Hugh’s happy ending after landing professional deal
A SPORTSMAN from Culford is set to realise his dream of playing professional wheelchair basketball.
Hugh Anderson, 27, flew out to Germany on Saturday after completing his transfer from the Bury Bombers to German top flight outfit Goldmann Dolphins Trier.
It is a happy ending to a disappointing year after injury put paid to his chances of potentially being selected for the London 2012 Paralympics.
“It’s very exciting,” he said. “The idea of someone paying me to do my hobby is wonderful.
“It’s a great opportunity to play in a high quality league with players who are better than myself.”
Anderson will get the opportunity to travel across Germany and into Luxembourg and Belgium for domestic competition, as well as the rest of Europe for the Euro Cup — wheelchair basketball’s version of football’s UEFA Champions League.
Trier, which is on the German border with Luxembourg, is the oldest city in Germany and is famous for its preserved Roman and medieval buildings.
Anderson hopes to impress in the midst of Germany’s past to create himself a bright sporting future by showing the British coaches enough to be selected for the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.
He said: “Injury cost me the chance of having a place at London 2012, but I’m hoping this step into the professional leagues will give me the opportunity to play at such a high level and improve myself up to that level needed to be considered for Rio.”
Anderson, one of the founding members of Bury Bombers in 1997, was in the British development squad when he suffered a serious shoulder injury in the early part of 2008.
He was out of the sport for more than a year as a result, but returned in late 2009 when re-signing for his home-town club.
Since then he has guided the Bombers into the top flight of the British League — National League Division One South — a division in which Bury were second last year.
“The three years with the Bombers has helped me regain my confidence and fitness,” said Anderson. “I’ve had an amazing three years with them and have many good friends here, so it was a pleasure to help them get up to the top league.”
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Friday 24 May 2013
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