The phenomenon of pickup basketball in the U.S. cannot be explained by words. Despite this, it does not stop the basketball culture from cascading its way into a city like Winnipeg. Last weekend, at The Weekender festival on Graham Avenue, there was a 3×3 basketball event with a wheelchair division.
Wheelchair basketball is a paralympic sport which follows similar traditional rules of basketball, but of course is played using sport wheelchairs.
Four teams took part in this wheelchair open event: Hell on Wheels, SOS, Rim Rattlers and Rolling Thunder.
Sean Close, the director of Peg City Ball, also took part in the wheelchair basketball event as an able-bodied player.
In the finals, SOS (Graham Bodnar, Bryce McDonald and Close) played against Rolling Thunder (Nathan Solomon, Danny Urbina and Myles Taylor). The game ended 10-3, with SOS taking the gold.
SOS also did not lose a single game in the event, showing pure domination and grit. They had their largest win with 12-1, against Hell on Wheels.
Close shared that the wheelchair basketball event was a partnership with Wheelchair Manitoba, a program of Basketball Manitoba. According to him, the events have been running for multiple years, foregrounding awareness through school programs and events like the 3×3 wheelchair basketball event.
Close shared that wheelchair basketball is becoming quite popular, despite struggling to attract younger players in its nascent stage.
McDonald said that wheelchair basketball is fun to play and that the game being played in this format at such a level is great for the wheelchair basketball community and for others to see. He felt the turnout at the event was decent.
McDonald shared his experience participating in the event, saying that playing in the wheelchair basketball finals was harder than playing traditional basketball. He also emphasized that he had heard the crowd cheering as they played.
Close also disclosed that two of the athletes, Myles Taylor who participated in the wheelchair basketball event, and Ian Taylor, are training for the Invictus Games. Invictus Games is governed by a charity called the Invictus Games Foundation, which focuses on supporting the recovery and rehabilitation of internationally “wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans” through sport.
Anyone interested in wheelchair basketball can reach out to Joey Johnson, Manitoba Wheelchair Basketball Association program director and former Paralympic gold medalist.
