Phoenix Announce Their First Signing

Published

29 October 2021

East London Phoenix, have announced their first signing ahead of the inaugural British Wheelchair Basketball Women’s Premier League Season.

Nik Terrell joins the team based at the University of East London (UEL), having previously been part of the Glasgow Lady Rocks and she was set to attend her first GB pathway session before the pandemic.

When the league starts in January, East London Phoenix will take on three other franchises in the first professional women’s wheelchair basketball league of its kind.

I think there is an importance in finding a group of people that both challenge and inspire you and I feel that’s exactly what I’ve got here.”
“Each member of the Phoenix brings something totally different to the table in addition to their talent and I’m really excited to learn and see where we go with the Phoenix.”
Nik Terrell speaking on her move.

A 4.0 classification athlete, Terrell will return to the court after 18 months out of action and aims to provide competition within the Scotland squad ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

A unique franchise

The Phoenix are one of the four franchises in the upcoming Premier League and can boast facilities that have housed some formidable names in sport.

Their home venue, SportsDock, was built in 2012 for the Olympics and was the training camp for the US Olympic team in the same year.

As the East London franchise will be the capital's first-ever women's professional wheelchair basketball franchise, this will be seen to provide a boost for the sport in the surrounding areas.

Director of Sport, James Kilden, said, "There are some great, established wheelchair basketball clubs here already and we want to be able to add that extra layer of performance within the setup and inspire the next generation of coaches as well as players."

The Franchise will be led by the High Performance team at the University of East London, as well as student volunteers to help bring experience in a professional environment.

Dual Career Support officer, Alex Kyriacou, added, "They’ll take on roles managing the team, delivering the performance services and just being part of an exciting franchise."