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UTampa students play wheelchair basketball to learn about importance of adaptive sports

By
Published  March 31, 2025 9:51pm EDT
Hillsborough County
FOX 13 News

Adaptive sports athletes teach a lesson

FOX 13's Jordan Bowen reports on adaptive sports, like wheelchair basketball, being featured in UTampa's physical education classes.

The Brief

    • Physical education students at Utampa were taught by Hillsborough County's wheelchair basketball team on Monday.
    • Students learned why the team is so important to the athletes.
    • Players told the students their stories, and students got to get in their wheelchairs to see what it was like to play.

TAMPA, Fla. - Adaptive sports, like wheelchair basketball, play a huge role in the lives of people with disabilities by offering them an outlet and a community. 

On Monday, University of Tampa physical education students got to see the Hillsborough County's wheelchair basketball team in action as part of their class.

Class was courtside for dozens of University of Tampa students, many of whom saw what wheelchair basketball is all about for the first time.

What they're saying:

"The class is part of health science, human performance. You have a lot of undergraduate students in this course that are studying physical therapy, occupational therapy, allied health and exercise science," said University of Tampa Assistant Professor Dr. Jason Rabe. "This course is teaching them how to create activities to work with people that have unique needs."

READ: 1,700 athletes converge for Special Olympics Florida at IMG Academy

Hillsborough County's Adaptive Sports Program has its own wheelchair basketball team, the Tampa Bay Strong Dogs. The Strong Dogs are part of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. 

Students play wheelchair basketball with Tampa Strong Dogs.

Rabe brought the team to UT to teach his students more about adaptive sports, and what they mean to people with disabilities.

"We've had veterans out here that are on the Strong Dogs. We've had people that are non-veterans and some from birth have had polio. (Some) have gotten sick and have been paralyzed from the beginning," Rabe said. "Some have gotten into accidents as well. So you have the congenital, and you have the accidental."

Big picture view:

As part of the lesson, players got to tell students their stories, and students got to get inside the wheelchairs to see what the game was really like.

"The fact that we now get to interact with the athletes, talk to them, play with them. It leaves a lasting impression that I think a lot of people are going to remember, and it's going to, hopefully, the hope is, that it's going to move people to want to include this throughout the rest of their lives," University of Tampa Unified Special Olympics President Samantha DiMiceli said.

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DiMiceli, the president of the Unified Special Olympics at UT, hopes Monday's lesson is just the beginning of seeing more adaptive sports on campus.

"Our main mission is inclusion for all, and all includes any disability, any ability. Anyone can play and do whatever they want," DiMiceli said.

The Source: FOX 13's Jordan Bowen collected the information in this story.

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