DENVER - Perhaps you haven't heard their names or purchased one of their jerseys. Nonetheless, the athletes who participate in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association are some of the best players you will ever see.
All weekend long, April 7 to 11, more than 900 wheelchair basketball athletes will be competing in the equivalent of the NCAA National Basketball Tournament for wheelchair basketball. Denver is hosting the games for the third straight year, thanks in part to the efforts of former Denver Nuggets player Bill Hanzlik.
The games, which are free and open to the public, never cease to inspire folks who are both familiar with the sport and brand new to watching the game, according to Paul Schulte, a paralympian and world champion.
"You can imagine how devastating it was after my tenth birthday to be involved in an automobile accident and be paralyzed from the waist down," Schulte said. "My story and my message really is, if I could go back and I could whisper to myself, I would say, 'Every dream you ever have can still come true.'"
Schulte has since become a two-time co-captain of the US Paralympics Wheelchair Basketball team, a mechanical engineer, and best of all, a husband and father. He says every athlete who participates in the NWBA has had a reason to give up. With the Invacare Real Life campaign (www.invacare.com/reallife), Paul is compiling amazing stories of those who are doing so much with less than most people have.
For more information about the wheelchair basketball national championship, including a schedule of events, click here.
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