Hi All,
First and foremost, I would like to congratulate all of the ASF racers and sliders that competed in the Special Olympics race this past weekend. All together, ASF collected 22 medals at West Mountain! Good job to all who participated!
I had a busy week this past week. I played in my second Wheelchair Basketball Halftime Show where our team played the "Celebrity Coaches" of Penn State Athletics. We beat them handily and I had two steals. I think everyone had fun!
We also played our first Wheelchair Basketball game this weekend against a real Wheelchair Basketball team. We lost both games in the double header, but learned a lot in the process. The team we played was called the "Pittsburgh Steel Wheelers" gave us a lot of pointers at the end of the game, so we have a lot of practice to do. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the game immensely!
I am coming home this weekend to race in the Diana Golden Level 1 Race at Windham Mountain on February 1st. I am looking forward to this a great deal and cannot wait to hit the snow again!
Talking about snow, it is supposed to snow a lot here in Happy Valley over the course of the next day or two! They are talking about over 6" of snow! I hope that it is snow and not ice because I have a lot of trouble walking in the ice, so LET IT SNOW!
Finally, Christine Southard was generous enough to e-mail me a copy of a speech that I gave to the volunteers at the Adaptive Sports Foundation at their annual organizational meeting this season. You can listen to it below:
Have a great week and LET IT SNOW!
- Tracker
-----------------------------------------
"Never, never, never, never give up" - Winston Churchill
Showing posts with label wheelchair basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wheelchair basketball. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Wheelchair Basketball Halftime Show
Hey,
I received an e-mail from Windham Mountain today saying that they are opening the mountain early this year - this weekend! I can't believe that it will actually be open, I guess it is the silver lining in the weather being so cold already! While I won't go skiing this weekend because I am going to the final Penn State football game of the season, I will definitely go next weekend (after Thanksgiving) for my first tracks of the season.
Yesterday, I had a chance to play Wheelchair Basketball at halftime of the Penn State Men's Basketball game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology. What an experience! We started by practicing in the basketball team's practice gym (under the stands). I had never seen it before because that gym is not open to the public. It was huge! It had six basketball hoops and was equipped with an electric rebound machine and lots of other things I did not even know existed!
We played the "All Star Team of Assistant Coaches" composed of coaches from a variety of Penn State teams. After a warm-up game in the practice gym we rolled our wheelchairs out to the sideline of the actual basketball court. We had to wait about 10 minutes to go on, but it did not seem that long at all. It was exciting to watch a college basketball game from so close!
When it was our turn to go on, the announcer said all of our names over the loud speaker and what sports we participated in. With the Nittany Lion, our university mascot, as the referee we had a jump ball and started the game. We played for six minutes and I scored a basket and played very good defense. I set about seven picks and our team forced a lot of turnovers. We beat the "All Star Team of Assistant Coaches" by a score of 10 - 2.
It was an amazing experience. The arena was huge and had a big jumbotron above the court. While the stands were empty (there were only about 400 or 500 people in attendance), it was very fun to play in an arena of that size (seating over 15,000 people). The crowd was getting into the game and rooted for our team the whole way. When the other team had to make substitutes, the crowd "boo"ed them and every time we had the ball, the crowd cheered for us and screamed whenever we scored a basket.
I had six friends in attendance who told me that I was on the jumbotron for at least 20 seconds after I scored my basket. They also said that it looked like nobody left the arena during halftime because they wanted to see the game - it is nice to attend a university where all of the athletics are supported by the fans.
One of my friends took a lot of pictures and you can see some of them below:
The team is all lined up and ready to take the court.
After our team makes a basket, we are off to play defense.
This is my basket. I am at the bottom left of the shot and the ball is right above the hoop.
This is the really big jumbotron!
One of my teammates, Rohan, made a shot towards the end of the game.
This is the Nittany Lion, our mascot and referee.
Wheelchair Basketball was a great experience and I am definitely looking forward to our next halftime show sometime in January or February of 2009!
Changing topics a bit, I am really looking forward to this weekend's football game against Michigan State. My brother, father, and uncle are all coming to the game (I bought their tickets today)! Kim Seevers (ASF Operations Director) will also be in attendance to hopefully watch the Nittany Lions clinch the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2005 and win their first Rose Bowl bid since 1995!
I have no tests until after my Thanksgiving break, so I am looking forward to being able to relax a bit before I go back home on Saturday night.
Lets all hope that this cold spell continues and Windham is able to lay down a nice layer of snow so we can ski good conditions all season long!
- Tracker
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I received an e-mail from Windham Mountain today saying that they are opening the mountain early this year - this weekend! I can't believe that it will actually be open, I guess it is the silver lining in the weather being so cold already! While I won't go skiing this weekend because I am going to the final Penn State football game of the season, I will definitely go next weekend (after Thanksgiving) for my first tracks of the season.
