As a stalwart member of the Roller Blacks for the past two decades, few Kiwis have done more to champion the cause of Wheelchair basketball in Aotearoa New Zealand than Eamon Wood.
And later this week in Bangkok, Thailand the 36-year-old point guard takes to the court at the 2025 IWBF Asia Oceania Championships (7-15 November), where he hopes to once again seize the opportunity to represent his country with pride on the international stage.
Eamon is one of life’s over-achievers. Not only is he a long-time Roller Blacks representative, he has completed an engineering apprenticeship, is a published author, father to two young daughters and is currently Managing Director of Nudge – which hopes to be at the forefront of the future of assistive technology.
Yet what has remained a constant in his life since the age of 13, has been the sport of Wheelchair basketball.
“I’ve played the game for a long time, and I still love it,” he says. “I suppose you might say, I’m addicted to improving. I love the team aspect, and even if you are having an off-day shooting, you can have fun by hustling in defence. Getting to mix with others with a disability and experiencing camaraderie on and off the court is quite special.”
Born in Nelson, Eamon sustained damage to his lower spinal cord in a car accident at the age of four which was to shape his future. Yet raised in Christchurch for much of his youth, he has never let his disability define him.
“As a kid you tend to just get on with things and that was my attitude from when I had the accident,” explains Eamon. “Christchurch has a spinal unit with a big community of people with disabilities, which helped. As a kid all I wanted to do was hang out with my mates and play sport.”
Eamon tried Para athletics and Para swimming, but he was to later focus on Wheelchair basketball and Wheelchair tennis – earning a number one ranking in New Zealand and a number six ranking in the world as a junior player in the latter sport.
However, Wheelchair basketball has always been his number one passion and after breaking into the Roller Blacks in his mid-teens, for the past two decades he has played in countless qualification tournaments for major events.
His Wheelchair basketball experiences have taken him all over the world. In 2018 he played a season professionally for the Munchen Iguanas in Germany and after moving to Sydney in mid-2024 to set up Nudge, he has featured for the Manly Wheel Eagles in the Australian National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL).
Juggling the demands of owning a business, raising two daughters, Ida, 4 and Darcey, 18 months, and playing Wheelchair basketball has only been possible thanks to the support of his partner, Erica. And it has also brought about a change in his approach to playing the Para sport.
“It was nice to switch up some goals this year on the court,” he explains. “I wanted to focus on being more of an offensive threat outside the key and using my experience of playing a bit smarter because my priorities have shifted.”
Drawing upon his lived experiences and deep understanding of clinician and client needs, Eamon founded Nudge – with the goal of providing products and services that are thoughtful and help clients live unrestricted. Describing his role as a bridge between the world of tech and the real-life challenges people face, he hopes his company will thrive and help as many people as possible.
Such is Eamon’s positive have-a-go attitude he also published a book entitled A Backpack, A Chair and A Beard of his experiences backpacking overseas.
In the shorter term the goal is the AOZ (Asia Oceania Zone) 3×3 Wheelchair basketball tournament in Bangkok, Thailand (5-6 November) with New Zealand – an event which acts as a qualification for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games – followed by the full court 5×5 Asia Oceania Championships at the same venue.
So, what would Eamon like to achieve over the next week or so?
“I feel like we have a chance of making the Commonwealth Games and I would love to make that happen,” he says. “It would be great to get some good visibility for New Zealand and claim some wins. In the 5×5 tournament we would just want to win some games and show the younger players coming through that there is a pathway.”
As for the Roller Blacks featuring at a Paralympic Games, he is realistic. He does not think it will happen during his time as a player but believes the foundations being laid point to a promising future.
“The level has really picked up (in New Zealand). Luke McDowall has a lot of experience and knowledge from playing in the US and we have excellent players in Nikia Fa’atau and Kauri Murray (both members of intake two of the Para Sport Collective), who have been playing for Brisbane-based Southern Districts Titans in the NWBL. On the other side we have Matt Vernick, the Community Disability and Inclusion Lead at Basketball New Zealand, who is growing the grassroots and building relationships, which is exciting to see.”
***The Roller Blacks begin their campaign at the at the 2025 IWBF Asia Oceania Championships on Saturday (8 November) by playing Afghanistan at 4pm (NZ time). Watch the action on the IWBF YouTube channel here.
