Amanda Carter
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Amanda Carter (born 16 July 1964) is an Australian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player. Diagnosed with
transverse myelitis Transverse myelitis (TM) is a rare neurological condition wherein the spinal cord is Inflammation, inflamed. The adjective ''wikt:transverse#Adjective, transverse'' implies that the spinal inflammation (myelitis) extends horizontally throughout ...
at the age of 24, she began playing wheelchair basketball in 1991 and participated in the
Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team The Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team is the women's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Gliders. The team hasn't won a gold medal for Australia since i ...
, the Gliders, at three Paralympics from 1992 to 2000. An injury in 2000 forced her to withdraw from the sport, but she came back to the national team in 2009, and was a member of the team that represented Australia and won silver at the 2012 London Paralympics. Due to her 2000 injury, Carter lost considerable mobility in her right arm, and required an elbow reconstruction. She spent 11 weeks on a
continuous passive motion Continuous passive motion (CPM) devices are used during the first phase of rehabilitation following a soft tissue surgical procedure or trauma. The goals of phase 1 rehabilitation are: control post-operative pain, reduce inflammation, provide pass ...
machine, and nine operations were required to treat the elbow. After her comeback in 2008, she played for the Dandenong Rangers in the Australian Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL), the team she had played for before her injury. That year she received a player award from the Dandenong Rangers and was named the
Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
(MVP) in her 1-point disability classification in the WNWBL and was named to the league's All Star Five. The Rangers won back-to-back WNWBL titles in 2011 and 2012, and she was again named the WNWBL MVP 1 Pointer and to the league's All Star Five in 2012.


Personal life

Carter was born on 16 July 1964 in
Heidelberg, Victoria Heidelberg is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, northeast of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Banyule local government area. Heidelberg recorded a population of 7,360 at the 2021 census. Once a large ...
. She spent her childhood living in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg West. She went to
Olympic Village An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials and athletic trainers. Afte ...
Primary School, attended years 7 to 10 at
Latrobe High School , motto_translation = Strength and stability , established = , status = Open , type = Government comprehensive secondary school , gender = Co-educational , educational_authority = Tasmanian Department of Education ...
and years 11 and 12 at
Thornbury High School Thornbury High School is a government-funded co-educational secondary day school, located in , Victoria, Australia. It is situated at the eastern end of the City of Darebin, on Dundas Street & Collins Street, Thornbury. The school caters to a c ...
. She then entered
La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...
, where she obtained
Bachelor of Applied Science The Bachelor of Applied Science, often abbreviated as B.AS., BAS, BSAS, BASc, B.A.Sc., or BAppSc, is an undergraduate degree. There are also ''Bachelor of Arts and Science'' and ''Bachelor of Administration Science'' undergraduate degrees, also a ...
and
Master of Occupational Therapy Occupational therapy (OT) is a global healthcare profession. It involves the use of assessment and intervention to develop, recover, or maintain the meaningful activities, or ''occupations'', of individuals, groups, or communities. The field o ...
degrees. As a youngster, she played
netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...
. In 1989, at the age of 24, she was diagnosed with
transverse myelitis Transverse myelitis (TM) is a rare neurological condition wherein the spinal cord is Inflammation, inflamed. The adjective ''wikt:transverse#Adjective, transverse'' implies that the spinal inflammation (myelitis) extends horizontally throughout ...
after a bout of
chicken pox Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). The disease results in a characteristic skin rash that forms small, itchy blisters, which eventually scab ...
. She works as an
occupational therapist Occupational therapists (OTs) are health care professionals specializing in occupational therapy and occupational science. OTs and occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) use scientific bases and a holistic perspective to promote a person's abilit ...
and has a son, Alex. , she still lives in Heidelberg West.


Wheelchair basketball

Carter began playing wheelchair basketball in 1991 as part of her rehabilitation. She is a guard, and
1 point player 1 point player is a disability sport classification for wheelchair basketball. It is for people who have significant loss of trunk control. Definition This classification is for wheelchair basketball. Classification for the sport is done by the I ...
. Before her 2000 accident, she was a
2 point player 2 point player and 2.5 point player is a disability sport classification for wheelchair basketball. People in this class have partial trunk control when making forward motions. The class includes people with T8-L1 paraplegia, post-polio paralysis a ...
. She has been supported by the
Australian Sports Commission The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is the Australian Government commission responsible for supporting and investing in sport in Australia. The Commission incorporates the Australian Institute of Sport. From 2018 to 2022, it was known as Sp ...
's Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program with $5,571 in 2009/2010, $17,000 in both 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, and $10,000 in 2012/2013. In 2012, she trained at Aqualink-Box Hill, Royal Talbot Rehab Centre, Kew, and YMCA, Kew.


