Wheelchair+Athletics


 * ==History of Wheelchair Athletics at CUHistory of Wheelchair Athletics at CUDIRECTIONS for students:==
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 * ==Wheelchair Athletics at the University of Illinois==
 * basketball
 * track and road racing
 * other sports
 * ==National Wheelchair Basketball Association and Tournaments==


 * ==Paralympics==

=Research summaries:=

Savitz, Harriet May. //Wheelchair Champions: A History of Wheelchair Sports//. New York: Backprint.com, 2006. Print. Wheelchair sports first started to appear in the 1940’s, near the end of World War II. Prior to World War II, the population of disabled people in America was quite overt, veterans of World War I had mostly all deceased. When World War II broke out, it also brought about more advances in medicine which helped boost the survival rate of disabled veterans. Because of this, the population of disabled people in America had increased greatly. Disabled men and women were often isolated from society; their wheelchairs were hard to maneuver making it nearly impossible to get around, and most public building were not designed to facilitate people with disabilities. (Savitz, p.3-5) Gradually the changes for disabled people came about. The government was giving them more benefits, and must’ve realized that they needed to integrate their disabled veterans back into society. Eventually, some veterans discovered that they were still capable of playing basketball. Although unorganized at first, as they improved the sport grew bigger and well-known until it became accepted as an actual sport. The invention of wheelchair basketball (originally known as wheelchair netball) inspired people to adapt existing sports to be more compatible to disabled people. Today, there is a huge variety of wheelchair sports that make it possible for disabled people to be active and have fun. (Savitz, p. 3-8) [Tanisha Afnan]

Illinois Wheelchair Athletics. "History ." //Illinois// //Wheelchair Athletics//. 8 Feb. 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2010. .

Wheelchair sports at the U of I started at the Galesburg campus when the rehab program was started in 1948. The intent was to allow them to participate in parts of the school, not just academics. The wheelchair basketball team was the first collegiate wheelchair basketball team in the country, called the Gizz Kids, named after the U of I’s Wiz Kids. They were also part of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, which was formed in 1949. They would compete in the national championships, which were hosted at the Galesburg Campus. When they first started competing, they would compete against able-bodied students in wheelchairs. These games were exhibition games that were fund-raisers to make money. The U of I was also a starter in women’s wheelchair basketball. In 1970 women started playing, off campus. They would play able-bodied students because there were no women’s wheelchair basketball teams. They were called the Ms. Kids. They finally got to play against a women’s wheelchair basketball team called the Squidetts in the 1973-74 season, and won. This was the first organized women’s wheelchair basketball game. Other wheelchair sports besides basketball were also done. Archery, track and field, bowling, cheerleading and football, swimming, table tennis, and square dancing were all in the program founded in Galesburg. In many of these sports, especially track and field and basketball, they used special wheelchairs that were lighter weight and made with stainless steel which improved the athlete’s performance. The chairs and program continued to change throughout history. Now the Gizz Kids are called The Fighting Illini, just like the non-wheelchair teams. There wheelchairs are half as heavy and are incredibly quick making the athletes performance even better. U of I wheelchair athletes have been to the Paralympics, winning medals. The university was a starter in wheelchair sports for the rest of the world.

[Sierra Maniates-Selvin]

University of Illinois. "History." //Illinois Wheelchair Athletics//. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. < []>.

Timothy Nugent first started the wheelchair athletics program on the campus of the University of Illinois at Galesburg. The variety of sports included: archery, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, football, swimming, square dancing, table tennis, and many more. The purpose of these sports was to let people with disabilities participate in extra-curricular activities. Tim Nugent also had the idea that once people saw what people with disabilities could do in sports, then they would begin to see how many other capabilities they had. The teams were called the //Gizz Kids//, as they were not allowed to be called //Illini//. The first wheelchair athletes were members of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). They had customized wheelchairs, built to make the player faster, stronger, and more relaxed while competing. In 1970, women with disabilities were allowed to play, and they became known as the Ms. Kids. In 1986, the Gizz Kids and Ms. Kids were renamed as the Fighting Illini Men’s and Women’s Wheelchair Basketball teams. Through the exhibition games these teams played, people got the effect Time Nugent intended. People saw that disabilities were just part of one’s appearance, and that wasn’t a barrier in what someone was capable of. Aside from basketball, the UofI also excelled at wheelchair track and field. The University of Illinois continues to be the department with the best training, coaches, and wheelchair sport research.

