BESTWICK Joseph

Classification
4.5 (IWBF, 16 Aug 2021)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (rollt-magazin.de, 18 Jun 2020)

Impairment Details
He was born with talipes [club foot] and had his right leg amputated below the knee. (rollt-magazin.de, 18 Jun 2020)

General
FROM GREAT BRITAIN TO GERMANY
Born in England, he initially represented Great Britain in wheelchair basketball and was part of the British team that won bronze at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. He spent time playing club wheelchair basketball in Germany and met his German wife, so decided to apply for dual citizenship. In 2020 he announced his intention to represent Germany in wheelchair basketball. "It was a family decision and a political one to be honest, nothing to do with basketball. Once it became clear that Brexit was going to happen and I would now be a non-European here in Germany, with all the complications such as work permits and visas that would entail, my wife and I started looking at options. What made the most sense was applying for dual citizenship of Great Britain and Germany. Then [coach] Nicolai Zeltinger approached me and asked if I would potentially be interested in trying out for Tokyo [2020 Paralympic Games]. I obviously talked to my family about it first. They were of course as completely supportive as they have been about everything else and told me that another Paralympics was too big an opportunity to miss out on. On top of all that, I've lived in Germany most of my adult life, it's my home, it's given me incredible opportunities, some really great friends, and given me my wife and daughter, it's a country I'd be really proud to have a chance to represent." (rollt-magazin.de, 18 Jun 2020)

LOUD PLAYER
He considers himself a loud player, which he says he learned from a coach in Great Britain. "I'm louder than others because a British coach used to say we should be as aggressive and loud as possible on the field. It comes across as very harsh, but it always has a positive intention." (teamdeutschland-paralympics.de, 08 Jul 2020)