Basketball Observation

My first observation was in New Britain, it was wheelchair basketball. When first walking in I didn’t know what expect, I didn’t know what type of personalities the athletes would have towards me because I felt they might feel I was invading their sanctuary. The athletes had an extremely open and friendly environment, they saw that I was trying to be cautious and not disturb their normal practice rituals. The athletes came over to me and was happy to see that I was interested in the sport wheelchair basketball, so they wanted to get off task to educate me on the rules, different types of wheelchairs, and how the different wheelchairs cant have better advantages.
When playing Wheelchair Basketballs they have basically the same rules as normal
basketball, but some rules are slightly modified. Dribbling is one of the rules that are different from normal basketball; a wheelchair athlete has to bounces the basketball one time for every two thrusts on the wheels with their hands. When sitting in a wheelchair and trying to dribble the basketball, I would dribble the basketball once then put it in my lap so I could give the wheels two pushes. This strategy was not effective because just like normal basketball the defenders can steal the ball, and with the basketball on your lap it makes for an easier pilferer. The athlete then advised me not to ever put the ball in my lap, but to push ball in front of me as I’m speeding down the court for better top speed. This will increase my chance of getting an easier shot on a fest break because the defenders will have a hard time contesting what they cant catch.
There are a variety of wheelchairs for the different disabilities, I found this out because when picking a wheelchair to play in some how I managed to pick a single leg wheel chair and not realize it. One of the athletes came up to me and told me that I was in a one-leg chair and began to inform me on the differences in the chairs and how the chairs you pay in depends on the physical disability the player has and mobile ability. If an athlete maneuvers a movement that gives them an advantage over the other players they can get a penalty, this is why some players will be strapped down to their chairs so their butts wont come off the seat. Some chairs can also give player a defensive advantage, when play with a 5-wheel wheelchair you are at a defensive disadvantage compared to a player with 6 wheels. The difference in the chairs is the space you give an offender to shoot.
Wheelchair basketball if just as difficult as able body basketball if not harder, when play with the athlete in a game of shoot around basketball they was happy to see us enjoying the sport. The athletes wanted to share their culture with us and let us know that they have normal live just like everyone else. There was one kid on the team that was about the same age as me, probably one of the younger players on the team, and he was so motivated just to be able to convers and play a game of shoot around with someone his age. To end the session we all lined up on the wall and ended practice with a race, the amount of upper body stamina and strength you need is impressive.

DeBrandson Davidson Jr, was a student in high school that I convinced to come out for high school track and football he wasn’t always disabled, he became disabled after his athletic career in high school. DeBrandson participate in wheelchair basketball and field events in track in field, he has won a few events at nationals. When working with Debrandson, I helped out with his weight lifting. When working on weight lifting we could only work on upper body movements, He was stronger than me at some lifts it was amazing to see. When lifting upper body with him I almost forgot a few time that he was disabled, felt like we was back in high school. Debranson was very positive about his situation and comfortable in his body, over break I will continue to workout with him because his coach is getting to old to spot him, and the weight he lifts is too heavy for the coach to lift.

The Groton Special Olympics basketball team was an interesting experience; every athlete brought a different type of personality.
The personality varied from athletes that talked a lot and were highly energetic, to athlete that were not talkative at all and were lethargic. During the Practice athlete was evaluated on the Offense, defense, and their level of fitness. The head coach had us breakup into stations and work on three different offensive skills layups, foul shooting, and dribbling. I coached at the layup station; we had the athletes get into two lines. One line would be the shooting line and the other line would be the rebound and passing line, when coaching the students on the drill they learned best with visual instruction so we would have a student that knew how to do the drill demonstrate. The athlete were very motived to see new faces at their practice helping out, they could not wait to show off their basketball skills. When running my drill the head coach would come over to evaluate the players, he said he was looking for the athlete’s ability to dribble the ball successfully to the hoop and jump of the foot that was closest to the hoop with control. After all the stations were completed we went into a scrimmage, before the game began we instructed them to play a zone telling them you must return to the spot on the court when play defense. When starting the game we helped facilitate the offence, we would run the court with the athletes assisting them with ball vision helping them make the appropriate pass. During the game I was amazed by the act of kindness on the court, the players would let this one athlete shoot the ball and every player knew not to try and contest his
shot.

This observation opened my eyes to the disability and special Olympic culture and sport life. Here you have athletes in some cases working as hard as they can, not only to be the best in their events or sport but also to feel as close as able body/normal as possible. After watching the culture of these athletes I would say their environment is more functional and motivating than people that are considered normal. When implementing this experience into my career and education, I will stress the fact that this society of people are not motivational icons or heroes for doing the everyday task that they do, but I will bring light to this society cultural work ethic, discipline, and kindness. I will practice the respect of these individuals, not because they do everyday activities that amaze some but because of the characteristic they show that shows they are indeed a normal part of society.