on 4 February 1993 in Wythenshawe, a district of Manchester in England.[1] A virus resulted in her developing motor neuropathy in her trunk and legs.[1]
When she was 13, Williams began wheelchair athletics and wheelchair racing. While attending the Greater Manchester Youth Games in 2005, she was asked to try out for wheelchair basketball. She found that she loved the physicality of the game and the social aspects of being part of a team,[2][3] and started playing competitively in 2008. Her team mates called her "whippet" on account of her speed on the basketball court.[1] She played for the Nottingham Coyotes in the National League and is classified as a 2.5 point player.[3]
In 2009 Williams made her debut with Team Great Britain at the 2009 BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, and in 2010 was part of the team that came sixth at the World Championships in Birmingham – Britain's best ever performance. She was then part of the team that won silver at the U22 European Championships in Italy later that year. She won bronze at the European Championships in Nazareth in 2011 and Frankfurt in 2013, and at the U25 World Championship in St. Catharines, Canada in 2011. She made her Paralympic debut in front of a home crowd at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.[1]
She has a BSc in social psychology from Loughborough University.[2] "There were loads of different reasons for coming to Loughborough University," she explained. "The course was one of them; it’s one of the only universities in the country that does social psychology and that was important for me. The sport as well, obviously. I applied for the 2012 scholarship and got it and the facilities are really good. But the atmosphere was also a big factor. It’s one of the best student experience universities in the country."[4] After graduating from Loughborough, she studied Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Alabama.[5] The University of Alabama wheelchair basketball team of which she was part won their fourth National Championship in the seven years in 2015 with a 58–52 win over the University of Illinois.[6] In 2015 she was co-captain (with Amy Conroy) of the U25 team at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing,[7] winning gold.[8]
Achievements
- 2009: Bronze at the European Championships (Stoke Mandeville, UK)[1]
- 2010: Sixth at the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships (Birmingham, UK)[1]
- 2011: Bronze at the European Championships (Nazareth, Israel)[1]
- 2011: Bronze at the U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship (St. Catharines, Canada)
- 2012: Seventh at the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games (London, UK)[1]
- 2013: Bronze at European Championships (Frankfurt, Germany)[1]
- 2014: Fifth at the World Wheelchair Basketball Championship (Toronto, Canada)
- 2015: Gold at the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship (Beijing, China)[8]
- 2015: Bronze at the European Championships (Worcester, England) [9]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Laurie Williams". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- 1 2 "Snapshots – Laurie Williams – London 2012 Games". Loughborough University. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- 1 2 "Laurie Williams – London 2012". Paralympics GB. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ↑ "Focus on... Laurie Williams". Loughborough University. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ↑ "Alabama Adapted Athletics » Laurie Williams". University of Alabama. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ↑ "Alabama Adapted Athletics » 2015 National Champions". University of Alabama. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- ↑ "Great Britain Team announced for 2015 Women’s U25 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
- 1 2 "Great Britain crowned Women's U25 World Champions!". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ↑ "Germany earn 10th women's European Wheelchair Basketball Championship title as hosts Britain win men's gold". Inside the Games. Retrieved 9 September 2015.