Auburn's wheelchair basketball team played Alabama in a double header in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, Jan. 24.
The Tigers were unsuccessful in stopping Bama's dominating offense in both games, losing the women's game 34-54 and the men's 30-59.
After the first loss of the double header, head coach Jared Rehm said the team has some work to do.
"Our weakness is we don't know enough about the game yet, we're a really new program," Rehm said. "Most of our players have only been playing since the program started ... and we're playing against teams that have been playing their whole life."
Rehm said one of the team's strengths is its persistence.
"We don't give up," Rehm said.
Rehm said he hopes through the program, people with disabilities can have nearby place to play, because Auburn's team is the only wheelchair basketball program offered in east Alabama.
Tate Hall, junior in rehabilitation services, works with the team. She said she believes the program is a good way to bring awareness to the wheelchair community.
"Not a lot of people know about how to deal with people with disabilities ... they don't want to be awkward," Hall said. "I think that seeing them still capable of so many things ... it's really cool to show [students] that they shouldn't be afraid to hang out with them or talk to them. They're just like us, they just have to work a little harder sometimes to do things."
Joshua Gess, a paraplegic on the team, said the program gives him cardio and an outlet to blow off steam.
"It's pretty physical, that part I enjoy," Guinness said.
Gess said another perk of being on the team is the companionship from other players.
"You get to really love these guys, they get to be your brothers," Gess said. "It's really powerful from that perspective."
The team was developed through the School of Kinesiology and the Office of Accessibility.
Rehm jumpstarted the Paralympic Sport Club program alongside Nathan Waters in 2009 when the kinesiology department helped to bring in funding to buy the equipment needed to play through an online adaptive sports class.
The team will continue to improve as they prepare for their next match in February on their way to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association National Championship in Kentucky in April.
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