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Wheels at breakneck speed
  
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By YVETTE OROZCO
Taylor Detwiler is always on her game.
It didn’t matter what the scoreboard read last Friday afternoon at the Verne Cox basketball court, the Hot Wheels mojo was on.
The streaks on the wooden court were not coming from Air Jordans, but a different kind of speed demon navigated by fierce competitors.
Detwiler’s team, the Memorial Herman Tirr Hot Wheels, was charging up and down the court at breakneck speed in the first series of the 17th Annual Texas International Shootout Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, hosted by Verne Cox Multipurpose Recreation Center in Pasadena.
The Hot Wheels are a junior six-member team ranging in ages 11 to 17, seemingly outnumbered and definitely outsized by the opposing team, the Rec’ers ,which was comprised of six adult men with long arms and a long time in the tournament circuit.
Taylor, Alex Gonzales and Trevor McCuiston are the seasoned pros at their level.
The members of the adult team spared nothing, playing relentlessly as they were playing for a title. But neither did the Hot Wheels, and that’s the way they wanted it.
“This is a chance to play against teams at a higher level,” said Detwiler.
The Hot Wheels managed to block muscular arms that outstretched their own or they used their lighter weight and better flexibility to wind through, in and around the hulking big guys.
They lost the games that Friday afternoon, but those games had just been a warm up for the next day when they would be playing in a fair fight.
More than a dozen teams would play at the tournament, which was held last Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Verne Cox.
Wheelchair basketball is played like any game of basketball, but the Kobe Bryants never had to calculate nearly as much.
The athlete on foot doesn’t have to count dribbles, or depend largely on upper-body strength where the arms are doing everything at once – navigating, dribbling, blocking and shooting.
“Travelling” in wheelchair basketball happens when a player touches his wheels more than twice after catching or dribbling the ball. The athlete has to pass, dribble or shoot the ball before he or she can touch their wheels again.
“You get used to it by like any sport,” said Taylor, the only female on her team.
Taylor has been playing for seven years and has toured the United States in various tournaments.
The sport has a long tradition through the world, with its roots at the end of World War II, when disabled veterans took to the court.
Taylor is more than ready to take her game to the next level – with college competition and the Lady Mavericks in her sights.
The court was nearly empty at Verne Cox by the time the Hot Wheels played their last game late Friday afternoon.
Taylor, like Alex, Trevor and the rest of her teammates, play because they have a passion for the game. Like most driven athletes, they want people to recognize what they do.
“It means a lot to us because we can’t play regular sports,” said Taylor. “We’re athletes - the only difference is that we’re in wheelchairs.
It didn’t matter what the scoreboard read last Friday afternoon at the Verne Cox basketball court, the Hot Wheels mojo was on.
The streaks on the wooden court were not coming from Air Jordans, but a different kind of speed demon navigated by fierce competitors.
Detwiler’s team, the Memorial Herman Tirr Hot Wheels, was charging up and down the court at breakneck speed in the first series of the 17th Annual Texas International Shootout Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, hosted by Verne Cox Multipurpose Recreation Center in Pasadena.
The Hot Wheels are a junior six-member team ranging in ages 11 to 17, seemingly outnumbered and definitely outsized by the opposing team, the Rec’ers ,which was comprised of six adult men with long arms and a long time in the tournament circuit.
Taylor, Alex Gonzales and Trevor McCuiston are the seasoned pros at their level.
The members of the adult team spared nothing, playing relentlessly as they were playing for a title. But neither did the Hot Wheels, and that’s the way they wanted it.
“This is a chance to play against teams at a higher level,” said Detwiler.
The Hot Wheels managed to block muscular arms that outstretched their own or they used their lighter weight and better flexibility to wind through, in and around the hulking big guys.
They lost the games that Friday afternoon, but those games had just been a warm up for the next day when they would be playing in a fair fight.
More than a dozen teams would play at the tournament, which was held last Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Verne Cox.
Wheelchair basketball is played like any game of basketball, but the Kobe Bryants never had to calculate nearly as much.
The athlete on foot doesn’t have to count dribbles, or depend largely on upper-body strength where the arms are doing everything at once – navigating, dribbling, blocking and shooting.
“Travelling” in wheelchair basketball happens when a player touches his wheels more than twice after catching or dribbling the ball. The athlete has to pass, dribble or shoot the ball before he or she can touch their wheels again.
“You get used to it by like any sport,” said Taylor, the only female on her team.
Taylor has been playing for seven years and has toured the United States in various tournaments.
The sport has a long tradition through the world, with its roots at the end of World War II, when disabled veterans took to the court.
Taylor is more than ready to take her game to the next level – with college competition and the Lady Mavericks in her sights.
The court was nearly empty at Verne Cox by the time the Hot Wheels played their last game late Friday afternoon.
Taylor, like Alex, Trevor and the rest of her teammates, play because they have a passion for the game. Like most driven athletes, they want people to recognize what they do.
“It means a lot to us because we can’t play regular sports,” said Taylor. “We’re athletes - the only difference is that we’re in wheelchairs.
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