It was both a reunion and friendly welcome to new faces as the recently named U.S. Men’s Wheelchair Basketball National Team gathered at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for their first training camp, April 18-20.
With a blend of age, experience, skill and levels of disability, their end goal is one and the same: bring home a third consecutive team gold medal from the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
Six of the 12-member squad are returning players from the victorious Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 team, in addition to two of the alternates.
“The core group of us from Tokyo is here, but there are some young guys now too, so there is a more of a learning curve,” says Jake Williams, a member of the Paralympics Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 gold medal winning squads.
Veteran leadership starts with Steve Serio, 36, the face of USA Wheelchair Basketball, who will compete at his fifth and final Paralympics; in addition to Trevon Jenifer, 35, and Nate Hinze, 35, both of whom will be making their fourth Paralympics appearances.
“We’ve been together for three, four Paralympics so we’ll know what to expect, what the competition will be like, what the (Paralympics) Village will be like,” says Hinze. “We’ll also have five newbies, so they’ll be fun to watch.”
“The veteran guys are all pretty close, so that’s definitely part of the reason that coming back for another cycle was appealing,” Williams said. “I trust these guys implicitly on and off the court.”
Former assistant coach Robb Taylor assumes the head coaching responsibilities from the legendary Ron Lykins, who guided the U.S. men’s and women’s teams to a combined four Paralympic gold medals.
Serio And Williams Ignite The
Offense
Opposing defenses who double team Serio – who can light up a court like the aurora borealis does the northern sky – will then create space for Williams, who provides Team USA with a formidable 1-2 scoring threat.
The 32-year-old Wisconsin native tallied 13 points, second to Serio’s 28, in Team USA’s come from behind, 64-60 gold medal victory over Japan in Tokyo. In Rio 2016, Williams – the youngest player to suit up for that team – banked 20 points, leading the U.S. to a 68-52 gold medal clincher over Spain.