[Divya Joshi]

College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Illini Adapted Athletics History." //Disability Resources// //and Educational Services//. College of Applied Healtth Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

The University of Illinois at Galesburg developed an adapted athletics program that allowed students in wheelchairs to play sports that included but were not limited to: basketball,bowling, cheerleading, football, swimming, table tennis, and square dancing. The original Gizz Kids were up and at em' early in the morning to do calisthenics, followed by classes, and tons of practice. These students were on the first collegiate wheelchair basketball team in the country, and were also a charter member of the National Basketball Association, which was formed in 1949. The Gizz Kids' first competitors were able-bodied people in exhibition games. These able bodied peopled had to play in wheelchairs. Through the NWBA, they played tournaments against other wheelchair teams. The model of wheelchair the people had to use were fifty pound Everest & Jennings Standards. These chairs were equipped with lightweight chrome plated steel, naugahyde upholstery, hard rubber tires, sheet metal spoke guards, and supported fixed armrests and footrests. The Gizz Kids evolved from matches where they had the upper hand to competing in the National Basketball Tournament (NWBT). From 1948 to 1970, the Gizz Kids finished in the top four in the NWBT thirteen times. Throughout that time, the team was on the cutting edge of wheelchair technology. In fact, they created a pneumatic tire to improve speed, traction, and maneuverability and called it the “Illinois Wheel.” Then, in 1967, a new lightweight sports chair was made from stainless steel with Stainless Medical Products, Inc., which led the Gizz Kids to two NWBA championship titles. In 1970, a women's team for wheelchair basketball was formed, the Ms. Kids. In the 1973-74 season, the Ms. Kids played an actual women's wheelchair team instead of able bodied people in wheelchairs. The team they played were the Southern Illinois University Squidettes. Since the the Ms. Kids had lots of practice and were very skilled, they beat the newest team. Although the University was known early on for irs role in wheelchair basketball, its student-athletes also competed in track & field, in which they used the same lightweight chairs they use in basketball. The team was not all smooth sailing though. In 1966, U of I track athletes were disqualified because they decided to use junior backs on their wheelchairs instead of the adult ones they were supposed to. Because of their willingness to innovate, the U of I teams were regularly among of the best teams out there. There success led to the discontinuation of the “National Wheelchair Games Team Trophy,” because they won it every year. In 1986, the Gizz Kids and Ms. Kids were allowed to become the Fighting Illini Men's and Women's Wheelchair Basketball teams, officially becoming a U of I team.

[Brigitte Dietz]

