Houston, Tx
Players competing in UH wheelchair tennis tournament teach a lesson in bouncing back
Magnolia Alexander, who’s competing within the match, was only a yr into faculty when a gunshot wound to her again left her paralyzed from the waist down.
HOUSTON — The University of Houston’s men’s basketball team is not the one “Coogs” group to root for this weekend.
The college’s adaptive sports activities program is internet hosting a tennis match with gamers representing 20 states and 12 nations.
Competing is Dutch tennis participant Ruben Spaargaren’s.
The one factor you may discover about his serve in tennis is the velocity.
However transcend the baseline and you will find that there is way more to his recreation.
“On the age of 10, I obtained into the wheelchair,” Spaargaren’s stated. “I had bleeding in my again. My legs fully fell out. I could not transfer them anymore. I could not really feel something.”
Quick ahead 12 years later and now Ruben is the twelfth ranked males’s wheelchair tennis participant on the earth.
“The sporting factor within me, it did not change after I obtained into the chair.”
He’ll be competing in Memorial Park within the College of Houston’s Worldwide Cougar Open Wheelchair Tennis Match.
“I additionally tried wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis in the long run. And it was the game that attracted me probably the most.”
The one actual distinction is that the ball can bounce twice. One thing newer gamers like Magnolia Alexander, who’s in her first match, are getting the grasp of.
“When this primary occurred, trying again I by no means thought I might have been right here,” she stated.
In 2020, Alexander was only a yr into faculty when a gunshot wound to her again left her paralyzed from the waist down.
“I by no means would have thought my physique would progress so far, my thoughts would progress so far. It took so much to get the place I am at proper now and I am actually happy with myself,” Alexander stated.
And in any respect ranges, irrespective of which method the ball bounces, in nearly all of their journeys, tennis has been about bouncing again.
“Simply understanding that you just’re not completely different than some other individuals or individual.”
Zack Tawatari on social media: Twitter | Instagram
