A WHEELCHAIR basketball player from York is shooting for her “dream” to play in the Commonwealth Games - in a DIY chair made at home.

On Sunday, rising star in the game, Alice McHaffie, will compete for a place in the games, all while using a home-spun adapted chair – fashioned from a gardening kneeler pad and metal rods, held together by duct tape.

Alice was diagnosed with a chronic pain disorder at just 10-years-old, which has progressed so that she no longer has any motor function or sensation in her left leg and has weakness and loss of sensation to her waist on the left side.

The teenager is being forced to use the makeshift chair to help her pursue her dream of representing Great Britain, as the NHS is unable to fund a wheelchair for her sport, despite its mental health and fitness benefits.

York Press: This Sunday, wheelchair basketball rising star Alice McHaffie, right, will compete for a place in the Commonwealth Games

Alice’s mum, Emily, said: “Alice’s sports wheelchair she is competing in at the moment is like something from DIY SOS. It’s completely home spun but it’s the best we can do for now to enable her to compete because you have to sit tightly in the chair as it’s such a fast paced sport.

“She has such a talent, but the truth is that although we have done our best, the chair she has is holding her back.”

Alice had an NHS wheelchair assessment in November 2021 so medics could work out what type of chair she needed. But Emily said that what she was offered wasn’t exactly what was needed, as it wasn’t tailor made for her.

Now, Alice’s family wants to raise awareness of the lack of funding for disabled children to take part in their chosen sport.

Emily, 46, added: “We are so proud of her, taking part in the Commonwealth Games trials and how far she has come.

“We know she has the potential to go all the way. But young people like Alice are being let down.”

York Press: Alice has a complex pain condition which means her left leg has no function

Alice was introduced to the sport at secondary school at York High School, when a wheelchair basketball coach held a taster session in the school. Then, Alice asked her mum to find a club in York, and she discovered York Sharks. Within a year Alice was told she needed to move to play games to progress within the sport and at 13 she joined Wakefield Whirlwinds.

In November, Alice was approached and asked if she would like to be part of the brand new Women’s Premier League. Alice decided the opportunity was not to be missed and she joined East London Phoenix Women’s Premier League Team.

The family has launched a GoFundMe page for a new chair, which can be accessed at: https://bit.ly/3NaCwoG