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Our Club
Our club was born out of inclusion and we remain true to that to this day. Whilst our weekly sessions focus around physical activity, and the sport of wheelchair basketball, our primary focus is to help both disabled and non-disabled people improve their health and well-being in a fun, safe and inclusive environment. We understand that each of our members will have different goals and varying levels of fitness, ability and ambition. As a club, we aim to provide a setting for people to socialise, make friends, learn new skills, improve their fitness and function, and explore the various pathways available to them so they can lead happier, healthier and more independent lives.
Wheelchair basketball is an extremely inclusive sport and is played by people with a wide range of ability. Sports wheelchairs are provided at our club and you do not need to be a wheelchair user to take part. The sports wheelchairs are seen as a piece of sports equipment that can be used by full time wheelchair users, those who require a wheelchair on occasion, those who are ambulant or have prosthetic limbs as well as non-disabled people who have no lower limb impairment or loss of function.
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We have many examples where our members have played competitively, represented Wales and even Great Britain however our top priority will always be to support our members play at a level they are comfortable at with no pressure to compete if they don't want to. We will always support our members through the various performance pathways available to them, if they want, and we have a fantastic track record of developing players who have been part of successful local, regional, national and international teams. However, our greatest achievements will always be how we promote inclusion and enable health and well-being opportunities through physical activity and sport. We are proud to have played our part in helping many people over the years develop their confidence, fitness, improve their physical function, fall in love with adapted sport and achieve their personal goals. Whilst the work we do is on the basketball court, the impact is often seen in other areas of life.
Our History
Conwy Thunder was constituted in December 2011 however the work to get to that point actually started in 2010. Ffit Conwy, in partnership with Disability Sport Wales, had identified a gap in provision for physically impaired disabled people. Although there were a number of local disability sport clubs and other opportunities developing, there was nothing that focused on providing adapted activity for those who were unable to take part in 'running sport'.
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With the London 2012 Paralympics generating a huge amount of interest in para sport, the club was officially launched at Creuddyn Leisure Centre on Thursday 2nd of February 2012. The idea being to have regular sessions running so that once the Paralympic Games began there was a local outlet available to people who may be inspired by athletes taking part at London 2012. In addition to the opportunity for people to try wheelchair basketball in Conwy for the first time, the launch night included presentations highlighting the importance and impact of para-sport with special guests including 5 x Paralympian, Colin Price, who played for Great Britain for 22 years and included captaining the team to the silver medal position in Atalanta 1996. GB U23 youngster, Charlie Fryer-Stevens, was also a guest for the launch event helping club coaches guide local youngsters and adults through their first session.
The club launch night offered a glimpse into the future, proving very popular amongst those who attended with some of the club members and volunteers still involved over 14 years later.
Above: Team picture from the club's official launch in 2012.
Below (from left to right): Rob Jones, Colin Price and Charlie Fryer Stevens.
Later in 2012, as the hype for London 2012 began to build, our club took part in one of only two Paralympic Flame Celebrations in Wales. On Monday 27th August 2012 part of the London 2012 Paralympic Flame was splintered at a ceremony in Cardiff and brought up to Eirias as Ffit Conwy ran an event to celebrate and raise awareness of disability sport. As part of this we took part in the first ever wheelchair basketball festival hosted in North Wales alongside Caernarfon Celts, Celtic Warriors and Rhyl Raptors before Team Thunder played an exhibition match against a North Wales select team. In addition to the matches our team was honoured to take part in a parade of the Paralympic Flame around the athletics track at Eirias alongside other disability sport clubs from Conwy.
Following London 2012 we developed into a club that had a thriving junior section and a well established senior section. Within our club we had members with aspirations to develop their potential and play competitively as well as those who attended weekly sessions to play recreationally. A number our our junior players were selected to play for Wales at various age groups including U14/15, U18/19 and U23s as they represented our country at competitions such as The National Junior Championships in Stoke Mandeville and Worcester as well as The Celtic Cup in Cardiff and Northern Ireland.