Little, Jan. //If It Weren’t for the Honor, I’d Rather Have Walked.// Cambridge: Brookline Books, Inc. N. page. Print. Excerpted as :African Safari, With Wheelchairs” in __Expanding Horizons: A History of the First 50 Years of the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services at the University of Illinois__, pp.17-21. In 1962 it was decided a team would go to South Africa to help change the attitude of the people there towards disabled people. The people who go to go had to be college graduates and have a job. Fourteen men and four women were chosen, all from different jobs and disabilities. They would show sports, speeches, and public relations. Some members of the team had polio, one had been hurt in WWII, and one had been injured while saving a boy from an accident involving a tractor. Seven people not in wheelchairs were also invited to help with logistics. The team would go in June of 1962, just after they’d been to the National Wheelchair Games in New York. In May, they didn’t know if they’d have enough funds, an airline to take 17 people in wheelchairs, or have visas. In the end they could go. Each person could take only one suitcase weighing no more than 35 pounds. They also had to have their wheelchairs and extra parts for the wheelchairs. The first demonstration of sports went well, and people decided to play football after. They learned to play sports of grass and dirt. The time passed quickly as the traveled to surrounding towns, and people received them as stars instead of as peculiar, as they feared they might have been. Doctors asked for them to visit hospitals. The numbers of native children they saw with tuberculosis and rickets were indications that the health care was bad. They even got people following them along, trying to help. One tried to cure al their disabilities, tagging along with bottles of water. They went south until the Kalahari Desert where they would fly to Cape Town. On the way the bus blew two tires. Another bus was sent from Welkom to pick them up but died before reaching them. The citizens of the town had to come and pick them up. Because of numbering baggage they never lost any of their things. The team members got along well even after 40 days together. They didn’t have enough time to argue. No one got hurt over the trip, and everyone knew each other better. The trip changed how people with disabilities in South Africa were viewed. It also helped the team members of DRES grow because they were closer to one another by the end of the trip, as well as knowing that they’d done something to help other disabled people in the world. Professor Elmer, who was a therapist for DRES and leading the trip, agrees that there were challenges in the trip, such as having to improvise to get to places that weren’t accessible to wheelchairs. He also agrees that the people were amazed by what others with physical disabilities could do, amazed that they could be so useful. [Alison Taylor]

Sources: International Paralympic Committee. “Paralympic Games”. //International Paralympic Committee//. N.d. Web. Feb. 2010. [].

Rapid Intelligence. “Encyclopedia>Disabled Sports”. //NationMaster//. N.d. Web. Feb. 2010. [].

**1960-1980 **  [Elbert Wang]
 * “Paralympics” as a word literally meant “Parallel Olympics.” It doesn’t have anything to do with paralysis (the Greek root “para” means beside).
 * Sir Ludwig Guttmann of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England started to organize a sports competition for wheelchair athletes in 1948. This was the beginning of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which later evolved into the current Paralympic Games that was first held in the summer of 1960.
 * The first Winter Paralympics were held in 1967 in Toronto, Canada.
 * The International Paralympics Committee was founded on September 22, 1989. It manages and organizes the Paralympics.
 * The 1960s were the start of the Special Olympics movement. A U of I alumni, Frank Hayden, came up with idea for a sports competition for the intellectually disabled. Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the Kennedy Foundation were the ones who put money into the Special Olympics. The first Special Olympics were held in 1968 in Chicago and was organized and run by Frank Hayden.
 * Special Olympics are for people with intellectual disabilities.
 * ABA and Rehab Act were both passed in 1968 and 1973, respectively. They both expanded the rights and accessibility of disabled people.

Mitchell, Melissa. "Former Varsity Athletes In Adapted Sports To Be Honored". News Bureau. 26 April 2004 University of Illinois. 16 February 2010. 

Mitchell, Melissa. "Student-Designed Wheelchair Makes It Easier For Athletes To Maneuver". News Bureau. 9 December 2004. University of Illinois. 15 February 2010. 

Wikipedia “Paralympics”. Wikimedia Foundation. 1 March 2010. 15 February 2010. 

Wheelchair Athletics 2000-2010 Wheelchair sports in recent times have become more popular. In the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, wheelchair athletes competed in many of the same stadiums and fields as did the athletes in the Olympic games. There were 19 different sports, including a new sport called wheelchair rugby. In 2002, the Winter Paralympics were held at Salt Lake City, with four events. Wheelchair sports have become very popular and are a part of mainstream sports culture. In 2004, the University of Illinois gave out varsity letters to more than 80 athletes who over the years competed on a University of Illinois wheelchair sports varsity team. This meant that the athletes were finally being recognized as “official” athletes of the University of Illinois. Also in 2004 a team of industrial design students at the University of Illinois created a more effective wheelchair to be used in a variety of sports.

[Peter Ivanov]