Charlie McIntyre: SPOTY award nomination an honour for Italy-based wheelchair basketball player

Charlie McIntyre trained with Chelsea's junior academy before being diagnosed with a hip condition at the age of six

There may be a few more bruises than he is used to, but wheelchair basketball player Charlie McIntyre is loving every minute of the sporting dolce vita after joining Italian side Dinamo Sassari.

The 18-year-old from Southend has been based in Sardinia for a couple of months, his first experience of professional basketball.

"It's rough, they're very, very physical - in England it's quite the opposite," he said. "But it's amazing, I'm really loving my time here."

The last couple of years have been a whirlwind of success for the teenager.

He was in the England 3x3 basketball team which earned bronze medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, helped Great Britain's under-22 side win the Home Nations Championship and lifted the British Premier League trophy with former club London Titans.

His rise has recently been marked by inclusion in the three-person shortlist of three for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award, which will be conferred at a ceremony in Salford on 19 December.

The other nominees, chosen from an initial list of 10, are snowboarder Mia Brookes and archery's Penny Healey.

And whoever is chosen to receive the award will join an illustrious list of former winners including Wayne Rooney, Ellie Simmonds, Tom Daley, Claudia Fragapane, Phil Foden, Sky Brown and last year's winner, Jessica Gadirova.

'We fly to every away game'

Until then, he will continue with his busy schedule for Dinamo.

"When I landed at the start of October it was still nearly 30 degrees most days, so at first it was almost like a mini holiday," McIntyre told BBC Essex Sport Extra.

"It was lovely going to the beach and exploring but since the season started, things have got a bit more serious and there's not as much time for relaxing.

"As we're on the island, we have to fly to every away game - that's something I've never had to do before. That's really exciting.

"I can say I've been to a lot of places in Italy now, but haven't actually explored any of them. To say you live on a beautiful island and your job is to bounce a ball on a wooden floor, it's pretty alright."

But how has he been coping with the language barrier?

"I tried a lot harder before I moved here. Now I'm here, I'm trying to learn as I go," he said.

"Whereas before I'd download apps and spend a lot of time trying to pick up the language, I think I've learned more just listening to people speak than any of the apps - they are normally just single words and when you're trying to put a sentence together, it's not right."

Leadership role

McIntyre was one of the leaders in the GB squad for the Home Nations Championship, an event which saw him average 20 points per game but it turned out to be almost as much about re-connecting with friends as the sport itself.

"As much as the basketball is important, being able to socialise with your friends who live all over the country is really nice," he added.

"Trying to organise things when you're all playing basketball every weekend and live four hours away (from each other), it can be quite challenging.

"From the basketball side of things, it was quite unexpected as we didn't really know what any of the teams would be like. It was quite interesting to see how we matched up.

"As a leader in the team, to see how some of the even younger, less experienced ones develop and see how comfortable they got by the end of the tournament was a really nice thing for myself."

The SPOTY award nomination is the icing on the cake for McIntyre as far as 2023 is concerned - or perhaps, given his current location, that should be icing on the panettone - and he is determined to be there for the ceremony.

"I've got the green light from my club to release me for that date," he added.

"Our last game is on the 16th so I'm planning to fly home after the game and should be back in plenty of time."