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Rather than stretch club resources and enter a team into British Wheelchair Basketball's (BWB) National League system, we decided to work collaboratively with other community clubs in North Wales and play our part in creating a regional set up similar to that of RGC (Rygbi Gogledd Cymru). Alongside volunteers from Caernarfon Celts and Rhyl Raptors, Wheelchair Basketball North Wales was established in 2014 which proved to be an extremely successful venture before its dissolution in 2025. Wheelchair Basketball North Wales (WBNW) was responsible for running regional representative teams known as the North Wales Knights who played in the various divisions of BWB's National Leagues. The North Wales Knights would play their home fixtures at Colwyn Leisure Centre in Eirias after Ffit Conwy made the necessary upgrades and improvements to the sports hall.
Over the duration of WBNW's existence, the organisation oversaw the development of multiple National League Teams, Junior age group teams and two Women's League teams. In addition to the National League programme WBNW also developed the North Wales League, again based at Colwyn Leisure Centre, that saw the local community clubs come together to play organised round robin fixtures throughout the season, giving players, coaches, table officials and other volunteers the opportunity to learn more about organised sport in a fun and friendly environment. The North Wales League fed players and coaches into the regional pathway and created a real buzz across the region. There were many individual and collective success stories but arguably the greatest team achievement saw a talented group of youngsters from across the region come together and win the British National U15 and U18 titles in 2017 and 2021 respectively.
Although the trophies won have naturally created highlights for our players, and their families, they only show a tiny part of the true impact of our sport, and our club. The countless memories made, the time spent with team mates, the new friends, the difficult times, and those moments when people realise that they can achieve is what makes this more than a sport. The vast majority of our members have had extremely difficult moments in life and often been written off, but being part of our club means that you will have others that understand you and want to see the best in you. We are very fortunate to have had some wonderful families join our club and we are, and will always be, proud to be able to help those families through difficult moments in their lives and promote an inclusive, healthy way of living - whether that means winning gold at the Paralympics or just taking some time out of your week to pop down to our club and see some friendly faces.
Our Future
After years of progression the club, like most of society, paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understandably people have been cautious about re-engaging in community activity, especially those with physical impairments and at higher risk of illness. That, combined with a number of factors including junior members progressing through college and university life, a change in people's commitments and our fantastic health service being unable to signpost people to our club has seen our membership reduce significantly. There have been times over the last few years when it has been extremely difficult for the club to sustain itself and cover the costs of hall hire due to reduced income from a lower membership base. However, thanks to our small group of dedicated volunteers and our core members we have been able to survive some difficult times and are now planning for a brighter future.
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The last two season's have seen club membership grow and our senior section get back to a point where we can enter teams in competitions. The 2024/25 season saw Conwy Thunder enter a British Wheelchair Basketball competition for the first time ever as we took part in their Inspire a Generation League. The Inspire a Generation League's primary objective is to develop new, fun local opportunities with a view to increasing participation, sustaining sport and that physical activity becomes part of an active lifestyle in the longer-term. The programme is very similar to the North Wales League and we have seen the benefit of having a team take part as we rebuild our club membership. The round robin fixture days give players something to work towards and an opportunity to learn more whilst playing full matches against similar opposition under the guidance of coaches and referees.
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After the success of the 2024/25 IAG season we entered the North West division again in the 2025/26 season which again saw fantastic playing opportunities for our team. We once again played three round robin fixtures against neighbours Cheshire Phoenix and Rhyl Raptors and saw a number of players take part in their fixture organised matches throughout the season, while existing players continued to make excellent progress.
The 2025/26 Season also saw another first for our club as we entered the UKWB's Women's Cup. Our first ever women's team travelled to Barrow-in-Furness for the special one weekend double-elimination knockout competition held over the 7th & 8th of March 2026. It was a great event, and even though we had a small squad of players it was a great experience both on and off the court. A fantastic opportunity for families, volunteers and coaches to socialise whilst bonding as a club.
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Whilst the current IAG and Women's Cup teams are very much part of our club in the present, our aim is to build upon these and develop a broader pathway for our club members. A huge amount of work has been undertaken behind the scenes over the 2025/26 season which will enable us to build on our current opportunities. A new, revised programme that will re-establish our junior section, supplement our senior section and broaden our pathway for younger members will create more opportunities for local people, hopefully helping many more people access the health benefits of an active lifestyle through adaptive sport.
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