Open Court: Introducing the RAWC’s new Drop-in Wheelchair Basketball

This semester, the RAWC was proud to announce its newest offering to its Drop-In Sports lineup: Wheelchair Basketball, which would take place beside Sitting Volleyball each Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Gym C.

According to RAWC employee Nejat Mursal Moalin, Drop-in Sitting Volleyball—a version of volleyball played seated on the floor—was a bigger success than anticipated. Following this success, the RAWC decided to invest more to expand their accessible and inclusive programming. Over the summer, the department purchased 12 sport wheelchairs.

Sarah McGinn, the RAWC sport inclusion ambassador who has been facilitating this program, said that the Drop-in Sitting Volleyball, as well as Wheelchair Basketball, are open for students to try at any time. No experience or commitment is required to join.

McGinn said that the average turnout has been around 12-15 people per session. However, up until this point all participants have been people who do not use wheelchairs for their everyday lives.

McGinn noted that the most common misconception about this program is that it is only available to wheelchair users. In reality, McGinn says accessible sports are designed to be played by everyone since they put all players on an “equal, level playing field.”

“This program enables people who are in wheelchairs and people who are not in wheelchairs to play wheelchair basketball with one another. It’s a beautiful thing that brings people together,” said McGinn.

McGinn said she thinks the fact that no wheelchair users have participated yet is due to this program being in the beginning stages of development. Participation has been mainly based on word-of-mouth and spontaneity. Many of the participants who do not use wheelchairs originally joined out of curiosity after walking by the gym during a session, but many of them have been returning.

“Participation has picked up throughout the weeks,” McGinn said. “A lot of people have been coming the past two to three weeks because they enjoyed it. That’s been really fun, and with the turnout we’ve been able to run games, so it’s been more than just shooting around.”

Samm Mohibuddin, a fourth-year student and wheelchair user, said that he would be interested in participating in the wheelchair basketball drop-ins, but was not aware of it prior.

Mohibuddin said he thinks that the lack of participation from wheelchair users is due to the novelty of the program and how accessible sports are not widely marketed in general. He also noted that, from his observations, the demographic of wheelchair users on campus is not large.

According to the University of Toronto’s Fall 2024 Student Equity Census, 1432 UTM students self-identified as a person with a disability. Fifty-two of those people specified that they have a mobility disability, which in some cases may lead to using a wheelchair.

McGinn said that the department is currently working to better advertise their inclusive recreation through media. They have been shooting promotional content and are planning to update the inclusive recreation website.

Furthermore, Mohibuddin said that it is a “good step in the right direction” when non-wheelchair users participate in wheelchair sports because “it subconsciously plays in their mind, and they become more aware of accessibility challenges and barricades.”

“People don’t realize how much effort it actually takes because of the upper body strength needed,” said Mursal Moalin, who does not use a wheelchair but has tried out the activity herself.

Moreover, McGinn said some people have purposefully sought the program out after seeing it on the RAWC website’s schedule.

One student attendee was looking online for drop-in sports, and this was the only one available in this time slot. Since he usually plays volleyball, he said that sitting volleyball sounded interesting, so he decided to participate and ended up staying for wheelchair basketball until the end of the session.

This participant noted that some of the UTM drop-in sport “regulars” can create a “territorial vibe.” However, he said that the Sitting Volleyball & Wheelchair Basketball session was well facilitated, friendly, warm and welcoming for newcomers.

McGinn said that the typical game rules are similar for both sitting and standing sports, with small adjustments for accessibility. For example, in wheelchair basketball the “travelling” rule is that for every two pushes of the wheelchair, you must dribble the ball once.

Mohibuddin ended with a message to the RAWC, suggesting that they utilize the sport wheelchairs to build more opportunities and incorporate new programs in the future, such as wheelchair tennis.