Sophie's Story

Sophie Carrigill a Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Player. Sophie has represented her country for 7 years, competing at 4 Senior European Championships, 2 Senior World Championships and the Rio Paralympics. The GB Women’s Team are currently the World and European Silver Medalists. 

Life wasn’t always going to lead to Wheelchair Basketball for Sophie. Starting out life abled bodied, she was obsessed with sport and played as much as possible. However, after a near fatal car accident resulting in a permanent spinal cord injury, Sophie decided to take up Wheelchair Basketball at her local club in Leeds. Only a year after first starting, Sophie was called up to the GB Women’s Team and made her International debut at the European Championships in 2013, bringing home her first Bronze Medal.

Sophie then went on to Captain the team for the next 4 years, contributing to the teams impressive rise reaching the semi finals of the Rio Paralympics, something that the team had never done before. Since then, the team has gone on to even more success on the Worlds Stage and now hold World and European Silver Medals. 

It was not only about competing for Sophie, she also balanced being a student alongside training and has an Undergraduate (University of Worcester) and Masters Degree (Sheffield Hallam) in Sports Psychology, showing her passion and interests beyond the court. 

Sophie is continuing to explore other passions and is keen to advocate for other disabled women like herself. Especially in areas such as disability awareness and inclusion. Sophie would love the opportunity to widen her network and work alongside new people, companies and charities to further develop her career and offer the opportunity to work with her.