SPORTS 'N SPOKES

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Denver hosted a huge chunk of this year's championship basketball action. Would the Mile High City be able to pull off such an unprecedented feat?

For the first time in its history, the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) hosted the national championship tournaments for six of its seven divisions in the same city at the same time. On March 18-22, the Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood, Colo., became the center of the wheelchair-basketball universe.

"This was an incredibly ambitious undertaking," says NWBA Executive Director Todd Hatfield. "We brought 85 teams and nearly 1,000 athletes here for a week of great competition and couldn't be more pleased with how things turned out."

The competitions held during the week included those for the Championship Division, Women's Division, Division III, and all three youth divisions—Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Prep.

This month's SNS coverage also includes the Bluegrass Invitational Tournament, held February 6-8 in Lexington, and the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, held March 12-14 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.



Championship Division
by Susan Katz

The Championship Division was formed at the start of the 2008-2009 season when Divisions I and II were combined into one body. The result was an incredibly competitive season that saw the Arkansas Rollin' Razorbacks, Dallas Wheelchair Mavericks, Orlando Magic Wheels, and Utah Wheelin' Jazz all punch their tickets to the "final four."

The biggest side effect of the merger was that a number of players changed teams, with some of the country's best donning new uniforms in Denver. Notable changes included three former Dallas Mavericks, last year's Division I national champions, moving to new squads. Paul Schulte and Jason Van Beek arrived in Denver representing Orlando, while Jeff Glasbrenner took the court in an Arkansas jersey.


Read more about how Orlando and Arkansas fought their way to the title game, with the Magic Wheels coming out on top.



Women's Division
by Susan Katz

The University of Alabama women's team was established just five short years ago and quickly became one of the country's best programs. The Crimson Tide's play throughout the season indicated this could be their year to go to the mountaintop as the squad entered the national championship tournament with a perfect 30-0 record.

"Our ability to have so much success in such a short period of time is absolutely due to the fact that our administration sees the value of wheelchair athletics and has done its best to give us the resources we need to be one of the best programs in the country," said University of Alabama Director of Wheelchair Athletics Brent Hardin.

The biggest obstacle in Alabama's path to the top was their chief rival and three-time defending national champion University of Illinois. This wasn't quite the David vs. Goliath scenario it appeared to be. The Tide was stacked with U.S. and Canadian Paralympians, and while the Fighting Illini still had a roster loaded with talent, it was minus four starters from the 2008 championship team.


Alabama knocked off Illinois for the title; find out more in the May SNS.



Division III
by Amanda Fassett

This double-elimination tournament brought together the top 16 teams from around the country to vie for the national title.

On the second day of competition, defending national champs Hill on Wheels was taken by storm by Wisconsin favorite Waukesha Thunder. Waukesha won, 50–44, to advance to the quarterfinals. The Thunder then struck again with a one-point win over the Rolling Bear PossAbilities to secure the top seed in the semifinals. Leading the Thunder was 2008 Beijing Paralympian Eric Barber.

"It's been great to be a part of an event of this magnitude," said Barber. "Coming in as an eighth seed, finishing seventh in the tournament last year, and being one of two undefeated teams left is remarkable. I am very proud of this team. We have come a long way since I joined the team in October, and I look forward to seeing what we have to come."

After being tied at the half, the Twin City Spinners (Kitchener, Canada) spun past the Fort Wayne Bandits, 49–34, in the quarterfinals to earn a spot in the semis. The Spinners have been together for 19 years and enjoy visiting the U.S. for competition every 2–3 months.


Twin City shrugged off an early tournament loss to beat Waukesha in the championship game. Read more in the May SNS.



Additional tournament coverage in the May SNS:

Juniors—Varsity
by Caitlin Chasar

Juniors—Junior Varsity
by Kyle Killworth

Juniors—Prep
by Doug Garner

Bluegrass
by Evelyn Bologna

Intercollegiate
by Arley McNeney

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