From the Court to Princeton

Written By: Derek Hoot

I grew up in small-town Wisconsin playing basketball outside with my twin brother and the neighborhood kids. Sticking to half-court basketball since I couldn’t quite keep up on the full-court. But then I met Luke at the park when I was 13. He was my age and he played wheelchair basketball for the Mad City Badgers. He noticed my height and thought I had potential even though I had never used a wheelchair.

During my first practice, it felt like learning to use a video game controller. I had to figure out how to get the chair where I wanted it to go. And beyond that, you can’t shoot with your legs or plow through another player like in stand-up basketball. You have to use space more intelligently. But I was all in. Wheelchair basketball was the first organized sport I could play. I’d watched my brother play middle school football, and I wanted to be part of a team so badly. Wheelchair basketball was also the first time I felt fast.

I went on to play wheelchair basketball at the University of Illinois and earned a degree in political science with a minor in Arabic. After graduation, I was recruited to play professionally in Hamburg, Germany for a season. I went back to Wisconsin and started working as a healthcare consultant while playing two seasons with the Wisconsin Thunder. Work brought me to Richmond and one of my first priorities was finding a wheelchair basketball program.

I rode the bench in college, and even in Germany I didn’t get a lot of playing time, but I gained invaluable experience playing against National Team-level players. On Sportable’s team, I stepped into a starting role, which forced me to develop aspects of my game I hadn’t even known existed—smart passing, working with and without the ball, understanding my role on defense, and communicating with teammates of different experience levels. I’m really grateful to Sportable because it allowed me to continue playing a sport I love, meet people at all levels of the game, stay competitive, and have fun.

I started coaching Sportable’s first-ever prep wheelchair basketball team, the Little Spokes and I loved it. They were coming out of a COVID season where they couldn’t even pass the ball to each other. They hadn’t been able to travel or play games against other teams yet. Watching them scrimmage and get back into real basketball was everything.

After three years in Richmond, I decided to apply to grad school. I looked at VCU and UVA, but also took a chance on Princeton. To my surprise, I got into their fully-funded Public Affairs graduate program and started in August. My interests include international development and Middle East policy; however, my experience within the disability community also continues to shape my future. I now think beyond my own accessibility needs to consider the needs of others with various disabilities and how they interact with the world. Working to create disability and accessibility policy with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or internationally with the State Department would be a dream.

Sports have always been an important part of my life. I met people I would have never otherwise met. I reclaimed my physicality as an athlete. I redefined my understanding of disability.