25

7:00 pm

I couldn't believe how nervous I was this afternoon as I made my way onto the court. I felt like I was trying out for my high school freshman team once again. Jack was all business, though, as if he recruited stray paraplegics for the game on a regular basis.

"I brought you a band to place around your thighs. You'll be moving pretty fast, so you don't want your legs sliding out of the chair. You'll find this will give you better stability." He kept talking as he helped me get rigged up. "Your chair is pretty good. I think it will give you sufficient mobility on the court. I earned my wheels in a car accident five years ago. How about you?"

"Shooting, in April." Simple question, simple answer. I didn't feel at all defensive around him. Seeing him also in a chair, somehow, put me at ease.

"Five months ago?" He looked at me quizzically, as if he wasn't sure if he had heard correctly.

"Yeah. The first few months are the worst, aren't they? I've been working hard trying to get back some functionality, but it's been very slow going. Sometimes I feel like I'm pushing against a brick wall. And to top it off Bling, my P.T., keeps trying to get me to slow down and do less. Will it always be like this?" I couldn't hide the frustration in my voice.

"Logan, I don't know you very well, but I don't think you understand what you've accomplished here." Jack looked at me like I should be celebrating, not complaining. "The way you handled yourself on the court, I was sure that you had been using a chair for at least a year. I have never seen anyone be able to do what you are doing after only five months. Most people are still in a rehab hospital at the five month point, not mixing it up on the basketball court."

"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief. I haven't had an outside frame of reference with which to judge my progress. "It hasn't felt fast to me, and after seeing you play on Thursday, I feel like I'm so far behind that I will never catch up."

"Hey Man. We've being playing for years. At this point, you shouldn't be comparing yourself to us. In any case, it's not a race. We each recover at our own rate. You have to remember to pace yourself if you want to be around for the long haul."

"Now you sound like Bling." I said with exasperation.

"Your therapist? I'll take that as a compliment." Jack smiled. "How did you get hooked up with him?"

"He took me on while I was still in the hospital." Thinking about that time still sends chills up and down my spine. "When we weren't able to find a rehab bed, he agreed to do a one-on-one with me."

"Whatever you do, don't let that guy go." Jack looked at me seriously. "What the two of you have accomplished so far is nothing short of miraculous."

"Thanks. I won't." I smiled. Repair man. Miracle worker. When I get stuck in the daily grind, I sometimes don't realize everything Bling has done for me. I forget how far I have come in the last few months because it still doesn't feel like I have come far enough. It was good to have someone in the same position as me to remind me of what I have accomplished. It made me feel that maybe I wasn't as big a failure as I believed.

"Well, you came here to play some ball, not to get unsolicited advice from a guy you barely know, so let's go to work." He smiled as he began his overview of the wheelchair rules.

"Wheelchair basketball is essentially stand up basketball with a few adaptations. The height of the basket, distance to the foul line, three-point line, etc., are the same as in the stand up game. The main difference is that there is no double dribble rule. Travelling is called if a player takes more than two pushes while in possession of the ball and not dribbling. Oh, and unless there is a risk of injury, play is not stopped when a player falls out of his chair. So if you have a fall, you're on your own."

"Great!" I mumbled to myself. "I'll probably spend most of the game flat on my back." My sitting balance is not that great when I'm leaning in an attempt to catch the ball. The last couple of days with Bling proved that to me. And my ability to climb back into the chair is even worse. Dragging one hundred and eighty pounds of dead body weight from the floor into a chair, using only my arm strength, was not my definition of fun.

"Hey! Don't worry, Man." Jack must have noticed the look on my face. "We're all in the same situation here. After the whistle blows, we usually give each other a hand up. This is a team sport, after all. Let's warm up our free throws while we go over the rest." Jack moved to the foul line and sunk a couple of quick baskets.

"Your turn." He tossed me the ball and then continued. "As I mentioned on Thursday, we have a variety of skill levels and functional abilities. In competitive ball, there is a system we use to equalize functional abilities across teams. It's based on the level of injury and the amount of torso control a player has." Jack began to outline the four basic functional classes and how they are applied.

"Class 1 players have no abdominal control and are not able to actively rotate their torso. Their injury is usually at thoracic level 1 through 7, T1 to T7. Class 2 athletes have active stability and torso rotation. That means they can use their abdominals to stabilize themselves in the sitting position and to turn their bodies. Their injury is usually at T8 through Lumbar 1 (L1)." He paused for a moment, watching me hit one rim shot after another.

"Try turning your chair so that you are at ninety degrees to the basket. It may feel more natural that way." I followed his advice and sunk three in a row as he kept feeding me balls.

"Thanks, Man!" My grin widened with each swish of the ball through the net.

"No problem." He smiled as we switched positions. "Just tricks of the trade." I fed him a few balls as he continued with his explanation.

"A Class 3 player can lean forward and return to an upright position without pushing off with his arms. His injury is usually at L2 through L4. Finally, a Class 4 athlete can lean forward and at least to one side, and return to an upright position without using his arms. In competitive ball, the total class points of the players on the court should not exceed 14. In pickup ball, we don't get quite so technical, but we do try to even up as much as possible."

"My injury is at T10, but I can lean forward reasonably well, so I'm classed at 2.5. Watching you practice, I would say that you would probably be classed about the same. I'd expect your injury is somewhere around T9?"

"T8, actually. Just don't ask me to lean too far in any direction or I'll be mopping the court with my shirt." I grimaced, still nervous about the game.

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you get on court. Your skills are really good. Where did you play college ball?" He asked as he directed me back to the top of the key.

"Yale." I was taken aback. This guy had me pegged. "How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Read people like that." I asked as I let another shot go. The satisfying swish brought another smile to my face. Jack's trick definitely worked.

"I love the game. It's pretty obvious that you've had good training. But don't ask me what you ate for breakfast because I couldn't tell you." He laughed. "That's enough technical crap. Let's shoot some hoops!" He grabbed a ball and powered down to the other end of the court for a lay up.

The game itself was great. Fast and aggressive. As Jack mentioned, there were players with a variety of skill levels and functional abilities. There were several guys like myself who had played basketball in the past, but were new to the wheelchair game. Then there were others who were very experienced using a wheelchair, but were new to basketball. Finally, there were a few guys like Jack who had the complete package. There were a dozen of us in all, giving everyone plenty of court time. I got my hands on the ball a lot more often than I expected. And yeah, I did fall out of my chair. Twice. But I pulled myself back in and kept going. I've decided that if I don't fall out of my chair at least once in a game, I'm not trying hard enough. At least, it is an effective way to determine my limits. Thanks to Bling's drills and Jack's tips, I even made a few baskets. There is nothing like the feeling of power when you drive down the court with a ball in your hands and make a basket. The rush is unbelievable.

The next game is on Thursday in the park. Those guys will probably roll right over me, but at this point, I don't care. I will definitely be there!