On the final day of the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament (NWBT) this year in Louisville, KY, a wheelchair basketball athlete from the Jr. Houston Hotwheels team pushed his chair from the other end of the Kentucky Expo Center towards court 3, where the ABC Medical team was announcing raffle winners during half time. “Rodrigo Linares is the winner of the bowling ball prize. Rodrigo, please come up here to pick up your certificate from us!” Not knowing whether a bowling ball certificate would be an appropriate prize for the young wheelchair basketball athlete in front of us, we tried to get to know Rodrigo in the next few minutes and his level of interest in bowling. “How old are you Rodrigo?” “11.” “Do you play bowling?” “Yes!” replied Rodrigo. “How often?,“ “All the time with my friends!” Relieved we had randomly selected a junior athlete, who would indeed enjoy the prize, we asked Rodrigo if he owned a bowling ball. “No, I wish!”, "Well, you will soon have your own bowling ball, which is sponsored by our friends at the American Wheelchair Basketball Association. You can take your new ball with you when you go bowling with your friends!” His eyes brightened, “Are you serious?! My own bowling ball? That’s so neat! Thank you!,” said Rodrigo.
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Originally published in August 2015.
College is an important step in every student’s life. It’s a big change. A change of place; a change of faces; and a change of the routine. It is the official beginning of adulthood; the first time moving away from home and away from family and friends. It’s the first time we make decisions on our own and take responsibility for our actions.
Sophomore student-athlete Will Speed tells us why he chose Edinboro University for academics and wheelchair basketball.
Josh Joines from Atlanta tells us why he chose University of Illinois and answered our questions about why it's important for student-athletes to have opportunities to participate in adaptive sports in college.
ABC Medical is conducting an important survey to help us better understand the experiences of our student-athletes with a disability and what they are looking for in a higher education program, so we can create opportunities for them to stay active and encourage adaptive sports participation. Please share the link with your respective student bodies, regardless of their athletic participation at school, to help us collect data to make change. Please follow instructions carefully and answer questions based on your level.
Welcome to the 3rd Annual National Adaptive Sports Month.
We are excited to announce the launch of the Seeds of Hope Initiative as part of our Adaptive Sports Month Campaign in April. The mission of The Seeds of Hope Initiative is to create resources for higher education institutions to help build adaptive sports programs on campuses for student-athletes with a disability. An important aspect of this initiative is the student-athlete survey. The survey will help us understand the experiences of young student-athletes with a disability and their expectations from their college education, so we can build tools and resources to create long lasting change on college campuses together. In April and throughout this summer, we will be publishing a series of visual and written stories to bring awareness to the importance of collegiate adaptive sports programs and to the overall benefits of participating in sports. If you have interest in helping us grow The Seeds of Hope Initiative, please contact us. For other updates, please follow us on our social media channels.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Team ABC Medical
