For Thomas Mackenlay, the hardest part of wheelchair basketball is shooting for the hoop.
It hasn't stopped the nine-year-old from wanting to pursue the sport further.
"I said to my mum I wanted to play basketball and she got me into the program at Frankston Basketball," he said.
"I really like it, especially bouncing the ball."
In a bid to offer more inclusive options for disabled people, Frankston Basketball Association ran a six-week all abilities wheelchair basketball program called Hoops for Wheelies, a Basketball Victoria initiative, which Thomas participated in.
The association has run all abilities programs since 2019.
Tanya Thomas is the Frankston Basketball program support officer, and she has a passion for inclusion.
In recent years, Frankston Basketball has struggled to attract disabled people to the club.
Tanya Thomas is passionate about making her club more inclusive. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)
"We couldn't cater to adults or anybody in a wheelchair or anybody that had a different disability," Ms Thomas said.
"It's not the person's disability that stops them from coming, it's the barriers of the programs not being accessible, the people not being trained."
To remove these barriers, the club is participating in a national program called the Building Inclusive Sport Clubs Project.
Safer and more welcoming environments
Headed up by Victoria University, in partnership with Disability Sports Australia, the program aims to support clubs in becoming better at increasing disabled people's access to sport.
This is the third year the program has run, with each cohort participating for eight months.
In this current group there are 34 participating clubs across five states and territories representing a multitude of sports, including basketball, climbing, gridiron football, golf and croquet.
Over the eight months clubs focus on creating and implementing new programs targeted at disabled people.
Clubs receive resources and training, including several online workshops and sessions as well as visits from facilitators with disability.
Community is also fostered between the clubs, so they can continue to support each other and share ideas after the program has finished.
Increasing employment in the sport sector
Paralympian Elle Steele is the project manager. (Supplied: Breeana Dunbar )
Benefits of the project extend beyond the clubs' participation.
Project manager and Paralympian Elle Steele chose nine disabled female facilitators, including herself, to work with the clubs on inclusion and accessibility.
Most of the facilitators are current or former athletes, and the project gives them a platform to showcase their talents.
"We've got a deaf cricketer, a young athlete who's trying to make her first Paralympic team, me who is very retired but has been in the facilitation space for a long time," Ms Steele said.
"The project helps them to practice their skills and find out whether facilitation or being a speaker is something that they want to pursue as a career."
The program aims to broaden the employment opportunities of disabled women within the sports sector.
According to government data, just over 50 per cent of people with disability who are of working age are employed, compared to over 80 per cent of non-disabled people.
"There's lots of issues with women with disabilities being able to gain employment because there's these ideas of what we can or can't do," Ms Steele said.
"The program is not only helping create a more accessible world but is also helping break down these beliefs that these women have had about themselves for maybe their whole lives."
Raising Awareness
World Blind Golf helps make golf more accessible for people with vision impairments. (ABC News: Mark Alexander)
It's not only non-disabled sport clubs taking part in the program.
World Blind Golf is an organisation made by and for golfers who are blind and have low vision.
Established to improve opportunities for blind golfers, the Brisbane based organisation still experiences many challenges.
"Many of our blind golfers who come to us say, I didn't know you existed," World Blind Golf president Dr Brad Carver said.
Since joining the Building Inclusive Sport Clubs project, Mr Carver said visibility of their golf club has improved and they are attracting new players.
World Blind Golf aims to encourage more people to play the sport. (ABC News: Mark Alexander)
"Our main focus is to open the door to many young people and women, to engage them in the sport, help them realise they can have an opportunity to participate."
World Blind Golf founder and CEO, Neil Herdegen said they want to work more collaboratively with golfing communities around Queensland.
"This program gives us an opportunity to work with them and to bring blind golf to a lot of the participants," he said.
Trying to break down barriers with mainstream golf clubs and professional golfers is becoming easier with support of the program and facilitators.
"One of the professional golfers at Brisbane Golf Club teaches one of our blind golfers on a weekly basis and is learning to adapt even his coaching style to her needs," Mr Carver said.
"But he also utilises the techniques he uses with blind and low vision people to help his sighted golfers."
Growing confidence
The all-abilities program has been a success for Frankston Basketball Association. (ABC News: Darryl Torpy)
Ms Thomas says Frankston Basketball club is also seeing positive change.
The staff have grown in confidence engaging with people with disability and there is now better access to information for potential disabled players.
The club has also started developing its own programs.
"One of the reasons that I joined in the first place, was to come up with more ideas and come up with more programs that we could do to include more people with disabilities," Ms Thomas said.
"We've had some blind participants and participants with vision loss participate in some trials out on the court and we've managed to make and launch our own program."
It is also the creation of community with other club participants that has proven beneficial for Ms Thomas.
"People need to collaborate, people need to talk," she said.
"They need to have that community of people that you can bounce ideas off and that way these sorts of programs can be used by sport associations everywhere."