Youth Sports Program

BORP Bay Cruisers

BORP youth hold up a trophy
BORP's victorious Varsity team at the
2002 West Coast Regional Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in Berkeley.
 

A History of Excellence

BORP's youth basketball team, the Bay Cruisers, started in 1986 and was the first youth wheelchair basketball team in northern California. The team is now in its 23rd season!

Young Prep Division Player. Young Prep Division Player. Young Prep Division Player. Young Prep Division Player. Young Prep Division Player.
Younger "Prep Division" players on BORP's youth wheelchair basketball team
(the infamous "Bay Cruisers") learn beginning skills, including chair mobility and teamwork.
 

Never Too Young

We play basketball at four different levels: 5' hoop (for the youngest players), 8.5' hoop (also called "Prep" play), Junior Varsity and Varsity (both played at the regulation 10' hoops). We start players as soon as they're ready to roll onto the court independently (our youngest player ever was only 3!), and you can continue playing in the youth division until you graduate from high school.

Photo from 1986 shows a youth wheelchair basketball athlete with his coach.   The 2004 Bay Cruisers Prep team
Photo at left: This photo was taken in 1986, the Bay Cruisers inaugural season.
At left is 6 year-old Richie Bennett, who went on to compete internationally
in track & field and is now a Bay Cruisers coach and UC Berkeley student.
He is getting a low 5 for a job well done from coach Chuck Gill,
who went on to basketball stardom with the Golden Stage Road Warriors
and numerous USA men's basketball squads.
Photo at right: Members of the 2004 Bay Cruisers Prep team during a practice.
 

Ballers Unite

Basketball is the most popular wheelchair sport in the world. Like a lot of wheelchair and "adapted" sports, it was started after WWII. Today, in the USA alone, there are over 180 teams, with over 60 in the youth division. The National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) is the governing body for wheelchair ball in the States.

Two youth athletes smiling   BORP athlete on the US wheelchair basketball team
Photo at left: Teammates Antonia Gutierrez and Christina Hanson.
Photo at right: Bay Cruiser Jennifer Howitt, competing in Australia in 1999
as the only girl on the Under-20 USA basketball team which won the
international championship. Jennifer went on to win a gold medal
at the 2004 Paralympic Games as the starting Class I guard on the
USA Women's Wheelchair Basketball squad, and is currently a Rhodes Scholar.
 

How's It Work?

Good question. Youth wheelchair basketball is played by NCAA (college) rules, with one notable exception - "traveling". In wheelchair ball, you can push the chair twice consecutively before you need to dribble at least once, then you can push twice again, then dribble again, etc. This keeps the game moving at a fast pace.

BORP athlete posing in front of an American flag Lamile Perry poses with a basketball in his hand
Photo at left: Marcus Oden at the opening ceremonies of
the 2003 Australian National Junior Wheelchair Games.
Marcus was MVP of the 2004 National Junior Basketball Tournament.
Photo at right: Lamile Perry accepts his National All-Academic Team award
at the 2001 championships. Lamile won many international track & field titles
during his Bay Cruiser career, setting numerous national records.
He was also the 2002 USA Junior Track Athlete of the Year.
 

Okay, Basketball Is Cool, But What's It Really All About?

Another good question. Since you asked, we'll tell you. Here's what being on the Bay Cruisers is really all about:

  • independence
  • teamwork
  • strength
  • goals
  • friends
  • traveling
  • learning & improving

Being on the team means that we ask a lot of you. We ask you to become more independent, to take care of yourself and your teammates, to set goals for yourself and to meet them. Being on the team means you play hard, and you work hard. You get a lot out of it because you put a lot into it.

Jennifer shows off her award while putting her arm around her coach The Bay Cruisers track team
Photo at left: Bay Cruiser Jennifer Howitt accepts the Sports 'N Spokes
"USA Junior Athlete of the Year" award at the track & field championships in San Jose in July, 2000.
To Jennifer's left is Tim Orr, coordinator and founder of BORP's Youth Sports Program.
Photo at right: The Bay Cruisers track team at the 1998 Junior National
Track & Field Championship in Mesa, Arizona.
 

We Are the Champions!

In 2004, at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, the Bay Cruisers Varsity team captured its first-ever national championship at the National Junior Wheelchair Basketball Tournament! And in both 2003 and 2004, the Bay Cruisers Junior Varsity team won the national tournament in Peoria, Illinois. And, to top off an incredible year, Bay Cruiser grad Jennifer Howitt started on the USA Women's Basketball team that won the gold medal at the Paralympics in Athens, Greece.

Four BORP athletes pose for the camera
Bay Cruiser tricksters at the start of their
first-ever road race, a 5K in Pleasanton, in 1992.
 

From BORP to College

Over the years, many Bay Cruisers have gone on to compete in basketball and other wheelchair sports at the intercollegiate level on athletic scholarships. There are now 10 college wheelchair sports programs in the USA - with more on the way. Currently, there are 6 Bay Cruiser university scholar/athletes out there! And, those who have graduated from college are now embarking on productive careers.

Bay Cruiser tracksters lounge in the grass
Bay Cruiser tracksters take five on the grass at the
National Championships in Albuquerque in 2000. (yes, it was hot!)
 

Track & Field, Tennis, Swimming, Etc.

In addition to hoops, there's lots of other sports out there. The Bay Cruisers have a long and proud tradition in track & field and other athletics (swimming, weightlifting, archery, table tennis), winning countless individual and team national championships over the years, and also setting numerous national records.

We can also get you started on wheelchair tennis -- another fast-growing sport. And, of course, there's always BORP's cycling program !

The 2004 BORP Bay Cruisers team Bay Cruiser Prep players and coaches
Photo at left: National Champions! The BORP Bay Cruisers won
the 2004 National Junior Wheelchair Basketball Tournament at
St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Here they pose at an early-season practice.
Photo at right: Bay Cruiser Prep players and coaches
celebrate a victory at a regional tournament in Seattle.
 

Bring Your "A" Game

So you wanna play sports? Let's quit talkin' and do it! Just bring yourself on down - we've got the balls, the chairs and the coaches.

For current activity schedule, see our Events Calendar .

Call Trooper Johnson for more info: 510-849-4663, trooper@borp.org.

BORP athlete Patrick smirks while on a plane
Varsity athlete Patrick Dawson relaxes
on the plane home from an East-Coast tournament.
 

Links:

Check out a slideshow about our youth program (note - download is 25.5 MB)

National Wheelchair Basketball Association
Wheelchair Sports USA (track & field, other athletics)
United States Tennis Association

Making the Chair Disappear

In the past 10 years, since players have become involved in design and manufacturing, huge strides have been made in basketball wheelchairs. They are now light, fast and strong. And the players have gotten a lot better, too. When one of the best players in the world, say … the incomparable Pat Anderson of Canada, pulls off his behind-the-back-reverse-tilt-spinning-while-falling-down-lay-up move 3 or 4 times in the first few minutes of a game, something quite interesting happens; the chair just … disappears! Suddenly, you're not watching wheelchair basketball anymore … you're just watching … basketball.