Effort and Attitude Highlight Youth Wheelchair Basketball Camp

This past weekend on July 22 and 23, kids ages 5 through high school attended Sportable’s annual Youth Wheelchair Basketball Camp at Thomas Dale High School. From 9:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m., these young athletes practiced drills and competed in games against each other – and, of course, had fun.

The camp was led by Trevon Jenifer, a two-time Paralympic gold medalist wheelchair basketball player. Jenifer went to Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he was captain of his collegiate wheelchair basketball team for three years. In 2009, he made the USA National Wheelchair Basketball team and helped the team win Gold in the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Day one started off with a basic introduction to the sport, where the athletes learned things like shooting, passing, defense and ball handling. Jenifer and other coaches worked one on one with each athlete. Day two of the camp focused more on team skills like communication, picks and defense.

I was most impressed by these athletes’ incredible effort and attitude,” said Hannah Smith, Sportable Intern and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Wheelchair Basketball Player. “When coaches look for what they want in an athlete on their team, they are looking for those things and these athletes exemplified those qualities.”