Warhawks head to Tokyo to compete in Paralympic Games

Written by Craig Schreiner | Photos by Craig Schreiner

More chariot than chair, propelled by calloused hands, steered by torso muscle, careening, crashing, then pirouetting on a wheel, Warhawk wheelchair basketball athletes will go for gold at the summer Paralympics, Aug. 24 to Sept. 5, in Tokyo, Japan. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater players and coaches, women and men, past and present, have grown this sport. Some will participate on the court. Others will be there in spirit and influence.

Friends and rivals

Former Warhawks Mariska Beijer (playing for the Netherlands) and Lindsey Zurbrugg (United States), will face one another in the first game for both countries on Aug. 24.

When they met at UW-Whitewater, Zurbrugg was a freshman from Oregon and Beijer, a senior, was starting her final semester. They quickly hit it off, joking around, watching Disney movies and making apple pie in the kitchen of the campus residence hall where they lived. Zurbrugg, always competitive, thrived on Beijer’s basketball intensity, finding a kindred spirit and mentor.

“Her (Beijer’s) personality, her work ethic are unparalleled,” said Zurbrugg. “She took me under her wing. I learned the way she did it. A lot of my work ethic and the intensity that I play with comes from her. I saw her being successful and I wanted to be successful.”

“It will be intense,” said Zurbrugg of the Paralympics. “When you look at the higher levels of wheelchair basketball and the ball movement and the defense, it’s just poetry in motion. It becomes more like a chess game and a mind game than just a skill game. Everybody’s at that high skill level now, and so it’s about outthinking your opponent.”

On women’s Team USA, the Warhawk connection doesn’t stop with Zurbrugg. With her, pictured left, is Ixhelt Gonzalez, 17, a high school junior from Chicago who attended summer Warhawk wheelchair basketball camps. In addition to Beijer, recent Warhawks who will play for their home countries’ teams include Sammy White, Australia, and Andre Bienek and Mareike Miller, of the German men’s and women’s teams respectively.

Five of the 12 players on the U.S. men’s national team are former Warhawks: Jake Williams, Matt Scott, Matt Lesperance, Nate Hinze and John Boie. Head men’s Team USA coach Ron Lykins coached the Warhawks in the late 1980s and early ‘90s and contributed to their dominance. Lykins recently hired Warhawk head women’s basketball coach Christina Schwab as an assistant coach.

The men’s team opens their Paralympics play on Aug. 25 against the German team and Bienek. The U.S. and Australia are in the same bracket, so the Warhawks on Team USA could face White and the Australians as well.