Strapped in a wheelchair, Spencer Heslop zipped around the basketball court, hitting the corners hard.
His movement was so quick, so athletic, so smooth and so natural — it was mesmerizing.
It was just a simple warmup, as he zoomed around a court at the North Campus Recreation Building at the University of Michigan, but Heslop turned it into an amazing display. He grabbed a ball and started hitting shots with ease.
“I’ve seen him do spectacular things,” Besh Aanakwad, one of Heslop’s Michigan teammates, said. “I’ve been around wheelchair basketball for a long time but I’ve never seen anybody as good as Spencer. He’s a superstar.”
Heslop, who recently graduated from Michigan with a master’s degree, is one of the top wheelchair basketball players in the country. He is in a pool of 17 candidates competing for the 12-man US men’s national wheelchair basketball team, which will compete in the 2022 Americas Cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in July. Correy Rossi, from Canton, is also a candidate to make the team. Rossi has played professionally in Germany since 2017. And Michael Pay, of Warren, is an assistant coach.
“It’s kind of been surreal,” Heslop said. “It’s just incredible to be to be given this opportunity and to represent the country. This is a kind of a good stepping stone for me. If I can make this team, it’s kind of helpful, moving on to potentially the World Championship team and the Paralympic team.”
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Heslop has played both wheelchair basketball and tennis through the U-M Adaptive Sports Program.
“Spencer is a hard working, dedicated, young man who takes his sport very seriously,” said Dr. Feranmi Okanlami, who runs the program. “He is a leader but not always one of the most vocal leaders. He will absolutely carry the team on his shoulders when he needs to and is also great at bringing people along regardless of where they are in their journey. Because our team was very new to many people who had never played the sport before.”
‘Disability is not inability’
Okanlami started the adaptive sports program at Michigan in 2019, a direct result of his own tragic injury.
Okanlami was a star track and field athlete at Stanford, becoming a two-time captain and Academic All-American. After going to medical school at Michigan, he trained to become an orthopedic surgeon at Yale. During his third year at Yale, he suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.
“While I was in rehab, I was introduced to adaptive sports,” Okanlami said. “I had never heard of adaptive sports as an athlete my entire life, and I almost went to the Olympics. Even as a physician who took care of patients with disabilities, I did not know about adaptive sports.”
Okanlami started working at Michigan in 2018.
“When I came here, my goal was to get this started,” he said. “Being an athlete, being a competitor, being someone that was looking at other institutions and seeing that other people were doing it, and recognizing that the University of Michigan is an amazing academic and athletic institution, there’s absolutely no reason why an adaptive sports program shouldn’t and couldn’t exist at the University of Michigan to provide equitable opportunities. Disability is not inability. For Michigan being the leaders and the best, we not only should exist, but we should be the ones excelling.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic slowed things down, the program now has athletes competing in track and field, wheelchair basketball and tennis.
The program is currently housed in Student Life. But Okanlami hopes it will eventually move to the athletic department. Even bigger than that, he hopes adaptive sports will become sanctioned by the NCAA, just like other varsity sports.
“Adaptive sports are no different than any other sport,” Okanlami said. “Wheelchair basketball is no different than standup basketball. These are athletes that dedicate their life to their craft.”
No longer under the radar
A couple of years ago, Okanlami went to an adoptive sports camp in Utah, and he ended up playing some pickup wheelchair basketball.
“One of the players was like, ‘Oh, I think my coach is going to that M school,” Okanlami said. “And I was like, ‘What do you mean your coach is going to the M school?’ He said, ‘That yellow M. My coach is going there.’”
Okanlami was wearing some Michigan gear.
“I said, ‘He’s going to do what? Would you please give your coach my information because I need to speak with him.’”
Okanlami was able to connect with Heslop, who had played wheelchair basketball at Illinois and was looking for a school to get a master’s degree.
Basically, one of the best players in the country was about to move to Ann Arbor.
“He’d already been admitted to grad school at Michigan, but hadn’t decided where he was gonna go,” Okanlami said. “I will not say that this was what sealed the deal for him. But it definitely added to his decision to come, because he loves wheelchair basketball. And you know, he would not have been able to play in a lot of places he was considering. And this allowed him to continue his career.”
Heslop decided to attend Michigan and joined the program.
“Part of the reason why I came is because I had heard rumors that they were trying to get something going,” Heslop said.
Heslop was born with spina bifida, a neural tube defect that often results in damage to the spinal cord and nerves. He had played competitive wheelchair basketball for years, including a stint with the NWBA’s Utah Wheelin’ Jazz.
“This was the first official year for the basketball team (at U-M),” he said. “We are still pretty new in the development of it. But I will say that the people who are committed to helping it grow are just absolutely incredible. Their vision, their energy and dedication to helping it grow, I think, is just going to continue to help it grow. Honestly, with COVID, we kind of flew under the radar. People didn’t really even know these things were happening in Michigan. And all of a sudden, we kind of exploded onto the scene.”
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More than just a great player
Heslop does more than play at Michigan.
He also helps coach, giving instruction to the other players.
“When you are on the block, I want you to use the backboard,” he said sitting in a wheelchair, giving pointers to two teammates. “We aren’t going straight for the rim.”
He looked at two of his teammates.
“Really, I want you to take your time,” he said. “I don’t want you just throwing shots up. Be consistent in where you are looking.”
His teammates started practicing their shot.
And Heslop kept coaching, kept encouraging.
One of the best players in the country teaching some relative beginners, just learning how to shoot.
Wanting this sport to grow.
What a remarkable young man.
What an amazing program.
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Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.