Basketball Coach
Graham Lapper: Coach
Graham started playing basketball in school at the age of 9. He continued to play for a youth club team and competed in a team called Stoke 85 who played in national leagues in Division 3.
18 years ago Graham saw an advert in the local paper for a volunteer coach for Special Olympics and he’s never looked back. When his mainstream coaching activities began to clash with Special Olympics he had no hesitation about his choice.
He says: “I get so much more from my work with Special Olympics. A lot of mainstream athletes take so much for granted. The players I coach in Special Olympics put in 110%. That’s what sport is all about.”
Graham worked at a special needs college in Stoke where he was responsible for bringing sport into the curriculum and giving it a place of importance. He describes sport as “A tool for life. You can teach anything through sport.”
The Special Olympics club he set up has about 60 members who train every Thursday evening. He says it’s one of the biggest.
He says: “Some of the players in my club are of a very high standard. But none of them can better the dedication of the 50-year old player who has competed at low ability level in Special Olympics for 25 years and who travels 10 miles by taxi every week to get to the training session. That’s commitment.”
Graham runs what he says is the only unified basketball team in Britain. But because they have no comparable teams to play against they look to other countries for competition. The team has travelled to Athens to play matches.
TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ATHLETES OR COACHES, PLEASE CONTACT THE SOGB NATIONAL OFFICE.
TELEPHONE: 020 7696 5569 OR EMAIL TO: pr@sogb.org.uk