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Movin’ Mavs camp offers experience to youth in wheelchairs

Written by Ali Mustansir, The Shorthorn staff

Tuesday, 28 July 2009 08:22 PM

Alex Gonzalez, center left, from Houston, Texas grabs the rebound from Adonis Hartsfield from Magnolia, Arkansas during the Movin Mavs summer camp Tuesday evening in the Physical Education Building. (The Shorthorn: Stephanie Goddard)

When 16-year-old Adonis Hartsfield fell while playing basketball he had a little trouble getting back up.

Hartsfield got his wheels back underneath him with some help from business management senior James Patin at the UTA Movin’ Mavs Wheelchair Basketball Camp. Hartsfield is one of 32 attendees, ages 11-24, attending the first Wheelchair Basketball camp in the region.

The camp will be all week, the same week Movin’ Mavs founder Jim Hayes would have turned 59. Hayes died last year.

“A lot of able-bodied kids get to go to basketball camps,” said Doug Garner, Movin’ Mavs head coach. ”This will give wheelchair basketball kids a chance.”

Garner said many attendees do not know how to start a strength or endurance training plan because of a lack of wheelchair basketball in public schools.

Adapted sports planned for 2009-10

Fall
• 3-on-3 Wheelchair Basketball, open to able-bodied participants
• Bocce, an Italian version of Lawn Bowling, for students with disabilities only
• Wheelchair soccer clinic and disability sport clinics in table tennis, tennis and swimming

Spring
• One-day clinic on soccer for visually impaired students (able-bodied students can also play, eye coverings will be provided)
• Up/down tennis tournament, where each team will have a student who stands up and a student in a chair

Source: Movin’ Mavs head coach Doug Garner

This was the first camp many kids in Oklahoma and Texas could go to, Garner said. Three attendees had never played wheelchair basketball before, he said.

Several students came from New York, New Jersey, Florida and California, Garner said. Two of the players from California, Jorge Sanchez of San Francisco and Aaron Patterson of San Diego, were on campus for orientation and decided to stay for the camp.

Garner said he wanted to create the camp since interviewing for the head coach position in fall 2008.

“It’s really good for junior players and good exposure for the university,” he said.

Richland College business sophomore George Turner said he was born paralyzed but regained some muscle control and learned to walk at age 5. He cannot walk or stand for more than five minutes. He said his parents didn’t want him to think the chair limited him, which helped him socialize, but kept him separate from the disabled community. This is his first time being involved in wheelchair activities, he said.

Original Movin' Force

It has been more than a year since Jim Hayes, Movin’ Mavs founder and coach, died. But his dream lives on.

Movin’ Mavs head coach Doug Garner said coach Hayes always expected 100 percent in everything — behavior, academics and basketball. Hayes believed one should still be able to do anything, even if disabled. Garner said he hopes his team is building on that attitude and expectation.

“He had very high standards. And rather than dropping his standards, he expected the players to do everything they can to reach them,” Garner said. “Coach hated it when people used disability as an excuse not to expect 200 percent.”

Mike Paye from the RSV Lahn-Dill Wheelchair Basketball team in Wetzlar, Germany played for five years under Hayes.

“He was always a powerful person on campus. He did so much for people with disabilities,” Paye said.

Paye said he likes seeing Garner carry on with Hayes’ legacy by working to get the team back to National Champion status and focusing on getting more people involved.

Hayes founded the Movin’ Mavs in 1976 as a club called the Freewheelers. In 1988 the university made it a full intercollegiate athletic program and the team became the Movin’ Mavs.

Under Hayes as head coach, the team won seven national championships.

“I always socialized with what I thought were normal people,” Turner said. “So I am completely new to this.”

Turner said he believed disabled people had trouble socializing, but discovered they are like anyone else.

Wheelchair basketball is different than he thought it would be, he said. It’s faster.

“It’s been a great experience. I am learning a lot about how it is played,” Turner said.

Mike Paye plays for the RSV Lahn-Dill Wheelchair Basketball team in Wetzlar, Germany, but was a Movin’ Mav player from 2001-06. He said the team is like family.

Paye said he is happy helping the camp and giving back to the community.

“I was in their shoes,” Paye said. “I know what it is like to need some direction.”

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 28 July 2009 09:08 PM )

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