USOPC/NCAA Para-College Inclusion Project
The USOPC/NCAA Para-College Inclusion Project launched in 2021 to engage schools offering adaptive sport to collectively increase Paralympic sport understanding, awareness and connection across the collegiate landscape. This work evolved into an awareness subcommittee and three sport tactical teams: wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, and Para track and field. Each of these teams identified a need to strengthen the college Para sport infrastructure through shared operations, formal connections and sport cooperation.
Through the work of the wheelchair basketball tactical team, the USOPC, NCAA and National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) partnered to host activities at the 2023 NCAA Divisions II and III Women’s Basketball Championships, including an inaugural Team USA vs. College All-Stars event during halftime of both championships and a youth skills camp at Tourney Town, where players from the U.S. women’s national team and all-star team took to the court with 50 youth athletes with disabilities. In 2024, the Team USA vs. College All-Stars event again took place during halftime of the 2024 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championships. The partnership continued in 2025, where 2024 U.S. Paralympians Trevon Jenifer, Fabian Romo and Emily Oberst were recognized on center court during the 2025 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championships. Both 2024 and 2025 activations also included exhibitions at Tourney Town with local NWBA wheelchair basketball clubs and Beyond the Baseline panels highlighting Paralympic sport.
In April 2023, the Para track and field tactical team partnered with Drake University to host an inaugural national collegiate wheelchair 100m championship event, which crowned champions in both the men’s and women’s 100m races. Eight male and eight female student-athletes qualified through participation in regional qualifiers, held at the University of Illinois and the University of Arizona. In 2024 and 2025, the National Collegiate Wheelchair 100m Championships were held during the 2024 and 2025 NCAA Division I Outdoor Men's and Women's Championships at the University of Oregon's famed Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Evan Correll and Hannah Dederick, both of Illinois, repeated as the respective men's and women's champions in both 2024 and 2025.
The wheelchair tennis tactical team pioneered a wheelchair exhibition match during the 2023 NCAA Divisions I, II and III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships at the U.S. Tennis Association’s landmark facility in Orlando, Florida. On May 20, 2023, wheelchair tennis teams from Alabama and Auburn squared off against one another at the inaugural event, which saw three games – one doubles match and two singles matches. Thomas Venos and Nathan Hunter of Alabama claimed the doubles match over Auburn’s Gabe Puthoff and Jake Eastwood for an early 1-0 series lead. Then, the pairs split up for their two singles matches. Venos then secured Alabama’s overall win with a singles-match victory over Puthoff.
Additionally, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which serves as the governing body and coaching association of collegiate tennis, has implemented a wheelchair collegiate tennis coaches’ category within its structure to open a pathway for wheelchair tennis committees, rules, rankings, awards and more.
"The ITA takes great pride in its strong coach governance structure, meticulously developed over the past few years," said David Mullins, Chief Operating Officer at the ITA. "The ITA operating committees, comprising elected coaches serving three-year terms, play a pivotal role in steering the continuous enhancements that elevate the standard of college tennis. Anticipating the forthcoming election for the ITA Collegiate Wheelchair Operating Committee later this year, we are enthusiastic about the prospect of crucial decisions that will significantly contribute to bolstering the infrastructure for collegiate wheelchair tennis."
Following the success of the 2023 championships, the 2024 and 2025 ITA National Collegiate Wheelchair Tennis semifinals and finals continued to be held alongside the NCAA Division I semifinals and finals in 2024 and 2025.
Through its awareness subcommittee, the Para-College Inclusion Project created a centralized, online hub to store educational tools, best practices, and resources for program administrators, coaches and athletes. View that website here.
Visit the USOPC's Paralympic Sport Development website to get connected into Team USA's pipeline and visit the NCAA's Office of Inclusion page to learn more about how the NCAA is supporting athletes with disabilities.