Rollin' Grizzlies Fun

I had an amazing opportunity to attend a Memphis Rolling Grizzlies practice with my occupational therapy class. I have always been interested in adaptive sports and I was extremely impressed by how limber and agile the players were. Their diagnoses ranged from spinal cord injuries, amputations, and everywhere in between. I was interested to learn that each player was 'ranked' by the level of their severity to determine who is on the court at each time. There could not be too many high functioning players to make it more fair. I liked the inclusive nature of the way the game was set up. A 'double dribble' in adaptive basketball is when a player touches the wheels of their chair more than two times with the ball in hand. The game is set up to give each player a fair shot at success. I was very impressed to hear how one player got a scholarship to play wheelchair basketball in college. 

I enjoyed watching the competitiveness of the players, especially since they are a Division I team. I was extremely impressed by the upper body strength and agility that they displayed. At one point, one of the players completely flipped over in his chair and got up and continued to play like nothing had happened. The team was extremely open to answering any questions that we had, and even offered up their chairs for us to experience once their practice was over. They did not let their disabilities get in the way of them having fun-at one point I heard cussing and hollering, just like most other mens basketball teams. It was very eye opening and informative to get to watch an adaptive sports practice. Thank you so much Professor Lancaster for setting this up for us!