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Gerard Moreno of the Clippers Chairmen talks with participants during the clinic.
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On Saturday, June 25th, 2005, members of the Los Angeles Clippers Chairmen, brought to you by your Southern California Dodge Dealers, conducted a wheelchair basketball clinic courtesy of Quickie at Alpine Recreation Center in Los Angeles. The Chairmen showed wheelchair basketball participants proper methods of passing, dribbling, shooting and picking up the ball. At the end of the clinic, participants teamed up with the Clippers Chairman for a short scrimmage. Each participant received a Clippers hat, a Clippers pencil, an Inside Stuff magazine, a pack of basketball trading cards, a book and a backpack as part of the Clippers Read to Achieve program, as well as items from Quickie. Participants ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old came from all over the greater Los Angeles area to take part in this wheelchair basketball clinic.
The Los Angeles Clippers Chairmen wheelchair basketball team finished the 2004-05 regular season ranked tenth in the nation. The Clippers Wheelchair players are not only Chairmen of the Court they also participate with Clippers community outreach to children directing youth to a positive life path.
In 1998-1999 the first-ever NWBA All-Star Game for its NBA-affiliated teams was held in New York as part of All-Star Weekend. The last four NWBA All-Star Games featured a representative from the Clippers Chairmen. Robert Mena traveled to Philadelphia in 2002, Armando Ibarra went to Atlanta in 2003, Sal Diaz represented the Chairmen in 2004 in Los Angeles and this past season Robert Licea traveled to Denver for the 2005 NWBA All-Star Game.
The National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA), along with the Canadian Wheelchair Basketball Association (CWBA) offers the NBA a 50 year history of organized and competitive sports for people with disabilities. Wheelchair basketball began as rehabilitation for soldiers returning from World War II and was formalized as a competitive sport in 1948, just one season after the NBA.
If you know a child or young adult between the ages of eight and eighteen who would like to learn more about wheelchair basketball, please contact the Clippers community relations office at 213-742-7516.
