New York Knicks legend John Wallace and world champion wheelchair basketball player Matt Scott made a special visit to The Hartford’s third annual youth wheelchair basketball clinic on Saturday, Sept. 27, at Queens College’s Fitzgerald Gym.
Wallace, Scott and The Hartford surprised the 30 kids at the clinic with new custom-fit sport wheelchairs.
“When I look out here, I don’t see people with disabilities,” Wallace said. “I see people with a lot of heart, determination, will and grit to overcome any disability they might have.”
In addition to providing the 30 wheelchairs for the kids, The Hartford also donated 20 more to support local adaptive sports programs.
“I love The Hartford program so much. Everyone is always so kind and amazing. I love my chair. I’m so excited to have a new chair. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten a new one and I’ve needed one for a minute,” Indigo Bruehwiler, one of the program participants, said. “I’m very, very grateful and I’m so excited to be playing to the next level with it. I’m a senior, and so I’m going off to college next year. This is just going to help me more with my game.”
Scott joined the coaches from the clinic in a competitive wheelchair basketball game with the kids.
“I have Spina Bifida. I was born with my disability. I started playing wheelchair basketball when I was age as some of you. I was 14 years old when I started playing wheelchair basketball,” Scott said to the kids at the clinic. “When I started playing, I started coming to skills and development camps just like this, where I was around my peers, where I was able to learn exactly what skills I needed to excel and get to the next level with peers like myself. I encourage you to ask questions, I encourage you to work hard and I encourage you to really absorb this opportunity. There’s so many mentors around you. Make sure that you use this as a platform to get to the next level.”
The Hartford, a leading disability insurer and advocate of the adaptive sports movement for more than 30 years, held this wheelchair basketball clinic in partnership with the City University of New York (CUNY).
The Hartford contributed more than $500,000 to improve access to adaptive sports, including donating wheelchairs and providing grants to CUNY and the Fly Without Limits Foundation, a global social impact foundation created by Scott.
“I didn’t have the funding to get my first basketball chair, so it was donated to me, and I used that donation as a springboard to become who I am today,” Scott said. “That one donation was able to get me to be a Paralympian, to be a gold medalist, to be college educated, where I went to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, to play professionally. That one donation changed my life.”
Adaptive sports equipment can often be a barrier to getting people with disabilities involved in sports, as they tend to be expensive. Adaptive athletes pay around 15 times more on equipment than non-adaptive athletes. Since 2019, the Hartford has gifted over 8,500 pieces of adaptive sports equipment.
“Layla and I are so grateful for the new chair and the opportunity with all these other people who have similar challenges as Layla,” Kara Gallagher, the mother of Layla, one of the participants, said. “Her coach [Mike Godsey] and the players have helped make her life exciting. This community of people is powerful.”
“The Hartford has been a sponsor of athletes and an advocate for the adaptive support movement for more than 30 years, and as a leading disability insurer, we have seen firsthand the power that sport has on individuals with an illness or injury,” The Hartford Head of Community Relations Annmarie LaBreck said. “That is why we’ve been on a mission to make adaptive sports and equipment more accessible. Since 2019, we have donated 8,500 pieces of equipment in more than 75 communities across the country.”
