On Saturday, March 26, Adaptive Sports Iowa and the Iowa Grizzlies wheelchair basketball team will give amateurs a chance to get in a chair and try their hand at 3-on-3 basketball. The fundraiser event will run from 12-8 p.m. at the Wellman Parkside Activities Center and will feature 16 teams with three games guaranteed for each team. Wheelchairs will be provided to give newcomers to the sport the chance to see what wheelchair basketball is all about.

“It gives everybody an opportunity to see just how difficult the sport is,” said Shelli Stafford, whose son Jayden plays for the Iowa Grizzlies. “I think there is a misconception about what it is. There’s a lot of contact in it, then there’s the dribbling and shooting. There’s a lot that goes into it, a lot of coordination.”

Adaptive Sports Iowa is a non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities participate in a variety of sports by providing wheelchairs and other equipment to athletes. The organization does not charge any disabled person to participate — all equipment is purchased through donations, fundraisers and event sponsorships.

Jayden, who was born with spina bifida and is a freshman at Mid-Prairie, uses Adaptive Sports Iowa equipment to play with the Grizzlies and will also compete on the Mid-Prairie track team this year.

Jayden started playing wheelchair basketball at age seven, when he played with a group of adults in a recreation league in Cedar Rapids.

“I started with adults, and it was kind of me just sitting at half court, really, not wanting to get involved and not wanting to get hit around,” Jayden said. “But it slowly got better and better and I wanted to be more involved and actually play with them… Now playing basketball makes me happy. It makes me want to practice and get better at something. It gives me something to strive for, to be athletic and be the best that I can be.”

“[Wheelchair basketball] is the best thing that has ever happened to him,” Shelli said. “He is a completely different kid since he started playing basketball competitively. Jayden’s always had that competitive drive, and we could never find anything to take care of that… But wheelchair basketball has given him a whole new outlook on life — he’s talking about college and what he wants to do and his long-term goals, like he wants to play in the Paralympics.”

Jayden’s grandmother, Dixie Conrad, said that before Jayden was born, the doctors “painted a very grave picture” of what he would be able to do as a person with spina bifida.

“But he has definitely proved them wrong,” Conrad said. “He just doesn’t give up. He is a fighter… He has taught us so much about human perseverance. His determination and his outlook on life is amazing, more people need it.

Jayden’s team used to be called the Rolling Panthers and was a small group run informally by the families. But this year, in order to grow and preserve the program, the team joined Adaptive Sports Iowa and then changed their name to the Iowa Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are the only youth competitive wheelchair basketball team in Iowa.

“The kids have to travel. Right now, they have practice in Tiffin. The kids travel from Dubuque, Waterloo, Des Moines, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Wellman, from all over,” said Conrad. “It’s quite a commitment. And then for the kids to play, because there are no other competitive team in the state, they have to travel to Kansas City, Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Omaha — they always have to travel out of state to play. It definitely takes commitment from the families.”

Jayden said his favorite part about playing wheelchair basketball is traveling around the country and meeting new people.

“We’ve explained to him that these are the people you’re going to be playing against your whole life because you can continue to play as an adult against these same people,” Shelli said. “Traveling from state to state, you’re meeting all these people and you’re going to run into them again. He gets to branch out and meet new people that have similar disabilities because in a small community, you don’t really have that.”

The week after the Adaptive Sports on the Court 3-on-3 Wheelchair Basketball Fundraiser on March 26, the Iowa Grizzlies will compete in the national tournament.

The deadline to register for the 3-on-3 fundraiser tournament is March 23. The cost is $25 per person. To register your team, visit adaptivesportsiowa.org/adaptive-sports-iowa-on-the-court. For more information, contact Dixie Conrad at 319-863-3032 or Shelli Stafford at 319-461-7051.