Feriani named Canadian wheelchair basketball coach

Wheelchair Basketball Canada has appointed Matteo Feriani as the head coach of the Canadian Senior Men’s National Wheelchair Basketball Team.

He will work to guide the team toward a top-four finish at the America’s Cup, a World Championship qualifier, in Cali, Colombia in August.

The Padua, Italy, native holds 18 years of experience, including as an assistant coach with national team programmes from Italy, Australia and Brazil, as well as a head coach with various European and Australian professional club teams.

“I am very excited about this opportunity with Team Canada and thrilled to be the head coach of a national team,” said Feriani. “It is an honour to be at the helm of such a distinguished high performance wheelchair basketball programme and I am looking forward to working with such a talented group of athletes, coaches and staff as we push to qualify for the World Championship in 2018.”

Wheelchair Basketball Canada Executive Director Wendy Gittens said: “Matteo has a unique understanding of the technical needs and requirements of high performance wheelchair basketball athletes and as a highly regarded coach he has proven his ability to deliver high performance results. Canada is focused on developing the very best wheelchair basketball athletes in the world and we are confident in Matteo’s ability to steer our senior men toward success.”

Feriani began his national team coaching career with the Italian senior men’s and women’s programmes, before moving on as an assistant coach with the Australian Senior Men’s National Team. Notably, he helped coach the Australian men to a silver medal performance at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, where the Aussies fell in the final to the rival Canadians, as well as to a gold medal at the 2010 World Championship.

He most recently was an assistant coach with the Brazilian Senior Men’s National Team, helping the team to a fifth place finish at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and a fourth place finish at the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games.

He will also look to bring the team back up following an 11th place finish at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.