Every Monday evening, basketballs bounce, wheels skid and players holler across Court A inside Wade King Student Recreation Center. Many things change from week to week; players fluctuate, different drills are run. But one thing about the WWU Adaptive Sports Club stays the same: an undeniable sense of community.
As one of only three wheelchair basketball clubs in Washington, the club works hard to provide players from all walks of life the opportunity to play.
Since its founding in 2018, the club is designed to be a space where disabled and able-bodied students can come to play a sport together, according to Maggie Mittelstaedt, one of the founding members who has helped coach the team after graduating from Western Washington University in 2021.
Mittelstaedt, speaking to her experience as a disabled college student, said that having opportunities to play sports just like able-bodied students creates a much less lonely college experience.
“You just have a million extra needs to be able to just participate in college,” Mittelstaedt said. “And so it’s especially isolating when you don’t have any way to meet other people that are going through the same thing.”
Jasmine Goodnow, professor of Recreation Management and Leadership at Western, said that the developmental benefits of playing sports include strengthening fine and large motor skills, social connections, communication and fun. When disabled people lack access to sports, they experience consequences such as social isolation and difficulties developing cardiovascular fitness and muscle coordination.
The team aims to be as accessible as possible to anyone interested in playing, even community members who aren’t Western students. They achieve this accessibility by sponsoring rec center day passes for non-students to play for free.
They’re also open to youth players, such as 14-year-old Graham Connelly, who has been participating for two years since he and his dad helped establish the club’s youth program. Before joining WWU Adaptive Sports, Graham had to travel to either Vancouver or Seattle anytime he wanted to play.
The lack of more local opportunities to play wheelchair basketball has been a significant obstacle faced by both players and the club as a whole.
“I kind of thought it was messed up that the closest place to play wheelchair basketball was Canada,” Connelly said. “You would have to drive really far and you have to miss school because you have to drive several hours a day. It kind of just eats up the whole weekend if you want to go play for two hours.”
In the future, Mittelstaedt said she’d like to see the club keep moving towards becoming a sports club. This would require more involvement and support from the university in order for the team to travel further for games, which they’d need to do in order to compete.
“We can’t necessarily have games with other teams every single weekend because the nearest other ones are in Canada, Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma, and that’s just not practical,” Mittelstaedt said.
Until travel becomes more feasible for the team, they’ll continue running drills, scrimmages and building community every Monday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Wade King Student Recreation Center.
“Everyone here is super nice. I have not felt alienated or pushed away by anyone,” said Allie Smith, a newer member of the team. “(They’re) all super welcoming, all super understanding that I’m new to this, and so I’m not very good yet.”
Smith said that she’s just glad to have the chance to have fun playing, especially with a supportive network of coaches, teammates and friends.
“I haven’t been able to play sports in a long time because of my disabilities, so it’s been really cool to play basketball again,” Smith said.
Erica Stavnem (she/her) is a sports and recreation reporter for The Front. She is a second-year Western student and is majoring in visual journalism. In addition, she is a member of Western’s sailing team. She enjoys reading, camping and travel. You can reach her at ericastavnem.thefront@gmail.com.
