Inclusive basketball: how an adapted sport team works

What the Barna Màgics are

It is CB Grup Barna's basketball team for people with intellectual disabilities. It trains on the same court as every other team, shares the hall and changing rooms, competes on its own fixture list and appears on the same schedule as the under-16s or the seniors. The project is run with the Fundació Mullor and with ACELL, the Catalan federation of sports for people with intellectual disabilities.

The important distinction is this: it is not a parallel activity the club puts on as an extra. It is a team within the structure, on equal terms with the others.

Why the difference matters

An inclusion programme that lives in an annexe ends up depending on whoever runs it and on whether there is budget that year. A team built into the club's structure has the same guarantees as any other: an allocated court, coaching staff, a fixture list and a place in the club's communications.

It also changes what happens at the venue. When an adapted sport team trains next to the under-14s, the club's children grow up seeing it as the most normal thing in the world, because for them it is. No awareness talk is needed: sharing a hall for years is enough.

What a training session is like

It looks far more like any other team's session than people imagine. Warm-up, technical work, game situations and a scrimmage. They work on shooting mechanics, defensive positioning and the rules. What changes is the pace of progression and the way things are explained, not the demands or the respect.

Competition takes place within ACELL's circuit and, in the context of adapted sport, at Special Olympics-style events. In the 2025-26 season the club has been one of the leading clubs in the +BÀSQUET programme run by the Catalan Basketball Federation across the region.

Who can take part

People with intellectual disabilities who want to play basketball, whatever their previous level. No experience is needed: some arrive having never touched a ball. As with every other team, the first day is a trial with no commitment.

If this interests you for someone in your family, write to us and we will explain the schedule and how registration works: you can do it through the club's WhatsApp or by leaving your details on the form.

The context: a club doing everything at once

Adapted sport is usually the first thing to go when a club is stretched. In the Clot it sits alongside 1:1 parity between boys' and girls' teams, the 50% of the budget devoted to women's basketball and a complete pathway from the age of 4. Not because the club is big —it is not— but because that is how it understands what a club is for in a neighbourhood.

It is worth saying plainly: a team like the Màgics does not produce eye-catching sporting results or headlines. It gives something else, and anyone who has spent an afternoon in the stands at the Nau del Clot during one of their games knows exactly what.

Frequently asked questions