Wheelchair basketball athletes show skills at Wright State

James Terpenning and the rest of the Ohio Rolling Hoopstars have been playing in tournaments like the one held at Wright State's Nutter Center in January for years.

It’s a cross between ballet and bumper cars.

Wheelchair basketball athletes dribble, pass and shoot while skillfully steering and spinning their way through defenders, setting picks and boxing out.

There are crashes. There are spills. Fingers can be crushed between chairs or mangled in spokes. It’s a game that takes both skill and courage.

“A lot of people think ‘wheelchair,’  and they think not capable,” said Zack Sikora, who plays for the Ohio Rolling Hoopsters, a team that includes former and current Wright State students. “If they actually do come out and see a wheelchair basketball game, they’re going to see hard contact; you’re going to see people falling out of the chairs; you’re going to see lots of great teamwork.”

All of that and more was seen Jan. 8-9 at Wright State University’s Nutter Center during the Raider Shoot-out presented by the Miami Valley Association of Disabled Athletes.

The wheelchairs are specially designed for the sport. The wheels are “cambered,” or slanted out at the bottom to reduce the chances of finger injuries when two chairs collide. There are also special bars to cushion blows and minimize the chances of tipovers.

Wheels occasionally have to be changed during games, when tire tubes blow or spokes break. The change is a bit like a pit stop during the Indianapolis 500, with the seated player angling the broken wheel up into the air and a new wheel snapped on.

One of the players on the Ohio Rolling Hoopsters is James Terpenning, who has competed at the Paralympics in swimming and sitting volleyball.

Today, Terpenning works in computer support for the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Last year, Terpenning and his family were surprised with a new, 3,300-square-foot disability-accessible house thanks to ABC-TV’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Terpenning, a father of four, goes into the schools and does wheelchair exhibitions and presentations, putting students and teachers in wheelchairs to educate them about what it is like to play wheelchair sports.

Terpenning has been playing wheelchair basketball for 28 years — since he was 14.

“People are used to seeing the able bodied play basketball. They don’t realize that people in wheelchairs can also do it,” Terpenning said. “So by having this type of tournament, it will help to open their eyes.”