Wheelchair basketball players show Naperville C. students how it's done

The basketball scores were pretty low during Naperville Central High School's recent Hoops for Heart fundraiser, but two organizations won pretty big once the dust settled.

The annual event is usually a big draw and earned about $7,000 last year for the American Heart Association, but physical education teacher Pat Adamitis said she wanted to breathe some new life into this year's games. One of the events she chose, however, literally sucked the breath out of several students and teachers.

For a $5 donation, students and teachers could team up to take on the six-time state champion Windy City Warriors Wheelchair Basketball team of the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association in 4-minute games. In return, some of the day's donations would be shared with the Warriors.

After several combinations of students and teachers were shut out by the Warriors, some wished they would have just donated the $5 and watched the exhibition.

“That was the hardest thing I've ever done, physically,” said senior football player Tyler Bell, whose team lost 8-0. “It looks easy, but I've got nothing but respect for them after playing their game.”

Sophomore Luke Valentine, whose team lost 4-0 to the Warriors, was equally in awe.

“I'm not going to be able to move my arms tomorrow,” he said after getting unstrapped from his chair. “I don't know how they control the chairs and still have the strength to shoot.”

Warriors player Kyle Gribble, however, was happy to see his team hold up and play tough throughout the day. He said the event was a good warmup as the team heads to the Wheelchair Basketball Nationals from April 7-10 in Denver.

“Some of the (Central students) have never seen our game and some have but they picked it up quick and played us tough,” Gribble said. “They weren't taking it easy on us so we couldn't take it easy on them.”

Adamitis also had regular basketball activities planned in other gyms and a Dance Dance Revolution video game tournament in the weight room, but none were as popular as watching or participating in the wheelchair games.

“The kids are getting a great workout, they're being exposed to a sport many have never seen played and two great causes will benefit,” she said. “The Warriors have most of their fundraisers in the evenings and they're not very well-attended, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to help them out as well.”