6th Annual Wheelchair Basketball All-Star Tournament

Orlando, Florida • February 18th & 19th, 2017

Before we review the weekend’s games, here’s a little background on Orlando’s Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. In 2012 the city of Orlando hosted the NBA’s All Star Tournament, and our team decided it would be a great opportunity to showcase wheelchair basketball by hosting our own Tournament. The Orlando Magic Wheels have been a local NWBA Division 3 wheelchair basketball team for 25+ years, but it had been many seasons since we actually hosted a tournament. By coordinating with Orange County to obtain local gyms to play the games and raising funds through a generous grant from the Harper Foundation we had the basics to hold a tournament. Without going into all the details it takes to run this type of event, let’s just say that without all the planning, coordination, volunteers and the myriad of other donations we were able to secure none of this would have been possible. Much less repeating those endeavors five more times. So every year on or around the NBA’s All Star break the Orlando Magic Wheels host our annual tournament.

This year’s tournament featured teams from New Orleans, Alabama, Virginia, Jacksonville, and Palm Beach, Florida. Going into the weekend, the Orlando Magic Wheels were ranked 9th nationally according to the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA). This is important in that our team is striving to receive an invitation to the National Championships at the end of March, and only the top 16 teams are selected to compete. The other teams at our tournament attempting to get into the Championships were Jacksonville, Alabama and New Orleans – lots of good competition.

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Congratulations Javi!

One of our Magic Wheels players, Javier (Javi) Rodriguez, a former Chief in the US Navy has been selected to participate in the Invictus Games. The Invictus Games are the only International Competion for wounded, injured, or ill, active or retired Military Service Members. Various competitons (including sitting volleyball, power lifting, swimming, archery, and of course wheelchair basketball to name a few) will be held at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports from May 8th thru 12th. Javi will be competing in wheelchair tennis & basketball as well as sitting volleyball. Disabled military athletes from the US, Great Britain, New Zealand, and many other countries will be competing. For more information about the 2016 Invictus Games please please visit their website, InvictusGames2016.org.

Wheelchair Basketball Clinic for Disabled Children

On August 21st, a couple of the Orlando Magic Wheels players in association with Dreamplex of Clermont participated in a wheelchair basketball clinic for disabled children. The event was held at the gym of the Real Life Christian Church and a good time was had by all! Joyce and Javi from our team, pictured here, were on hand to demonstrate dribbling and shooting from their wheelchairs. The UCF Women's Basketball team also came out to support the cause and work with the kids!

Ray Carries the Torch

The Orlando Magic Wheels would like to thank our very own Ray Hennagir for his service to our country. Ray not only plays for the Orlando Magic Wheels…he also is a USMC Wounded Warrior athlete.

Ray was the torch bearer for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2015 Warrior Games. Warrior Athletes from all military services and the UK were joined by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Vice Chairman Winnefeld, Marine Corps Commandant Dunford, and British Attaché Cripwell.

We all congratulate Ray on this special recognition!