With over 80 corporate participants and 50 volunteers, “Sportable at the STU” hit the court at VCU's Siegel Center to raise money and awareness for Richmond’s adaptive sports organization. The event raised more than $8,000 to support and create recreational opportunities for individuals with physical disabilities and visual impairments in the Richmond community. Forrest Lodge, the wheelchair basketball program director at Sportable, knows how important events like this are when it comes to helping share Sportable’s mission in the community.
“The event was an awesome opportunity for our corporate and community partners to get a hands-on experience in adaptive sports. The teams were able to truly realize just how difficult the sport of wheelchair basketball is when playing it for the first time, and I believe that helps showcase the abilities of our athletes in a unique way.”
For many of the participants, it was the first time in a wheelchair, let along playing basketball.
Defending champion, Patient First, was able to take home the first place trophy for the second year in a row. However, the real Cinderella story was Sean Carley's Wheels of Steel. Despite losing their first three games during pool play, they rallied in tournament play to avoid elimination and win the NIT bracket.
“We’re not wheels of aluminum; we’re wheels of steel.”
The events is a collaboration between of the Center for Sport Leadership graduate students and the fantastic staff at Sportable.
“It was a pleasure to partner with the Center for Sport Leadership at VCU once again and the students did a wonderful job to help make this a successful event,” said Lodge. “As an alum of the program, it’s awesome to be able to collaborate with current students in the program and expose them to the adaptive sports world as future executives in the industry.”
