Wheelchair Basketball: Mental Game

Video Transcript

"In any sport, you've got the physical part of the game, you've got the mental part of the game. You know I've been talking about wheelchairs and our disabilities but I promise you in wheelchair basketball what's in the head, what's in the heart, just the mental and emotional part of the game are just critically important. And a lot of these athletes have that and I'll tell you how I know that, because they've already had to overcome this disability. They're fairly mentally tough just to get through life, but not always. And in wheelchair sports, you know the coach might yell at you or a referee might make a bad call, or you might have an injury, or things might not go your way and it's really just because you are in a wheelchair and you know maybe, just because you get handicap parking stall when you go to the store, when you get on the basketball court, we are all equal. We are all in wheelchairs. And we respect each other but there is no pity, there is no poor me. So you got to be really mentally tough and again it depends on what level of athlete you want to be and your passion for what sport you're trying to develop but in wheelchair basketball and on an elite level, it takes intense confidence. It takes an amazing ability to focus, to you know to concentrate, to do what your coach tells you to do. And otherwise you are going to fall a little bit short, it's really no different. For me following my shooting accident as a young man and you know at first you're just worried about living. And then you lay there in rehabilitation in the hospital and you start to go wow this is my new life, and then you get dressed and then somebody you know might tell you that you can drive a car. And so it's these baby steps and eventually you realize hey, I can still play sports. I can still run marathons, play basketball, play tennis. And for me I developed these concentration and focus and I developed these traits as a young man. I grew up playing basketball for my dad and for other coaches, so this didn't happen to me till I was nearly fifteen years old. So it was all part of my psyche, part of the way I thought. So it became very natural for me once I got in a wheelchair to, to focus. But it's not uncommon at all after somebody is in a wheelchair to maybe go hangout in their home or disappear or get away from life for a couple of years. And that's one of the beauties of wheelchair basketball, it can help people put their lives back together.They kind of think you know, hey if I can play basketball and dribble and shoot a hoop and do that then maybe I can have a girlfriend. Maybe I can get a job, maybe I can get married, so basketball for me personally was a huge part of my rehabilitation process."