Menard, Long shot
And hits
49 - 23
And the lead Menard from the outside
That's going to be a foul on Menard
as Schwab goes flying
All alone at the foul line, Schwab
Again looking, the extra pass really helps and the US has been making that one
My whole life I just kind of assumed that I would be a mom
I never thought why I couldn't be a mom
As with anything in my life I've adapted to it.
You know you find ways around things and
it could look like I'm having difficulties sometimes
you know, or maybe when he was little like picking him up
but you find ways to do things and make it happen if you really want it
So my husband is CJ and my son is Lincoln
and we had Lincoln March 1, 2013
He's awesome
You found your basketball
Where was it?
It's in the truck box.
Oh my goodness.
My parents are a great example of how I want to raise my child.
I'm from Dane, Wisconsin
There's about 600 people that lived in that town
and I was the only child in a wheelchair in my elementary school or in the school district
I was born with spine bifida
There wasn't this high expectation put on me
because I was a girl with a disability.
Like it was more this
"Oh this poor little girl, what is she going to do with her life? She's in a wheelchair"
But I didn't have parents that felt that way
it was like "She's going to do whatever she wants to do in life"
And so when we found out about wheelchair basketball
I was shy and I didn't want to go to the first practice
and my dad took me to it and they both said
"You have to try it."
I went to UW Whitewater, actually where I work now
and I was at an Easter Seals camp and it was all boys
and right away I wanted to be better than these boys
and I did become better than them, I think
within a year or two of playing the game.
This will be my 25th year playing playing basketball.
I turned 20 right before we went to the Sydney games
so that was my first Paralympic games, we came in 5th place
which was a disappointment for us, but I think it fueled us
so then I went to the Athens games in 2004
the Beijing games in 2008
and then I took a break from basketball and I did
the London games in 2012 for track.
and to make that team was one of the hardest things I've ever done
and I was happy that I made it and that I got to experience that
and then most recently made a comeback and went to Rio
Hi, Today is September 7th, It's finally opening ceremony today
so we are pretty excited here
I'm also kind of struggling with,
Today is Lincoln, my son's um,
It's his first day of preschool and I'm not there
so it's kind of sad for me
Thankfully my husband sent me a picture of him
He's all dressed up to go to school and really excited wearing his little backpack
so that's really fun, but I am a little bit sad that I'm missing that
That's kind of like a milestone that I never thought I would miss
Coming into the games I think some of the girls
had a little apprehension because in London they got 4th place.
I wanted these girls that were so talented to experience winning a gold metal
so I was hoping that you know me coming back to the team could get us back on the podium
3 minutes to go
An 11 point lead
And who's down there all by her self is Murray and Murray gets two more
We knew going in to the games that we were the team to beat
and that if we played together and we played for each other
that we were going to win
During the gold metal match
there was about 44 seconds left in the game
I looked over and Jen Poist and I was like
"We are going to win a gold metal"
and I grabbed her and I like squeezed her really hard
and she was like " there's still time on the clock"
and I was like...
but we were up so much
The USA, wow, 3 golds in 4 Paralympic games
and the claim the gold
and congratulations to them
There has never been no better team here on over all performance
I knew that this was my end of my international career
I cried
I couldn't get the smile off of my face
It was awesome
As long as my body holds up I think I'll still play
and as long as its still fun
more importantly when it starts interfering with my family life
Is it all clear?
Let me see
Yea, It's clear
oooh
Can you see the leaves on the trees?
Yea
You know, my mom read to me from a really young age
so I'm doing that with Lincoln
"How long will the dream take to work?" Sophie whispered
Doing things like making an apple pie
you know, I remember helping my mom cook and you know
having meals where we sit down
and we eat dinner together
and making sure family is a priority
because that's what modeled in our home
so I want him to have that too
because I think that that is going to the way side in a lot of families
I think that Lincoln has made me grow up
He even made me a better team player,
to do things for somebody else and not myself
Again it's not all about me
It's about us as a unit
I know that there is a bigger picture now that I'm a mom
Get the ball from him. Take it from him.
hahahaha
Papa Pick it up!
Go, hut, hike, oh you are running, haha
You know, Lincoln is going to get older
and he's going to want to play sports
and getting him around from place to place
I think that will take a priority over me playing
You know, something will have to give
For us to move back to Wisconsin,
I wasn't sure that that would ever happen
It's totally full circle
I'm back in the place
where I learned how to play wheelchair basketball
at those camps
I realized in the last probably
3 years that I really loved coaching
It doesn't feel like work
It feels like this is where I'm supposed to be
(girls shouting names)
Get front, get front, get front !
Basketball built my confidence
I was shy, and then I became good at basketball
and I became my self, I came out of my shell
and I've seen that happen for kids in wheelchairs
You know, they are around their peers
You gain confidence when you are around Like people
that you didn't know existed
I want to instill confidence in these girls
because I think girls just in general
now a days maybe don't have that much confidence
and then if you throw a disability on top of it
sometimes, you know, media and everything
you are not perfect
and I just want them to see that like
They are awesome
You are a college level athlete
and like, be confident and own that
What I want people to stop doing
is assuming that somebody can't do something
I never thought I'd have 3 gold metals, haha
You do what is best for you,
in anything, in parenting, in playing a sport
in life in general, and you adapt to everything that's thrown at you
Anybody has challenges or things that they face from day to day
How you overcome that
and how you create your own normal is what makes you successful