National team

Carter first participated in the
Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team The Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team is the women's wheelchair basketball side that represents Australia in international competitions. The team is known as the Gliders. The team hasn't won a gold medal for Australia since i ...
, known as the Gliders, in 1992 in a precursor tournament before the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics, in which she also participated. She was a member of the team that won a bronze medal at the 1994 World Championships. At the
1996 Atlanta Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a budget of USD $81 million. It was the first Paralympic Games where Internatio ...
, her team finished fourth, losing to the United States 41–30 in the bronze medal game at the Omni in front of a crowd of 5,033. Carter led Australia in scoring with 12 points in that game. In 1998, she won a bronze medal with the team at the World Championships. She participated at the 1998 Gold Cup in Sydney, where she was Australia's second-leading scorer with 30 points. In the year and a half before the start of the 2000 Summer Paralympics, she played in a number of test series with the team, including a five series in July 2000 in Sydney where Australia had 2 wins and 3 losses. The two Australian wins were the first time Canada had lost in ten years. She also participated in five game test series against the Netherlands, the United States and Japan where her team won all games in those series. In the team's 52–50 win over Canada in one of those games, she scored a layup with 16 seconds left in the match that brought the score to 51–50. She won a silver medal as part of her team at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. She missed a warm up game against the New South Wales State team before the start of the 2000 Games. Carter missed a practice game that her team played against Germany's women's wheelchair basketball team because of an illness she picked up during a team training camp at the
Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...
that took place a week before the start of the Games. Half of her team had respiratory infections before the start of the Paralympics. She did not attend the opening ceremonies. During group play at the games, she scored 12 points in a 38–26 victory against the Netherlands, which was the most points she had ever scored in an international match. At one point, she made four baskets in a row. Her team made the gold medal game after beating Japan by a score of 45–33. Going into the gold medal game, Carter had missed the previous day's training session, and had an elbow injury. Her team lost the match to Canada before a crowd of 16,389 spectators, with Carter scoring only four points in the first half. During the match, she was knocked onto her right side, and her right arm became trapped underneath her wheelchair, causing a
tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...
in her elbow to rupture.
Tracey Ferguson Tracey Ferguson is a Canadian Paralympic wheelchair basketball player. She has won several gold medals including at three different Paralympic Games. Early life Tracey Ferguson was born on September 7, 1974, in Holland Landing, Ontario. She was ...
, the Canadian player who knocked her down tried to block the way for Australian officials to help her up. Carter lost considerable mobility in her right arm, and required an elbow reconstruction. She spent 11 weeks on a
continuous passive motion Continuous passive motion (CPM) devices are used during the first phase of rehabilitation following a soft tissue surgical procedure or trauma. The goals of phase 1 rehabilitation are: control post-operative pain, reduce inflammation, provide pass ...
machine getting treatment. Nine operations were required to treat the elbow. Because she had a
pre-existing condition In the context of healthcare in the United States, a pre-existing condition is a medical condition that started before a person's health insurance went into effect. Before 2014, some insurance policies would not cover expenses due to pre-existin ...
, the insurance company refused to pay for her treatment, although it paid her $7,500 in return for agreeing not to take legal action. Carter carried a lot of anger towards the Canadian in the first year following her accident. By 2004, she still could not fully flex her hand. Following her accident, she occasionally required the use of an electric wheelchair because of the severity of her injury, and needed the assistance of the council's Home Care to clean her home. Before 2000, she had mostly been coached by national team coach Peter Corr. She was selected to play in a four-game test series in Canberra against Japan's wheelchair basketball team held in March 2002, the first Australian hosted international for the team since the
2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...
, and at the 2002 World Cup event in Japan, but did not do so. She quit the sport after being told that neither insurance nor 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 ...
would cover her against injury during a tour in the United States, as her
tendonitis Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder (rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow (tennis elb ...
was considered an uninsured pre-condition there, and she would have to pay the costs for injury treatment herself. She quit wheelchair basketball. She had a child, which caused a recurrence of her original illness. She took up wheelchair basketball again after watching the national team compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. This re-ignited her interest in playing the sport competitively. She returned to the Gliders in 2009. That year, she competed in the Four Nations competition in Canada, one of six players who played for the Dandenong Rangers in the WNWBL. She also participated in the Japan Friendly Series. She was selected to participate in a national team training camp in 2010. In 2010, she was part of the gold medal-winning team at the Osaka Cup, one of six Victorians to be selected. In a 2012 friendly series against Japan, she played in three games, where she averaged 0.7 points per game, 1.0 assists per game and 1.0 rebounds per game. She played in four games during the 2012 Gliders World Challenge, where she averaged 1.5 points per game, 0.5 assists per game, and 1.3 rebounds per game. She was coached by John Triscari in 2012 when with the national team. She was part of the silver medal team for the
2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...
in London. She was the oldest member of the team, and the only member of the Gliders who had participated in the 1992, 1996 or 2000 Paralympics. She played in the first match against Brazil, in which the Australian team won 52–50, but sat out the second and third matches, returning to the field for her team's quarterfinal 62–37 victory over Mexico, in which she played 18:38 minutes and scored 5 points. She did not play in either the semifinal match against the United States, which Australia won, nor in the gold medal match against the Germany, which her team lost.


Club

In 2000, she played for the Whittlesea City Pacers in the National Wheelchair Basketball League. She played for Victoria in the inaugural
Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League The Australia Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) is a women's semi-professional wheelchair basketball league in Australia. Teams The league currently has six teams: Sydney University Flames The Sydney University Flames, ...
(WNWBL) completion in 2000 when they finished first in the final after they defeated the Hills Hornets 51–50. At the half, her team was winning by 10 points, with Carter being a major reason why. From 2008 to 2012, she played for the Dandenong Rangers in the WNWBL, the team she had played for before her injury. That year she received a player award from the Dandenong Rangers and was named the
Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
(MVP) in her 1-point disability classification in the WNWBL and was named to the league's All Star Five. In 2009, she played 17 games for the Rangers where she averaged 5.1 points per game. She averaged 2.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game that year. In 2010, she played 4 games, and averaged 3.0 points per game. She averaged 0.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game that year. In 2011, she played in 18 games where she averaged 4.7 points per game. She averaged 1.3 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game that year. The Rangers won back-to-back WNWBL titles in 2011 and 2012. In 2012, and was again named the WNWBL MVP 1 Pointer and to the league's All Star Five. She played 13 games that season, when she averaged 4.5 points, 1.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game.


Gallery


Statistics


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Amanda Australian women's wheelchair basketball players Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of Australia Wheelchair basketball players at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in wheelchair basketball People with paraplegia Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) Basketball players from Melbourne People from Heidelberg, Victoria La Trobe University alumni Victorian Institute of Sport alumni 1964 births Living people