Four years ago at Birmingham 2022, Team Scotland’s Robyn Love had two life-changing moments. The first was expected – after two Paralympic Games, plus World and European medals for Great Britain, she pulled on a Scotland vest for the first time as 3 x 3 Wheelchair Basketball made its Commonwealth Game debut – the second took place in much less glamorous surroundings, was even more personal but was no less inextricably linked to her finding her sport nine years previously.
In a brief break away from the Games and Athletes’ Village, in a supermarket bathroom, she and partner Laurie Williams discovered they were going to be parents. The pair met through wheelchair basketball, playing on GB teams together and when Team Scotland’s 3 x 3 Wheelchair Basketball team take to the court at Glasgow 2026, their daughter Alba will be the team’s biggest fan.
“Laurie got IVF and it’s one of those things,” says Robyn. “There’s no perfect time, especially in sport. You never know if it’s going to be a positive result or not but luckily, for us, it was. We had a morning off, Laurie wasn’t allowed to come into the Village, so I had to go out. There wasn’t really anywhere for us to go, so Morrison’s – thank you! A really happy memory in a Morrison’s bathroom.
“But it doesn’t matter where it is, to have that moment during a Games, we also had a game later on and we won. To have that positive moment, there’s nothing like it and then obviously Alba was born. We didn’t name her that because that’s where we found out, representing Team Scotland, but it’s definitely in homage to Scotland that’s for sure.”
Incredibly, Laurie was back training and competing just four months after giving birth, joining Robyn in the European Championships squad that qualified the GB team for the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Having grown up in Ayr, not realising para sport was an option, Robyn is delighted by the visibility that the Commonwealth Games gives, meaning others may find and benefit from sport earlier than she did.
“My disability is called arthrogryposis, it basically means that one leg is longer than the other and I’ve got reduced muscle power. The umbilical cord was wrapped around my legs in the womb, it’s not something they caught at the time, so it wasn’t until after I was born that my mum knew something wasn’t quite right.
“Growing up with a disability, where I’m from, I didn’t really know anybody with a disability, if I did it was on the very severe spectrum. So, growing up I didn’t really understand what disability was, I saw it almost as a negative thing.
“Whereas, I discovered paralympic sport when I was 22 years old, and now I realise that my disability is such a strength. With the media coverage surrounding the Paralympics and the Commonwealth Games, it’s no longer ‘Oh no, she’s got a disability,’ it’s ‘Oh, cool! I wonder what her disability is.’ It makes it inclusive, it makes it curious, it makes it exciting. I think that’s what sport does, it’s such a great social tool to educate people about disability – even me.”
Always a sporty child, it wasn’t until she went to university that Robyn got the chance to try the sport that would take her to international honours.
“In Ayr there wasn’t really basketball around at that time and it’s just something that’s always excited me, the ball going through the hoop, I just love it. So I tried it at university and loved it and then it was a few years later in 2013 I got in a chair for the first time and, yeah, love at first push.”
From there her rise in the sport was incredible, being selected for the GB team in early 2015, winning European bronze that same year and competing at her first Paralympic Games at Rio 2016, just missing out on bronze. A second European bronze followed in 2017 and World silver a year later, but there was one major event she never thought she’d get to compete at – the Commonwealth Games. Never before on the programme, 3 x 3 Wheelchair Basketball made its debut at Birmingham 2022 and returns for Glasgow 2026, fulfilling Robyn’s dream of competing with the saltire on her vest.
“The Commonwealth Games for me was almost one of those things, like maybe I could try another para sport, what could I try and do to compete for Scotland, I’m never going to get to compete for Scotland. And lo and behold, two Paralympics later, I get to put on that Team Scotland vest. It was honestly one of the best moments of my life and just to have my family in the stands was something special that I hope we can re-do in Glasgow.”
A fourth-place finish in Birmingham has the team pushing for the podium on home soil, something that Robyn would dearly love to be part of. She’s an official ambassador for Glasgow 2026, a role she embraces, and is ready to give her all on the court.
“Competing for Scotland is like nothing else. As Scottish people our culture, our togetherness, our doggedness, our energy, we are a great people. To be able to surround myself with the Scottish community and really get backed by Scotland is incredible. The GB community is special, it’s magical, but there’s just something in that the people of Scotland really get behind us. You can sense that when you’re on court, you can really feel it. To have that again in Glasgow, at a home Games? Bring it on.”
Watch Robyn talk more about her incredible story
Team Scotland will compete in 3×3 Basketball and 3×3 Wheelchair Basketball at the SEC Centre from 24-29 July with ticket prices ranging from £17 to £45 for non-medal sessions. Medal sessions are currently unavailable. Visit glasgow2026.com for more info.