John Tessmer | Staff Reporter
Published February 18, 2015; 8:25 p.m.

Everyone has played basketball, but have you ever played wheel chair basketball. Lindenwood’s adapted sport and recreation program teamed up with DASA Sports to bring wheel chair basketball and sit volleyball to Evans Commons on Sibley Day.

The Disabled Athlete Sports Association (DASA) gives people with permanent physical, visual, and/or hearing disabilities opportunities to compete in sports and participate in fitness activities.

Students were giving the opportunity to get in a specialty-designed wheelchair and try their hand at wheel chair basketball.

Wheelchair basketball is played with basically the same rules and hoop as basketball, except “traveling” in wheelchair basketball occurs when the athlete touches his wheels more than twice after receiving or dribbling the ball. The individual must pass, bounce or shoot the ball before touching the wheels again.

I attempted my hand at wheel chair basketball and realized how difficult it truly is. While it is really difficult to dribble a basketball while moving forward in the wheelchair, the hardest part for me was probably shooting.

I’m used to shooting with one hand doing the actual shooting and one guiding the ball, but I realized in order to get enough power to get the ball high enough I had to shoot from my waste and really use both of my hands rather.

It took me a few air balls to have this realization, and soon after trying to shoot from lower and using both hands I made my first basketball.

DASA sports is located in St. Peters, MO and is always looking for volunteers and athlete’s interested in participating with them.