Today is Sunday, July 28, 2024
Editor’s note: The following information was provided by UW-Whitewater.
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 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.
Overcoming a challenging year
In 2019, Boie was on the U.S. men’s national team which won the gold medal at the Parapan Games in Peru. The win gave Team USA an automatic berth at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the Olympics and Paralympics were delayed until 2021, Boie said the news was “devastating” to the athletes.
“You’re trying to peak as an athlete at a certain time so you can perform at your best,” said Boie. “It was a struggle mentally to stick with it and physically, because access to equipment and gyms just wasn’t the same.”
After playing in a national tournament in March 2020, a year would pass before Boie faced another opponent on a basketball court. He decided to deal with a nagging shoulder injury and have surgery. In April of this year, Boie moved into a residence hall at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where his daily routine included online office hours for his job as an academic advisor at UW-Whitewater, physical therapy for his shoulder, weightlifting, practicing his basketball skills and strengthening his mind and body.
“It’s a dream that we’re training for,” said Boie. “It’s a dream that provides no promises whatsoever. But if you don’t train, if you don’t try to push yourself, you’re a hundred percent not going to win.”
Three golds and counting
Christina Schwab, head coach of the Warhawk women’s wheelchair basketball team was picked by Lykins to be an assistant coach on the U.S. men’s national team in the Tokyo Paralympics. It will be Schwab’s sixth Paralympics since 2000. She has reported for duty as a basketball player, track athlete and now, a coach. The three gold medals Schwab owns all come from playing wheelchair basketball on U.S. women’s national teams at the games in Rio de Janeiro, Athens and Beijing.
“The first time you get your USA jersey and the ‘USA’ is across your chest when you put it on, there is no greater sense of pride,” said Schwab. “You’ve worked this hard. Your coaches believe in you. Your teammates believe in you. You get to represent your country.”
“If I have any athletes who come to this program (at Whitewater) and want to be at that level, I will strive to do my best to help them get there,” she said.
At only 15 years old in 1996, Schwab was picked as a Team USA alternate for the Atlanta Paralympics. Four years later at Sydney, she played on an up-and-coming but evolving Team USA that failed to win a medal.
A breakthrough came in 2004 at the Athens Paralympics when a scrappy American team faltered early, then fought through the field to beat powerhouse Canada in the semi and win gold in the final. At Beijing in 2008, Team USA defended its title and Schwab earned a second gold medal. An all-around athlete, Schwab competed in distance races, including a marathon, in 2012 in London. She returned to wheelchair basketball in 2016 at Rio where both men’s and women’s U.S. teams won gold. Schwab came home with a third gold medal.
Schwab was 12 years old when she first saw Lykins at a Warhawk wheelchair sports camp in 1993. He was head coach of Warhawk wheelchair basketball but soon would leave to work with men’s and women’s international wheelchair basketball teams. When Schwab began competing at that level, Lykins was already there coaching Paralympians. Now a new chapter is opening for them.
“It’s an awesome opportunity to have a veteran squad,” she said of the men’s national team. “They’ve been playing together, the majority of them for about nine years. They feed off of each other. They know each other’s tendencies. Right now, it’s about refining, perfecting and fine tuning.”
All of the athletes come to the Paralympics with their own life stories. Schwab lives with the spina bifida she has had from birth. She’s an athlete, college coach, wife, and mother of two young children. As a child, Boie survived a farm accident. Now he’s representing the U.S. as a Paralympian.
When an undetected spinal defect caused her paralysis, Zurbrugg was active in sports and loved to compete. She found a new way to run.
“A basketball chair, as soon as I hop into that, it’s a whole new world where I can go fast again,” said Zurbrugg. “I could feel a breeze on my face. I could be athletic again. I wanted to be competitive. I wanted to be athletic.”
If you have heard of Chris Evert, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, all had played in the iconic USTA Junior National Championship finals. There were over 275 tennis players that participated in San Diego, California, at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 18s National Championships from August 8-15, 2021. All players in the 18s division had the opportunity to earn a wild card berth in the main draw of this year’s U.S. Open.
Reese Brantmeier won the 16s national title two years ago and now had to play some of the top players in the country to get to the finals. Ms. Brantmeier was seeking to become the first player to claim both age titles since 2011.
Reese advanced to the semi-finals in the singles competition and had to take on Robin Montgomery of Washington D.C., the #1 seed heading into the tournament. However, Reese won a tough match against Montgomery 6-0,6-7(3),6-3 to advance to the finals.
The packed Barnes Tennis Center was excited to see the USTA finals match between Reese and Ashlynn Krueger of Lewisville, Texas. It was a hard-fought match that lasted two hours and eight minutes. The second set was intense. There were no service breaks in the second set. One newspaper reported several of the serves were over 100 mph. Unfortunately, Kreuger defeated Brantmeier 6-2,7-6 (3).
Despite the loss in the USTA finals, Reese earned a qualifying bid to participate in the U.S. Open. Quite an honor for the 16-year-old from Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Reese also had a successful tournament in doubles. She teamed up with Kimberly Hance of Torrance, California, to advance the tournament’s semi-finals before losing to the eventual champion. The doubles team of Brantmeier and Hance took home third place to end the successful two weeks of competition.
Reese would also receive the USTA Sportsmanship award for 2021. The last tennis player to advance to the USTA National Finals in singles from Wisconsin was Tami Whitlinger from Neenah, Wisconsin, in 1986.
Reese is the daughter of Scott and Becky Brantmeier of Whitewater.
Article Submitted by Greg Stewart
Photo Credit: J. Fred Sidhu
Editor’s note: The following information was provided by the J-Hawk Aquatic Club.
