BALANCE is the watchword for wheelchair basketball prodigy and Worcester Wolves player Ellan Fraser as she pursues her sporting dreams.
The 21-year-old Warwick native first represented Great Britain at senior level two years ago at the World Championships in Dubai before watching her teammates from the sidelines at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
A Classification 3.0 athlete, Fraser would love nothing more than to take part in the action first-hand and she plans to leave no stone unturned in her pursuit of a Paralympic debut come LA 2028.
Fraser said: “My goal is to do the Paralympics one day and be a part of it properly.
“It would mean the world. I’ve got so many people who have helped me get to where I am today and it would mean the world to me to show them how much all their help has been worth.
“I wouldn’t have been able to pursue the sport without my mum and dad and my brother and to represent Great Britain at a Paralympics would be amazing. I wouldn’t know how else to describe it.”
Closer to home, Fraser plays for Worcester Wolves of the British Wheelchair Basketball Women’s Premier League but when not on the court, she works as a physiotherapist three days a week.
She studies at the University of Worcester after being inspired by her own experiences as a patient, having been born with cerebral palsy.
Balancing her sporting career with her occupation brings its own challenges but Fraser is not letting anything stop her pursue her dreams.
Fraser added: “I’ve had physios since I was a little kid and they were always the nicest healthcare people ever.
“I started researching what they did, and I realised it was what I wanted to do.
“It helps me understand my sport and my body better, learning things that would help me out in the gym and recovery, so it’s been quite cool.
“I’m currently working Monday-Wednesday with a private company and that allows me to train at home those days and then train with my Worcester Wolves teams on Wednesday evenings
“When I was at university, it was a lot easier. I was training more because I lived five minutes down the road to the arena so I could train everyday and they would fit training around my lectures so I could train at 2pm or 7am if I wanted to.
“Now, I have to train later in the day or on my days off which is why I chose to do part time because I wanted to have a balance.
“I still want to be a physio, but I also want to be a Paralympian, and I want to be able to do both.”
Fraser’s ambitions, supported by Aldi through the supermarket’s partnership with SportsAid, which provides rising stars with financial support and development opportunities to help progress their sporting journeys.
Through the partnership, Aldi is helping to cover essential training and competition costs for athletes, while also providing access to SportsAid’s personal development workshops.
These cover key areas such as nutrition, mental wellbeing, social media training and lifestyle management, offering athletes the tools to thrive both in and out of competition.
She said: “I’ve been with SportsAid for a while now and the funding I’ve received through them has helped massively.
“I don’t think most people understand the cost of my sport.
“My basketball chair alone is worth £7,000 and we also have to deal with the upkeep and maintaining and replacing tyres so having that financial support is so helpful.
“I was also with Aldi last year and they sent vouchers so I could get the nutritional foods I needed. I don’t think you can understand how helpful that is as a student. It was amazing.”
Aldi and SportsAid are now in their fourth year of partnership. In 2026, Aldi is supporting six local athletes through an enhanced SportsAid Award, providing financial backing, a monthly fruit and vegetable voucher, and access to additional learning and development sessions. The six athletes will also feature in joint SportsAid and Aldi promotional activity throughout the year. For more information, visit //sportsaid.org.uk/partners/our-partners/aldi
