A wheelchair basketball team hopes to raise $32,000 so it can train in Canada next Spring.

The WindReach Slammers is the only team of its kind in Bermuda, featuring a mix of disabled and able-bodied players.

Members staged a demonstration match at Government House yesterday despite the pouring rain, to boost awareness of their bid to visit the Variety Village special-needs fitness facility in Ontario.

WindReach Recreational Village Executive Director Lance Furbert II said: "Their coach, Gareth Dixon, does a tremendous job as a volunteer, but they would like to have some additional training during the school spring break in Ontario. When team members Andrew Faries and Jessica Lewis went this summer, they came back really enthusiastic. They were amazed at the level of play there. Because the Slammers are the only wheelchair team in Bermuda, they are always playing themselves and it would be so nice to meet other kids on the trip."

Explaining the scale of the fundraising required, he said: "These kids have to have someone to go on the trip with each of them and many of them need some special care. The amount may rise a bit. It will be an expensive trip."

The ten-member team is currently in its second year. It recently benefited from a $15,000 donation from the End to End charity walk and $7,500 from the Pitney Bowes employee involvement fund which was spent on new sports wheelchairs.

Philip Storr, chairman of the WindReach board, said membership of the Slammers has many benefits. "One child had so little confidence he couldn't get in the chair at first and then he only went backwards," he said, before pointing out the excited youngster hurtling around the Government House court.

Mr. Furbert added: "It's a tremendous thing to see the improvement in ability and aptitude. It's heart-warming to see the efforts and the attitudes of these young people."

Player Andrew Faries, 17, said: "When I went to Canada with Jessica this summer I learned a lot, and we did things we have never done before."

Sir John and Lady Vereker both joined the Slammers during the match. Sir John said afterwards: "I was impressed with how physically fit you have to be in order to do a good job of playing basketball in a wheelchair. They were much more agile than me."

Besides fundraising, the team also hopes to recruit some new players for its weekly training sessions which are held at the Bermuda High School on Saturdays from 1.30 p.m until 3 p.m. Members currently range in age from 10 to their 60s. Anyone interested in joining or contributing funds should contact Jean Frath at WindReach Recreational Village on 238-2469, or by email at programswindreach.org.