Mount Gambier wheelchair basketball superstar Kane Downie has been selected to take the court for Australia.


Downie, along with his friends and fellow South Australians Alexander Blackmore and Cooper Spillane, were selected in the U23 Australian Spinners wheelchair basketball team with nine athletes from other states who will be coached by Brett Stibners OAM.


The Australian team will compete at the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IBWF) Asia-Oceania Championships in Bangkok, Thailand next month and the IBWF Men’s U23 World Championship in Brazil in June next year.


Downie was selected based on standout performances across various tournaments and a selection camp held on the Sunshine Coast late last month.


“(The selection camp) was very challenging and very hard because there were around 30 people that went and they were only picking 10 people so you definitely had to play your best and push as hard as you could,” he said.


“After the camp I had 28 blisters on my hands just from pushing and stopping … and on the first day I burnt 7000 calories.”


Downie said it felt amazing to be selected to represent his country where he will be playing as an all-rounder.


“When I got told I made the team I was thrilled. It was such a great feeling,” he said.


“I am very excited to verse all the other countries and see what we can do.


“I have always wanted to get to this level but I just was not sure how long it would take.


“Every single person on the Australian team (besides Alex and I) have been playing for 10 years plus since they were little, like they have all kind of been born with their injuries and then found wheelchair basketball.”


Downie said he had either crossed paths with or played on the same team as his fellow Australian teammates.


“It is also nice to have two other SA boys, but I also feel like our group’s one big family,” he said.


“We definitely gel really well together on the court. It is going to be a fun tournament and I feel like even if we do not win we will have fun playing together.


“What I am focused on at the moment is being better and training harder for the upcoming Australian tournaments.


“I am training 3-4 hours every day except for Wednesdays, whether that’s with Cooper and Alex or with heaps of people or just doing my own shooting.


“I go to my normal gym where I’m with a personal trainer and we’re just doing light workouts, but then all the high performance basketball players have a trainer at the South Australian Sports Institute who also does workouts with us as a group.”


Downie became a T11 incomplete paraplegic after a car crash in Compton in April 2021 but is learning to walk again.


“I have started to use one crutch now instead of two crutches,” he said.


“If I’m not doing basketball training I’m in with the physios basically just walking constantly or getting more balance.


“I have also got gym twice a week where it is not even working my upper body, it’s just all on my legs to try and build them up so they’re stronger.”


Downie played in the Kevin Coombs Cup for the third time this year, but instead joined the Victorian team because South Australia did not have a side.


“The other three South Australian players played for Western Australia and we lost to them in the grand final,” he said.


He also captained the Meanies, which recently won Division 1 of the South Australia Wheelchair Basketball Association social league, defeating the Demons in the grand final by 29 points.


Downie said he hopes to head to Europe next year to play wheelchair basketball professionally.


“I would definitely like to go over to Europe and play and see the competition over there,” he said.


“I feel like it is a much harder league over there.


“It is kind of insane seeing our league, how big it is and how many fans there are and how crazy it gets but then watching European games where there are 5000 people just watching a normal everyday weekend game is absolutely insane.


“Being in a wheelchair now, it’s opened me up to meet new people, play new sports that are harder and potentially get paid in the future in Europe and have fun playing basketball.


“Previous to my crash I did not ever think I could be playing basketball and turning it into a career.


“I definitely would not be doing it if I did not love it and enjoy playing it.”