Johnson brothers join forces in wheelchair basketball

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This article was published 18/07/2024 (440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brothers Bill and Joey Johnson have been involved in the wheelchair basketball world since their childhood, Bill becoming a decorated coach, and Joey retiring as a three-time Paralympic champion.

Now for the first time, the Winnipeg natives are working together on the sidelines, uniting their talents to coach Great Britain men’s national wheelchair basketball team in the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Bill and Joey have crossed paths throughout their careers, from playing on the same teams when they were kids to Bill coaching Joey on occasion.

However, the two had never joined forces as co-coaches until April 2023, when the brothers were announced as the GB men’s coaches ahead of the IWBF World Championships in June 2023 and the European Championships in August 2023.

Their team went undefeated in the European Championships, which served as the wheelchair basketball Paralympic qualifiers, winning gold and a spot in Paris.

“I love coaching,” said Bill, the older Johnson, who has coached in five Paralympic Games. “I love coaching at the highest level. So it’s been great, it’s a great team, good organization.”

“It’s been interesting,” said Johnson on coaching with Joey. “I’ve been out of coaching for about six years before I came back to do this, and one of the things that drew me to it actually was the fact that they offered an opportunity for Joey and I to work together.”

Johnson, who started coaching in 1997, was head coach of the Canadian women’s national team from 2009 to 2016. He brought the team to a championship at the Toronto 2014 Women’s World Championships, bronze at the 2010 Women’s World Championships in Birmingham, and two Paralympic Games (6th at London 2012, 5th at Rio 2016). During his break from coaching wheelchair basketball, he worked as the executive director at Football Manitoba.

“Joey’s a bit of a legend in wheelchair basketball, so people will automatically defer to his knowledge,” said Johnson. “And so he does a lot of the on-court technical stuff and I do a lot of the leadership part and the planning and things like that. I think we make a pretty good team.”

At eight-years-old, the younger Johnson was diagnosed with a degenerative hip disease and he began playing wheelchair basketball the following year after being introduced to the sport by a friend.

Johnson went on to compete in five Paralympics, winning gold at London 2012, Athens 2004 and Syndey 2000. Additionally, he won silver in Beijing 2008 and came 5th in the 1996 Atlanta Games. He also played professionally in Australia and Germany and was the first Paralympic athlete to be inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

A natural leader after captaining the RSV-Lahn Dill club in Germany and Team Canada from 2003-2008, Johnson began transitioning into coaching after retiring as a player following the 2012 Olympics, having already gained experience as an assistant coach during his playing career.

“I take pride in it, but I just know what sport gave me throughout my life,” said Johnson who has been involved in wheelchair basketball for over 40 years now. “I know it’s worthwhile because sport has literally given me pretty much everything in my life that I have to date. So I want other people to have those experiences and those memories that I was very fortunate enough to create along my journey.”

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Johnson joined the men’s British team in 2016 as an assistant coach at the Rio Games, where the squad earned bronze. Following Rio, he returned to coach Team Canada before taking on his current role alongside his brother.

“We know each other very well, and we can read off each other,” said Johnson. “I think it allows for our relationship as coaches to be very honest because it takes a lot to hurt our feelings as siblings.”

Great Britain will play Germany in Group A on August 29 in the preliminary round of the 2024 Paralympics.

“We want to perform at our best at these games,” said Johnson. “So it’s always fun to be around a great group of individuals becoming one for a common goal.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca