The Lady Movin' Mavs wheelchair basketball team at UT Arlington will be watching the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games with keen interest.
UTA has two former players, Josie Aslakson and Rose Hollermann, on Team USA and one current player, Élodie Tessier, on Team Canada.
"I've either played with or against every single person on that team," Lady Movin' Mavs head coach Morgan Wood said.
If you haven't watched wheelchair basketball, it's a physical game.
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"Standup basketball is actually not a contact sport," sophomore Quinn Meyer said. "But wheelchair basketball is a contact sport."
Meyer plays in a bright pink chair with bright pink wheels.
"I can't sit in a chair that's not pink. It just doesn't feel like me," Meyer said. She is an alternate for Team USA at year's Paralympic Games. "But I know if I keep training, I will be on it."
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"These athletes are the same as Olympic athletes," Wood said. "To be honest, it's a lot more astounding to watch someone who is missing three limbs wheelchair basketball."
"I think people need to be open to watching the Paralympics because it's a whole other side of sports, it's a whole other side of the Olympics," UTA senior Zoe Voris said. Voris was on the underdog Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Games. "We came out with bronze, so we were ecstatic. It was like we won gold."
Team USA men's wheelchair basketball plays its first game on Thursday. Team USA women's basketball plays on Friday.
