Pasadena, Texas is famous for mechanical
bulls, two stepping and, thanks to the Verne Cox Multipurpose Recreation
Center, wheelchair baseball. The thump of the bat, the pumping of arms, and the occasional daring
slide make this summer sport a competition of both brawn and brains.
Located in Pasadena, Texas, just outside
of Houston, the 15,000 square-foot facility provides programming specially designed
for people with disabilities, with activities that include basketball, rugby,
swimming, shooting, and ceramics—talk about variety—but the approaching sticky
summer raises eyebrows for one sport in particular: wheelchair baseball, or softball, to be exact.
The annual Wheelchair Wind-Up
Tournament, which takes place in May, is an integrated sporting event,
allowing people with disabilities to compete against their nondisabled
counterparts. Recreation Specialist Hannah Walker explained to Disaboom that
such events are usually an embarrassment for the person who is not accustomed
to the rigors of wheelchair sports.
“All the people who have never played
wheelchair sports say, ‘oh, they’re so cute,’” said Walker, “then they get in
the chairs and it kicks everybody’s butt.”
Walker stated that it is this kind of
recognition and awareness that prompted the integrated tournament. In fact, Houston-area
athletes who use wheelchairs have teamed up with the Verne Cox Center to go out
to the local schools and promote wheelchair sports while at the same time
advocating an increased awareness of the fulfilling life that is available to
people with disabilities.
And just to show that they promote a
level playing field, the Verne Cox Center provides wheelchairs for the
nondisabled who are willing to get out on the diamond and compete.
The Texas Stars, a wheelchair softball
team, joined forces with the City of Pasadena in the mid-1990’s to create the
two best wheelchair baseball fields in the Lone Star State at the Verne Cox
Center.
While the Texas Stars are no longer
around, the National Wheelchair Softball Association (NWSA) http://www.wheelchairsoftball.org/index.htm
states
that the construction of the fields “revolutionized” the sport.
“The surface
of both fields was painted to represent grass, an infield, and a warning track
complete with permanent fencing,” the NWSA states on its Web site. “Field 1 was
designed as a small stadium with dugouts, stands, concessions, lights and an
electronic scoreboard in the outfield. Other cities soon followed suit.”
Walker expects more than 100
participants and as many as nine teams in this year’s tournament. And while the
tournament is all about friendly competition, she states that the event will be
a “family affair.” There will be raffles, bounce houses, and pet adoptions by
the local animal shelter.
The reputation of the Verne Cox Center
is known nationally and globally. It has been host to the Texas International
Shootout Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, offering competitive grounds for
teams from countries as far away as Japan and Scotland, the National Wheelchair
Basketball Tournament, the United States Quad Rugby Association regional
qualifications tournaments as well as the National Wheelchair Softball
Tournament.
For more information about the
Wheelchair Wind-Up Softball Tournament and other events held by the Verne Cox
Center, call 281-487-1755 or visit the City of Pasadena Verne Cox page.
