RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Central Virginia’s only youth wheelchair basketball team left for Louisville, Kentucky, on Wednesday to participate in the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament.
This is the first time the Sportable Spokes will be making a presence in the opening event for wheelchair basketball in the U.S., playing among 32 of the top teams in the country. “These kids earned it because they’ve been working their tails off this season,” said Spokes Coach Cole Sydnor. The Spokes are ranked 26th in the nation and have toured to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Northern Virginia, and North Carolina to contest in tournaments for the 2014-2015 season Spokes player Colin Egan said he is happy to play in at Nationals. “It’ll be just a whole new experience for me to see how I play against some of the elite players,” Egan said. The 17-year-old was born with spina bifida, meaning he’s missing a part of his spine. He uses a wheelchair to get around. During physical therapy, someone recommended that he try playing basketball and he fell in love with it.
“It was a little tough to dribble and push all at the same time,” Colin recalled about his early playing days. Now, he’s been playing with the Spokes for about four years. “It means a lot just to go out there and feel like you’re doing something that other people can do, just modified.”
