Oliver’s a basketball star

A short Scot is proving that basketball isn’t just for towering players after becoming a star player for a team of dwarves.

Oliver Lynch, 33, plays “guard” for Australian basketball team The Sspitfires. It’s made up of members of Short Statured People of Australia whose players vary in height from 3ft 10in to

4ft 5in.

The Sspitfires play in the Port Phillip Junior Basketball league against teams with players aged 12 years old and under.

The younger players are usually taller but Oliver said they lack the experience that benefits his team.

He explained: “The kids we play can be anything from 5ft upwards. They never think they’ll beat us easily now they know we give as good we get.”

Ollie, who moved from Kippen, near Stirling, to Australia with his family 17 years ago, lives in Melbourne with his wife Graci.

Like many of the Sspitfires players, he has achondroplasia a condition that accounts for 80% of all people born with dwarfism.

Although they are shorter, Oliver, who is 4ft 3in, said the only difference in their games is that they use a slightly smaller ball compared to other adult teams. The rings are at the regular height.

Oliver said people can be surprised when they hear about the team but he’s keen to explode the myth that the sport is only for tall people.

He said: “The irony does get a mention, though we’ve received nothing but superb support.”