Ability 360 Showcases Wheelchair Basketball Athletes in 24th Annual Tournament

Written by William Osborne

Video by Jordan Spurgeon

Saturday January 27, Ability 360 in held its 24th annual D1 Phoenix Invitational Wheelchair Basketball tournament.

The tournament is a showcase of the country’s best division one wheelchair basketball players. Ten teams from across the country came to Ability 360 to participate. Many paralympians played in this tournament including paralympics Gold medalists Brian Bell and Ryan Neiswender.

Ability 360 Program manager of athletics and Tournament director Nick Pryor coached the D-2 Suns team for the opening match of the tournament. The opening match was between the D-2 Suns and Hornets, paralympian Ryan Neiswender played for the Hornets in this tournamentmatch.

Within the tournament there are a variety of levels the players come from, some are college players, younger players, paralympians, or amateurs. Pryor’s division two team had the challenge of facing many college players and even a paralympian in Ryan Neiswender. Suns player Luis Raygoza got his opportunity to play against some of the best wheelchair athletes in the country.

Despite being on a division two team playing against division one teams, Luis Ragoza takes this opportunity to learn something from them while on the court.

“You get to learn a lot, you see what the paralympians are doing and how they got their gold medals,” Ragoza said.

Raygoza lost his mobility in his legs when he sustained gunshot wounds in his youth. Raygoza does not take for granted his ability to still play sports and compete for himself and to set an example for the youth to show anything is possible regardless of their disabilities.

Paralypian Brian Bell participates in this tournament with the Warriors to compete and help grow the sport of wheelchair basketball throughout the country.

Bell believes his participation in this tournament is a way to give back to the programs out there involving wheelchair basketball.

“I love giving back to the next generation because that’s going to be the next future USA ballers,” Bell said. “I want to see the program continuing to be successful the way it has been.”

Bell lost his leg in a train accident when he was younger. He was not deterred by his injury and was motivated to be active despite his injury. He participated in middle school football with his prosthetic. Eventually he found wheelchair basketball and he fell in love with the game.

Bell feels that he was fortunate to be able to start sports early on into his life post injury.

“A lot of people around the country don’t have amazing facilities like Ability 360,” Bell said. “I grew up in Alabama and was fortunate enough to grow up near the Lakeshore Foundation, a paralympic training facility right in my backyard. Most people if they get injured don’t have those facilities, so they are not exposed to it early on and miss out on those opportunities.”

Bell is an ambassador of wheelchair basketball and disabled athletics around the country. He urges others to encourage people with disabilities to try athletics because it can open many opportunities for them in the future.

Many of the basics within basketball translate over into wheelchair basketball and its competitions. Wheelchair basketball is a fast and physical sport for the participating disabled athletes.

“The chair is a part of your body, so you use it to your advantage,” Pryor said. “We can pick in the backcourt, so we can
play four on four, three on three if we want to.”

Ability 360 is seeks to showcase its athletes in all walks of life and this tournamanent helps them grow their community. 

“Our mission is to share this with others because there are not many facilities like ours in the country,” Pryor said. “So we want to showcase this and share with others in the community. This is something that we are built for.”

As the year progresses Ability 360 will be hosting many other events and tournaments within their facilities for disabled athletes.

Within this spring there are three more wheelchair basketball tournaments being hosted by Ability 360. There are tournaments for lower divisions, womens, and youth competitions for wheelchair basketball throughout the spring.