TiLite getting behind Tri-City wheelchair basketball tournament

Bringing youth wheelchair basketball to the Tri-Cities has been an ongoing and often frustrating endeavor for advocates of sports for the physically disabled.

A tournament at Richland High School a year ago featured teams from Portland, Seattle and Spokane and was free to the public. However, only 20 people outside of the athletes and their coaches attended, said Teresa Skinner, executive director of ParaSport Spokane.

“We’ve been doing this off and on for a decade, and it’s never picked up,” she said.

But now Pasco-based custom manual wheelchair manufacturer TiLite is entering the game. The company is putting its efforts toward financial support and marketing for Clash at the Columbia, a March 21 tournament between four Western wheelchair basketball teams at Richland High.

Skinner and TiLite officials said they hope this effort will lead to more awareness of the sport and show those with disabilities they have a place on the court.

“We’d love to have as many people we can get to come out and see these kids and learn,” said Sarah Perry, TiLite’s vice president of human resources.

The tournament could be a boon to established junior and U-21 level wheelchair basketball teams in the Northwest. March is generally a dead period in competition between the regional tournament and nationals in April, Skinner said, and having an opportunity to play helps keep players in shape. Three of the teams from last year’s tournament are returning, and top-ranked Salt Lake City also has agreed to participate.

“This is the first time Salt Lake City has ventured even close to us,” Skinner said. “It’s a huge compliment.”

But the key purpose of the tournament is to raise awareness of the sport and encourage Tri-City youth to play. Skinner estimates there are 200 youth in the Tri-Cities who qualify to play wheelchair basketball. The sport does not require its athletes to be permanently wheelchair bound, only that they have a condition that limits their mobility and ability to play regular sports. Regional teams focus on children up to young adults under 21.

Encouragement is easier said than done. Then-Richland High School student Asuanti Foner, who plays on one of ParaSport Spokane’s teams and helped arrange last year’s tournament, reached out to kids he knew who qualified, but they often shied away.

There were informal shootarounds at a Pasco gym in past years, but they were sparsely attended, supporters said.

A few TiLite officials went to last year’s tournament and were disappointed to see so few people there to watch the athletes. However, they still found inspiration in the skill and talent on display.

“It’s this motley crew of kids and they’re going kind of hardcore,” said John Roach, TiLite’s chief information officer.

TiLite was acquired by Swedish-powered wheelchair manufacturer Permobil last year. That’s brought about rapid growth in production and also fed the company’s drive for more community involvement.

Employees formed the TiLite In Motion Committee to look for ways to give back to the Tri-Cities. More than 50 company employees, able-bodied and disabled, participated in Trios Health’s Tri-Cities Marathon last October by using custom wheelchairs and raising money for teen shelter My Friend’s Place in Kennewick.

While the company doesn’t generally make wheelchairs for athletic competition, they do strive to make manual wheelchairs for everyday use that feel as natural for their users to sit in and use as any limb. Getting behind a wheelchair basketball tournament is another way the company believes being in a wheelchair doesn’t have to limit anyone.

“We want to support these adaptive sports athletes in any way,” Roach said.

The organizers still have hurdles to overcome. It can be difficult to reach out to disabled kids as federal laws prohibit school officials and doctors from identifying students with disabilities without their permission. And it can take some convincing to get the youths on the court and a ball in their hands.

But there’s cautious hope from organizers that TiLite’s involvement might give the sport enough momentum to keep it rolling in the Tri-Cities.