UW-Whitewater wheelchair basketball players a strong force on Team USA

October 6, 2009

Each year the 12 best wheelchair basketball players in the country are chosen to represent the United Stated on the international stage as part of Team USA.

Two current University of Wisconsin-Whitewater players, junior Matt Lesperance and senior Nate Hinze, and the head coach of the UW-Whitewater wheelchair basketball team, Jeremy Lade, were on the team that represented the United States at the America's Zone Qualifying Tournament in Vancouver, Canada. There were also five UW-Whitewater alumni on the team.

"Having more than half of the team from UW-Whitewater says a lot about the level of wheelchair basketball and the athletics program on campus," Lade said.

After being down by 10 points in the first quarter of the gold medal match against Canada, Team USA rallied and outscored Canada in the third and fourth quarters. In the end Team USA came out on top, with a gold medal in a 79-69 win over Canada.

Winning the tournament advanced Team USA to the world championships in Birmingham, England, in July 2010.

"Being on Team USA was pretty cool, it's only my second time so it's still a learning experience but you learn from the veteran players," Lesperance said.

UW-Whitewater's men's wheelchair basketball team is back in action Nov. 20-22 in a home tournament. For more information, contact Lade at ladej@uww.edu