College All-Star Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team: The wheelchair basketball tactical team’s feedback related to identifying opportunities to showcase the sport at marquee able-bodied events. As a result, the USOPC, NCAA and National Wheelchair Basketball Association will partner to create a significant operation during the upcoming 2023 NCAA Division II and III Women’s Basketball Championships to be held April 1 in Dallas, Texas. The event will include the inaugural celebration of the College All-Star Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team, which will be featured during halftime of the Division II and Division III NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships. This recognition will include a brief scrimmage against Team USA athletes as well as in-venue messaging on the sport’s pathway from youth through college, and to Team USA. The college all-star team will be comprised of current college athletes from all six of the country’s women’s collegiate programs. The two teams will also participate in a skills showcase with youth from the local wheelchair basketball club at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas on Saturday, April 1.

College Wheelchair Track and Field Championships: The Para track and field tactical team’s recommendation included efforts focused on building the pathway for the sport of Paralympic track and field at the college level. Specifically, developing a mechanism to crown a wheelchair collegiate champion during the 2023 racing season. In doing so, youth athletes will have collegiate accolades as inspiration for athletes with disabilities to get involved in the sport. Collaboration among the USOPC, Drake University, the University of Michigan and the NCAA Office of Inclusion has resulted in the opportunity to crown the first-ever men’s and women’s Para-college wheelchair national champions at the Drake Relays. Held April 26-29 in Des Moines, Iowa, the 100-meter races will occur during the 2023 Drake Relays where winners will be awarded with the inaugural 2023 Para-College Wheelchair National Champion trophy. The University of Michigan will provide travel and participation resources to all qualified wheelchair athletes who earn a top-three place finish or top-eight time to compete at Drake. Additional promotional materials, including broadcast information, can be found on the Drake Relays website.

“I’ve had the privilege of representing my school, UNI, and my country, Team USA, at the Drake Relays so I know how powerful this platform can be to showcase elite Para Track and Field performances and to offer an inclusive event experience for the fans,” said Jessica Heims, Paralympian and discus world record holder. “The crowning of the first-ever collegiate wheelchair national champion at Drake is the building blocks for great collegiate inclusion of adaptive sport.”

Wheelchair Inclusion in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association: The wheelchair tennis tactical team strategized on a variety of ideas to help integrate wheelchair tennis into able-bodied events and governance structures. Advanced by the U.S. Tennis Association and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), the governing bodies are leading the way to building inclusive events and governance structures around wheelchair tennis. The ITA, the governing body and coaching association of collegiate tennis, will implement a wheelchair collegiate tennis coaches’ category within its structure to open a pathway for collegiate wheelchair tennis committees, rules, rankings, awards and more. For the first time, the USTA’s National Collegiate Wheelchair Championships will have a presence at the NCAA Division I Championships in Orlando this May. In addition, the ITA will look to add a wheelchair event within the 2023 ITA National Fall Championships, which serves as the final tournament of the season for college singles and doubles players.

Paralympic Awareness: The awareness team advocated for creating a centralized, online hub to store educational tools, best practices, and resources for program administrators, coaches and athletes. The team also recommended efforts be made to emphasize the competitiveness of collegiate adaptive sports to align with the Paralympic Movement, which exudes prestige and elite-level sport. This effort will culminate with the launch of a new website, Para-CollegeInclusion.org, inclusive of content provided by colleges, adaptive sport organizations, and the USOPC with the intention to expand over time.

“The Para-College Inclusion Project is a great example of how we can create new pathways for student-athletes with disabilities on our college campuses and further promote inclusivity at our NCAA Women’s Final Four championship and events,” said Jean Merrill, director of the NCAA Office of Inclusion. “We are thrilled to see the progress in our first year of collaboration with the USOPC as this work shines a spotlight on opportunities, the strength of partnerships and the importance of adaptive sports.”

Finally, the USOPC and NCAA created an implementation team which will analyze the impact of the Para-College Inclusion Project in the fall of 2023. Successful initiatives will be examined for prolonged commitment and scalability. The NCAA and USOPC implementation team includes service from:

Greg Byrne, University of Alabama athletics director, USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council member
Graham Neff, Clemson University athletics director, USOPC Para-College Inclusion Project member
Jessica Heims, Paralympian (track & field) and University of Northern Iowa student-athlete
Simon Detmer, Calvin College student-athlete (track and field)

U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and NCAA Office of Inclusion announce first-of-its-kind Paralympic sport advancements across three sports

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