Benjamin James Ettridge is a wheelchair basketball

Wheelchair basketball

Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people in wheelchairs and is considered one of the major disabled sports practiced. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as the sole...

 coach, and an able bodied basketball coach from Australia. He has also played basketball.

National wheelchair basketball teams

Ettridge has served in a variety of men and women's coaching positions for Australia's national wheelchair basketball program. He served as the head coach of the Australian men's Under 23 team, an assistant with the women's national senior team and as head coach of the men's senior team. He became the head coach of the men's senior team in 2007, taking over for Murray Treseder who had taken a head coach position in the United Kingdom. In 2007, he guided the team to gold at the Arafura Games

Arafura Games

The Arafura Games is a Multi-sport event held every 2 years in the Australian city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory. It is an international event which draws its competitors from around the world. First held in 1991, the most recent Games, held in 2009, involved over 30 nations and over 3,000...

. At the end of the tournament, his record as a coach was 9 wins and 1 loss. In 2011, he worked with Basketball Australia

Basketball Australia

Basketball Australia is the governing and controlling body of basketball in Australia, responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels.Formed in 1939 the organisation was constituted in 1946...

 and the Australian Paralympic Committee

Australian Paralympic Committee

The Australian Paralympic Committee is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the means by which Australia participates at the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.-History:...

 to secure alternative transportation for his team after they were left stranded because of Qantas

Qantas

Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...

's grounding of flights as part of a labour dispute. He and his team were trying to get to South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 in order to compete in the Paralympic qualifying tournament.

Paralympics

Ettridge coached the gold medal winning Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team

Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team

The Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team is the men's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Rollers...

 at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

2008 Summer Paralympics

The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the thirteenth Paralympics, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to September 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao....

.

Other competitions

In 2009, he was the coach for national side that competed at the Rollers World Challenge. In 2010, he was the coach of the team that competed at the IWBF World Championships that won a gold medal. In October 2011, he was announced as the coach for the team that would compete at the Paralympic qualifying tournament for the 2012 Summer Paralympics

2012 Summer Paralympics

The 2012 Summer Paralympic Games will be the fourteenth Paralympics and will take place between 29 August and 9 September 2012. The Games will be held in London, United Kingdom after the city was successful with its bid for the Paralympics and Summer Olympic Games.Even though 2012 will be London's...

.

State Basketball League

Ettridge was a competitor in the State Basketball League between 1993 and 2004, playing in over 200 games. He was named as the head coach of the Wanneroo Basketball Association's State Basketball League's team for the 2011 team. His coaching duties extended to player development for other teams in the association.

National Wheelchair Basketball League

In 2004, Ettridge became the head coach of Australia's National Wheelchair Basketball League's Perth Wheelcats. His father, Len Ettridge, served as the team's assistant coach. In his second year as head coach, he took the team to the NWBL's championship final where they lost to the West Sydney Razorbacks. In 2006, the Wheelcats team he coached lost only one game all season before going on to win the league championship. In 2007, he coached a team that won every regular season game and won the league championships. He coached the Wheelcats to victory at the World Champions Cup, in a tournament where they did not lose a single game. In 2008, he was again the Wheelcats coach and the team lost only one game during the regular season before winning the NWBL's championship. In 2010, he left his coaching job with the Wheelcats and was replaced by Lee Nott.

Recognition

In 2009, the Australian Paralympic Committee named him as one of their finalists for their Coach of the Year award. While coaching the Wheelcats, three times he was named the NWBL Coach of the Year. During a five year period, he was five times named Wheelchair Sports WA Coach of the Year.

External links

• Benjamin Ettridge's blog