First ever wheelchair basketball tournament held
Undergraduate Student Government and Trojan Pride hosted the first-ever wheelchair basketball tournament in the Galen Center.
The event, which took place on Friday afternoon, was supported by Michael Garafola of the UCLA Adaptive Recreation program as well as the Ranchos Los Amigos National Rehabilitation center, both of whom provided wheelchairs for the event. The tournament was originally proposed last semester by Zack Wentz, a student with disabilities majoring in economics.
“I’ve actually had the idea since back in high school. I thought it’d be cool that when I got to USC to put on an event like this,” Wentz said. “I just wanted to raise awareness about wheelchair basketball and the life of wheelchair users, although that’s kind of secondary to having people come out and have fun and just play.”
Wentz also said he hopes that the tournament will eventually evolve into an annual event following this year.
“I plan on this being an annual event,” Wentz said. “This is the first of many, including when I graduate, I’d love to come back and keep it going. But it’s great to open people’s eyes about the small things about living in a wheelchair and playing sports in a wheelchair. The people who were here today, hopefully they will attend more events like this, and as long as it positively affects one person then it’s a huge success.”
Ahlia Bethea, director of Trojan Pride, noted that the event couldn’t come to fruition without both Wentz’s vision for the tournament as well as the cooperation between both Trojan Pride and USG in creating the event.
“Zack had a vision to have a wheelchair basketball tournament here at USC,” Bethea said. “So he took it to USG, and USG contacted Trojan Pride, and we all worked together to bring the event today.”
Bethea also said the number and variety of students who attended the event surpassed their expectations.
“We actually started with eight sign-ups but we ended up having 11 teams today. So we had more than anticipated come out which was really exciting,” Bethea said. “Plus there’s a variety of people, able-bodied students, disabled students, from USG members, to fraternities, to non-affiliated students on campus, Trojan Pride members, everyone’s out here.”
USG Vice President Jordan Fowler, who also worked on the event last semester when she was director of University Affairs, said the timing of the event is fitting for the start of the new term since one of her and USG President Rini Sampath’s goals within USG is to help the disabled student community at USC.
“Rini and I are working really hard on disability accessibility on campus, with regards to housing, facilities on campus, mental health, the DSP office, and all different types of renovations in that area,” Fowler said. “I hope what this event does is show that we respect all members of the Trojan family. We can put each other in each others shoes and understand each other’s circumstances and come together as a whole.”
The winners of the tournament — a team consisting of students Brandon Au, Hunter Hurja, Brendan Nguyen, Logan Baron, June Castro and Zack Pickett — were rewarded with free coupons to Pizza Studio. When asked about his experience at the event, Baron, a sophomore majoring in business administration, said that he would be willing to participate in the event in the future.
“We all had a lot of fun. It was a great bonding experience with all of my buddies, and we’re looking forward to do it again very soon if we can,” he said.
Bethea noted that the event was especially impactful by allowing students with disabilities to become more integrated within the Trojan family.
“It’s definitely created a space where disabled and able-bodied students can come together and participate in an activity that may not have been previously been a ground where they thought they could interact with,” she said. “I think that the disabled student body is now able to see that there are people who are here and excited to create spaces where they can partake in the activities that they enjoy.”