Medford, Ore. — A Rogue Valley basketball team is inspiring youth up and down the West Coast, visiting one school at a time. It’s not just their moves that are eye-catching, it’s how they move that has everyone mesmerized.
The Rogue Valley Scorpions are a wheelchair basketball team. They have the best win-loss record in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association, and are ranked number three in the tournament, but the team is hoping the community can lend a helping hand to get them to Nationals.
“It’s a lot of hard work, we spend a lot of time training, 18-plus hours a week,” Keith Avant said.
Team representative Avant says for them, it’s about more than just the NWBA; They travel all over the West Coast, to introduce their sport to kids.
“We started developing programs, and teaching them, and showing them the opportunities around the world you have, even though you’re disabled,” Avant said.
For team captain Tyrone Griner, the sport’s what helped him get through the unthinkable.
“I was shot,” Griner said. “I was uh, yeah I was shot seven times.”
The incident happened back in 2002. Griner was shot in the back, from only a few feet away.
“I still have movement in my leg so I’m not completely paralyzed,” Griner said. “I drive with my left leg.”
While he’s adapted, life for Griner has been different since the shooting. But only a year later, he was on the court for the first time. He hasn’t left since.
“You just gotta fight through it, you gotta, gotta man up, that’s what I was always told,” Griner said.
Griner and his teammates bring that same fight for life to their youth programs, but also to each game they play. As they near the end of the season, the team is hoping their community will help them achieve their goals.
“Our casino night, we’re having over at Habitat for Humanity here in Medford,” Avant said.
The March 18th fundraiser will help give this group of athletes their chance to bring the National Championship trophy back to the Rogue Valley. For more information on the event, click here.
The tournament is happening in Louisville, Kentucky at the end of this month.
This article has been edited to reflect their record and ranking.
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