Tina McKenzie  has been named captain for the tour while three-time Paralympian Amanda Carter (right) returns to the fold.

All twelve athletes play in the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL), with Dandenong Rangers players making up half the team.

Australia will be captained by dual Paralympian Tina McKenzie and will contest the Four Nations tournament in Ottawa from July 22 to August 2 against Germany, the Netherlands and the host nation.

The Gliders team contains nine athletes that won a Bronze Medal at the Paralympic Games in Beijing as well as Osaka Cup Gold Medallist Leanne Del Toso, 16-year old young gun Amber Merritt, and 44-year old returning veteran Amanda Carter.

That’s right; she’s 44.

Carter competed at the Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney Paralympics and suffered an elbow injury in the Gold Medal Match in 2000 when her arm was trapped under her chair in a fall.

She spent 18 months in hospital as a result and has since endured nine operations to reconstruct her elbow.

Now, nearly a decade on, the single mum who works full time as an Occupational Therapist in Melbourne gets a chance at redemption against Canada, the team Australia was playing when Carter was injured.
 


Australian Gliders team for Four Nations Tournament in Canada:
Name / Association / Age

Clare BURZYNSKI / Western Stars, WA / 22
Amanda CARTER / Dandenong Rangers, VIC  / 44
Shelley CHAPLIN / Dandenong Rangers, VIC / 24
Cobi CRISPIN / Western Stars, WA / 20
Melanie DOMASCHENZ / Dandenong Rangers, VIC / 25
Leanne DEL TOSO / Dandenong Rangers, VIC / 28
Katie HILL / Hills Hornets, NSW / 25
Bridie KEAN / Dandenong Rangers, VIC / 22
Tina McKENZIE / Dandenong Rangers, VIC / 35
Amber MERRITT / Western Stars, WA / 16
Kathleen O'KELLY-KENNEDY / Goudkamp Gladiators, NSW / 23
Sarah STEWART / Hills Hornets, NSW / 33

Head Coach: John TRISCARI / Head Coach, Western Stars, WA
Asst. Coach: Ben OSBORNE /