Excerpt from the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Bylaws

The charter member teams were six in number and included the Kansas City Rolling Pioneers, the Hannibal Rockets, the Evansville (Indiana) Rolling Rockets, the Chicago Cats, the Minneapolis Rolling Gophers, and the Illinois Gizz Kids. In the years following, the NWBA came to incorporate teams that had their origin in the Veterans Administration Hospitals and the many more teams that have been organized in civic locations.

Along the way, it developed a democratically based organization to govern the member teams, refine the playing rules, standardize officiating and help in the development of new teams. It has been a major force in encouraging widespread participation in wheelchair sports on the part of the physically disabled and in focusing public attention on the skilled achievements of the disabled. Today, there are well over 160 teams in the United States, Canada, and Mexico playing in twenty-one conferences and divisions. Teams vie annually for the opportunity to compete in post-season tournament competition leading to the national championship.

Wheelchair basketball is played according to NCAA rules with only a few modifications introduced to account for the use of the wheelchair. The dribble rule is necessarily different and, instead of a 3-second rule in the lane, a 4-second time limit is applied. For the most part, all other NCAA rules remain intact. The game is every bit as exciting and interesting as the able-bodied version and provides the disabled athlete with the comparable experience that his counterpart in "stand-up" basketball enjoys. The benefits to the disabled athlete are immeasurable."

[Back]