IMROVING THEIR EXPERIENCE
The sound of the basketball bouncing on the hardwood echoed off the walls of the fieldhouse. A player dribbled the ball once and passed it to his teammate, who held the ball for a few seconds before shooting it. The ball struck the rim and fell through the net. After hearing the sound of the whistle, the athletes wheeled themselves off of the court.
The Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball team allows students with physical disabilities to take part in collegiate athletics. According to the team's website, "Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball represents the University of Missouri in the Central Intercollegiate Division of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association." The sport mostly follows NCAA men’s basketball rules, with exceptions that include no penalty against double-dribbling and the allowance of two pushes on a wheelchair before the player must dribble the ball once, pass it or shoot it.
Ronald Lykins, the head coach of Mizzou Wheelchair Basketball, explained the recruitment process for the sport, saying that the only requirement to be eligible to play on the team is having a permanent physical disability. He said the team is always looking for more players, who are often recruited from juniors tournaments and club teams or recommended to the coaching staff.
Lykins said that coaching the sport is very fulfilling for him, especially in watching his players grow up and develop into better athletes, students and people.
“I like to see the development they make from day one to the end of the year, then from day one of their freshman year to where they are when they graduate,” Lykins said. “... So that’s a really rewarding experience to be able to see that change. When I look at the team it’s from day one where we are to where we are at the end of the year: how much better have we gotten, how much have we improved, not only as individuals, but as a team.”
Junior Zane Lucas has played the position of point guard on the team for two years. After being injured at 17, he began looking for new things to try and found the sport of wheelchair basketball. He was ultimately accepted to MU and made the team’s roster.
Lucas said that his favorite part about playing the sport is his teammates and believes that playing the sport has impacted him positively.
“I’m able to tolerate different people more, and I’m able to enjoy life better,” he said.
Though wheelchair basketball is one activity where a special emphasis is placed on students with disabilities, staff at the MU Disability Center enable students with disabilities to get involved in things any student would be involved in. The Disability Center provides services to students such as exam accomadations, peer notetaking, adaptive tables and sign language interpretors.
Angela Branson, who is the deaf services coordinator at the Disability Center, said that no matter the physical or mental limitations students may have, the center encourages students to participate in their interests and find their passions in an effort to enrich their college experience and make it successful.
“We have had students go through the Greek recruitment process and physically disabled students, hearing impaired students; we have had students do pretty much anything that a ‘normal’ student would do, and we sometimes see our wheelchair athletes here in the office as well,” Branson said.
Branson, who joined the Disability Center in July 2012, emphasized the importance of students getting involved on campus. She made it clear that she and other staff members work to not only improve the academic lives of students with disabilities, but also to make them feel like they have endless involvement opportunities on campus, just as students without disabilities do.
“I always tell students who come here especially during Summer Welcome with their families to get involved in something and find their niche on campus, whether it be maybe a Greek organization, maybe it’s a professional organization or maybe it's something with their major, because we are a very large campus and the quicker you find your place to belong, the quicker it becomes a small campus to you,” Branson said.