Yesterday, I had a chance to play Wheelchair Basketball at halftime of the Penn State Men's Basketball game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology. What an experience! We started by practicing in the basketball team's practice gym (under the stands). I had never seen it before because that gym is not open to the public. It was huge! It had six basketball hoops and was equipped with an electric rebound machine and lots of other things I did not even know existed!
We played the "All Star Team of Assistant Coaches" composed of coaches from a variety of Penn State teams. After a warm-up game in the practice gym we rolled our wheelchairs out to the sideline of the actual basketball court. We had to wait about 10 minutes to go on, but it did not seem that long at all. It was exciting to watch a college basketball game from so close!
When it was our turn to go on, the announcer said all of our names over the loud speaker and what sports we participated in. With the Nittany Lion, our university mascot, as the referee we had a jump ball and started the game. We played for six minutes and I scored a basket and played very good defense. I set about seven picks and our team forced a lot of turnovers. We beat the "All Star Team of Assistant Coaches" by a score of 10 - 2.
It was an amazing experience. The arena was huge and had a big jumbotron above the court. While the stands were empty (there were only about 400 or 500 people in attendance), it was very fun to play in an arena of that size (seating over 15,000 people). The crowd was getting into the game and rooted for our team the whole way. When the other team had to make substitutes, the crowd "boo"ed them and every time we had the ball, the crowd cheered for us and screamed whenever we scored a basket.
I had six friends in attendance who told me that I was on the jumbotron for at least 20 seconds after I scored my basket. They also said that it looked like nobody left the arena during halftime because they wanted to see the game - it is nice to attend a university where all of the athletics are supported by the fans.
One of my friends took a lot of pictures and you can see some of them below:
The team is all lined up and ready to take the court.
After our team makes a basket, we are off to play defense.
This is my basket. I am at the bottom left of the shot and the ball is right above the hoop.
This is the really big jumbotron!
One of my teammates, Rohan, made a shot towards the end of the game.
This is the Nittany Lion, our mascot and referee.
Wheelchair Basketball was a great experience and I am definitely looking forward to our next halftime show sometime in January or February of 2009!
Changing topics a bit, I am really looking forward to this weekend's football game against Michigan State. My brother, father, and uncle are all coming to the game (I bought their tickets today)! Kim Seevers (ASF Operations Director) will also be in attendance to hopefully watch the Nittany Lions clinch the Big Ten Championship for the first time since 2005 and win their first Rose Bowl bid since 1995!
I have no tests until after my Thanksgiving break, so I am looking forward to being able to relax a bit before I go back home on Saturday night.
Lets all hope that this cold spell continues and Windham is able to lay down a nice layer of snow so we can ski good conditions all season long!
- Tracker
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Everything comes too late for those who only wait." - Elbert Hubbard
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wheelchair Basketball
Hi All,
I wanted to keep you updated with life here in Happy Valley. Penn State lost its first football game this past weekend (significantly impacting any chances of going to the national championship), but all the students are standing behind their team. If we win our final two games, Penn State is guaranteed a bid into the Rose Bowl on New Years Day in Pasadena, California. We are all looking forward to that!
Wheelchair Basketball is starting to get into full swing here, too. We had an extended practice tonight of an extra half hour because we are getting ready for our first big event - halftime show at the mens basketball team's game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology! This should be a great experience as it will be the first time I have played in front of such a large crowd! I am so excited!
The Wheelchair Basketball team was recently featured on Penn State's television network, PSU TV, with a two and a half minute story. You can watch it below:
With only a week and a half until Thanksgiving Break, everyone is already starting to count the days until they go home and see their family and friends. Personally, I can't wait to see my friends and family, too, but a little bit of me is already thinking about squeezing some skiing in during break. I have never made my first tracks of the season in November!
Let it snow,
Tracker
------------------------------------------------------------
"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success." - Norman Vincent Peale
I wanted to keep you updated with life here in Happy Valley. Penn State lost its first football game this past weekend (significantly impacting any chances of going to the national championship), but all the students are standing behind their team. If we win our final two games, Penn State is guaranteed a bid into the Rose Bowl on New Years Day in Pasadena, California. We are all looking forward to that!
Wheelchair Basketball is starting to get into full swing here, too. We had an extended practice tonight of an extra half hour because we are getting ready for our first big event - halftime show at the mens basketball team's game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology! This should be a great experience as it will be the first time I have played in front of such a large crowd! I am so excited!
The Wheelchair Basketball team was recently featured on Penn State's television network, PSU TV, with a two and a half minute story. You can watch it below:
With only a week and a half until Thanksgiving Break, everyone is already starting to count the days until they go home and see their family and friends. Personally, I can't wait to see my friends and family, too, but a little bit of me is already thinking about squeezing some skiing in during break. I have never made my first tracks of the season in November!
Let it snow,
Tracker
------------------------------------------------------------
"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success." - Norman Vincent Peale
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