The J-Hawk Aquatic Club would like to thank our sponsors and participants for making a difference in the lives of our youth in Whitewater and surrounding communities. The J-Hawk Aquatic Club (501(c)3) provides both swim lessons and competitive swimming. It is the mission of the J-Hawks to be able to provide this programming to all youth. No child is ever turned away due to financial constraints. For youth on free or reduced lunches in their district, they receive free or reduced lessons or competitive swimming respectively.
By hosting runs such as the Summer Sizzler and a Run Into Fall 10K/5K in October, along with the Earlybird and Latebird Triathlons, we are able to hire instructors and coaches to make this mission possible.
On July 10, 2021, the J-Hawks hosted a 10k Run and 5K Run/Walk. 77 participants took part.
The J-Hawks would like to thank the City of Whitewater, Fairhaven Senior Living, Whitewater Register, Whitewater Banner, sponsors, and those who donated for making a difference.
Congratulations to our overall male and female runners: 10K Overall Male: Connor Hackett 35:38.1; 10K Overall Female: Heidi Mane: 44:16.1; 5K Overall Male: Cameron Lenz: 19:16.8; 5K Overall Female: Mychelle Ehlei 19:53.1.
Full results can be found at https://runsignup.com/Race/WI/Whitewater/JHawk5KRunWalk
For additional information on the J-Hawk Aquatic Club go to www.j-hawks.org
Editor’s note: The following information was provided by UW-Whitewater.
Becca Murray, a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater alumna and national champion women’s wheelchair basketball athlete, was named Best Athlete with a Disability in Women’s Sports at the 2021 ESPY Awards at Pier 17 in New York City on July 10.
Murray was picked from four finalists, all of them Paralympians: Sam Bosco, cycling; Oksana Masters, Nordic and cycling; and Leanne Smith, swimming.
“I guess I never took myself to be one of those athletes,” said Murray of other wheelchair basketball athletes who have been ESPY nominees. “So I was super excited to find out I was nominated.”
The ESPY Award is presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously by ESPN, to recognize individual and team athletic achievements and other sports-related performances. Nominees in other sports categories in 2021 included Simone Biles, Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, Naomi Osaka, Phil Mickelson and LaMelo Ball.
After a tumultuous year for sports, catharsis was in the air and a sense of purpose in the speeches at the 2021 ESPYs. Like many nominees, Murray did not travel to the event and instead posted a 19-second video on the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Facebook page thanking her wheelchair basketball “family.”
“Being good at basketball gets your name out there, but I’ve always wanted to be that athlete who brought their teammates along with them,” said Murray, several days after the awards ceremony. “That makes the difference between a good basketball player and a player who is remembered.”
The quiet athlete from Germantown came to UW-Whitewater as a freshman in 2008, already a member of Team USA, which had gold-medaled that September at the Paralympic Games in Beijing. Murray, a special education major, became a cornerstone of a newly established women’s wheelchair basketball team at the university.
The UW-Whitewater men’s wheelchair basketball team had sprung from the university’s mission to serve students with disabilities, established in the 1970s. By the early 2000s, the men’s program was enjoying both national respect and support from the campus and community, propelled first by former Head Coach Tracy Chynoweth. It was time to expand the wheelchair basketball franchise to a women’s team.
What followed was a remarkable team-building effort that resulted in three straight collegiate women’s wheelchair basketball national championships, international competitions and, for Murray, two more Paralympic Games including a gold medal in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro. Through those years, the UW-Whitewater wheelchair basketball program added athletes from the U.S. and around the world, attracted by the reputation of its program, and talent developed in summer camps on campus. By 2014, UW-Whitewater was the national capital of collegiate wheelchair basketball when both the women’s and men’s teams won national titles under Head Coaches Dan Price and Opie Lade, respectively.
“I have tons of role models,” said Murray, laughing when asked to cite only one. “I couldn’t name them all. That Whitewater family is where a lot of that came from. Opie has always been a big influence, like a brother. Tracy Chynoweth is the reason I got to play at Whitewater. He asked me to help start a team. I’m forever grateful to him for starting that women’s team.”
As a player for the Warhawks, Murray was patient, unflappable and as essential to the team as the hub is to a wheel. Her individual statistics confounded one coach, who noticed she posted higher percentages in games, where she had real opponents, than in practices, where she did not. Murray didn’t fold under pressure — she got better. One close friend, another Warhawk athlete, at first felt intimidated by all of that talent, which surprises Murray.
“It is funny when I hear those stories because I don’t see myself as intimidating,” she said. “No one is better than another person. And so I take the time when people approach me and want to talk. And they see I’m just a down-to-earth person.”
Murray, who graduated in 2014, works as a clinical assistant at Rogers Behavioral Health in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. For the 2021 Paralympic Games held in Tokyo Aug. 25-Sept. 5, she plans to take a two-week vacation just to view the live broadcasts of Team USA, which will likely air in the middle of the night, local time.
In the fall she will return to basketball, playing for the Division 1 Milwaukee Bucks men’s wheelchair basketball team and the women’s counterpart, the Lady Bucks. Retired from playing basketball on the world stage, she recently bought a condo in New Berlin to be closer to the Whitewater campus, where both Bucks teams practice at the Roseman Building. The move also brings her closer to Edgerton, where her friends AJ Messmer, a former wheelchair basketball athlete who just succeeded Lade as head coach, and Lydia Messmer, a former teammate and women’s assistant coach, have their home. It would never do to be too far from your family.
“I enjoyed my time at UW-Whitewater and being a part of that wheelchair basketball family,” said Murray. “There was something special about that team. There are always your highs and lows. But we would always pull together, and that would make us stronger.”
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