Bradley John Ness, OAM (born 24 November 1974) is an Australian

wheelchair basketball Wheelchair basketball is a style of basketball played using a sports wheelchair. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) as ...

er. He won a gold medal at the

2008 Beijing The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

and silver medals at

2004 Athens The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

and

2012 London The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Paralympics. He was selected as the Australian flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony at the

2016 Rio Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 Sept ...

. In December 2023, Ness was appointed the Head Coach of the Rollers - Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team.

Personal

Brad Ness was born on 24 November 1974, and is from the Western Australian country town of Wagin. On 19 December 1992, at the age of 18, he lost his leg in a boating accident aboard a high-speed ferry between

Rottnest Island Rottnest Island (), often colloquially referred to as "Rotto", is a Islands of Perth, Western Australia, island off the coast of Western Australia, located west of Fremantle. A sandy, low-lying island formed on a base of aeolianite limestone, ...

and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

. The accident happened while the workers were preparing to leave the pier. Ness's leg was attached to the quayside when the ferry was moving out, the rope tightened and sliced off his right ankle. He was working on the ferry as a deckhand at the time. He was back to working on boats again within six months of his accident, and received his

licensed mariner A licensed mariner is a sailor who holds a license from a maritime authority to hold senior officer-level positions aboard ships, boats, and similar vessels. Qualification standards for licensed mariners are universally set by the STCW Conventio ...

's licence. As a youth he competed in several sports including

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

, tennis and swimming, and was good enough at football that he considered a professional career in the sport. Ness decided to try basketball after seeing a wheelchair basketball game on television. He is married and lives in Fremantle. In February 2013, thieves broke into his house and stole his Paralympic medals by blasting his safe out of its wall. During a ceremony at the Perth parliament house on 9 July 2013, he was given replacement medals by the

Australian Paralympic Committee Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian tea ...

, a first for the organisation.

Basketball

Ness is classified as a 4.5 player and plays centre. He first started playing wheelchair basketball in 1996 after having seen the game played on television. His ability to play wheelchair basketball has been supported by the

Western Australian Institute of Sport The Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1983 by the Government of Western Australia to support athletes in Western Australia. The founding director was Wally Foreman who held the position for 17 ye ...

Individual Athlete Support Program, and he currently plays basketball full-time as a professional.

National team

Ness first made the national team in 1999 at the Roosevelt Cup in Georgia, USA.

Paralympics

As a member of the

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. Australia took the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Paralymp ...

, Ness competed at the 2000 Sydney,

, and

Paralympic Games, winning a gold medal in 2008 and silver medals in 2004 and 2012. He captained the team at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics. In 2016, he was selected for his fifth games, the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

where his team, The Rollers, finished sixth.

Other national team competitions

In 2001, Ness competed at the AOZ World Cup, where his team came in first, and he was named as part of the All-Star Five. He was part of Australia's 2003

Kitakyushu Champions Cup The Kitakyushu Champions Cup commemorates the 2002 Gold Cup World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Kitakyushu, which was the first to be held in Asia. 2011 tournament is the ninth to be held, demonstrating the vitality of our citizens and ...

championship team, as well as the 2004 Asia Oceania Cup champion team. In 2004, he was a member of the national team that came in first place at the Roosevelt Cup. He was also part of the AOZ Paralympic qualifying tournament team that finished first. He was named a member of the AOZ All-Star Five at the tournament. In 2005, he was part of the squad that competed at the Paralympic World Cup that won a silver medal. In 2006, he was named the captain of the Australian team, and was part of the Paralympic World Cup team that won a silver medal. That year, he was also part of the squad that won a bronze medal at the World Championships. In 2008, he was part of the team that took gold at the Beijing Paralympics. He was on the team that competed in the Rollers World Challenge held in August 2009, where he scored 17 points in the match against Japan. He was part of the team that competed at IBWF AOZ Oceania Championship 2009 and won gold. At the Oceania championships, he scored 9 points and had 10 rebounds in the final match against Japan. He was past of the Australian team at the 2010 IWBF World Championships held in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, that won a gold medal, the team that competed at the Wheelchair Tri Series 2011, and the gold medal-winning

that competed at the

2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship The 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship was held in Birmingham, Great Britain from 7 to 17 July 2010. Both the men's and women's tournaments were held. The Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. ...

. Ness was a member of the Rollers team that won the gold medal at the

2014 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship Separate men's and women's Wheelchair Basketball World Championship tournaments were held in 2014. The women's tournament was held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Canada between 20 and 28 June 2014. It was the largest women's ...

Club basketball

In 2000, Ness played for the Dandenong Rangers, and helped the team win the National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL) Championships. In 2001, he was named as part of the NWBL's All-Star Five. In 2002, he played for the Perth Wheelcats and helped that team win the NWBL Championships. In 2006, he was named the NWBL Most Valuable Player. That year, he was also playing club basketball in Italy. He was part of the 2007 Perth Wheelcats that won the NWBL Championship and the World Club Championship., he plays his club basketball in Italy for a Series A team, and the Perth Wheelcats. His Perth Wheelcats lost to the Wollongong Roller Hawks in the 2011 NWBL Championship.

University basketball

He played university basketball at the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A& ...

, where he competed as a scholarship holder.

Outreach

He is involved with helping young disabled children play basketball, and helped set up two teams for them in Cantu and Rome.

Coaching

In February 2017, Ness was appointed assistant coach for the Rollers. In December 2023, Ness was appointed the Head Coach of the Rollers - Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team and will coach the team of the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Recognition

Ness won the Western Australian Wheelchair Sports Star-of-the-year award with Justin Eveson in 2003. In 2007, he was awarded the Sandy Blythe Medal for International Wheelchair Basketball Player of the Year. In 2009, he received the Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

"For service to sport as a gold medallist at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games". In 2015, he was awarded the

Personal Excellence Award. He was selected as the Australian flag bearer at the Rio Paralympics Opening Ceremony. In August 2021, Ness was inducted into the Basketball WA Hall of Fame. In 2022, Ness was awarded

Coach of the Year.

References

External links

* *
Brad Ness
at

Basketball Australia Basketball Australia (BA), officially registered as BA Limited, is the governing body for basketball in Australia. Established in 1939, BA is a not-for-profit organisation responsible for overseeing basketball at all levels in Australia. B ...