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Memphis has a wheelchair basketball team. |
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Join Us May 30 |
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Free Admission |
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What the Game Looks Like |
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Wheelchair basketball uses the same court dimensions, timing, and most of the rules as college hoops. Ten-foot rim. Thirty-second shot clock. Three-point line. Eligibility to play in NWBA games is a lasting lower-extremity disability that consistently interferes with mobility; a player does not have to use a wheelchair in daily life to be on the roster. Anyone can practice with the team, but only NWBA-ruled eligible players can compete in games. Every eligible player is assigned a functional classification between 1.0 and 4.5 in half-point increments, where 1.0 is no active trunk movement in any plane and 4.5 is full trunk movement with no significant weakness. A team cannot put more than 15 classification points on the floor at one time. That is the structural reason rosters are built the way they are: the lineup has to balance players with different functional abilities within one numerical cap. A sport wheelchair costs around $5,000. Roster members are living with paraplegia, amputations, and congenital conditions like spina bifida. |
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The Team |
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If you've been to a Memphis Grizzlies game at FedExForum, you may have already seen the Rollin' Grizzlies. The team performs halftime shows on the same court as the NBA Grizzlies. The Memphis Grizzlies have had an officially licensed wheelchair basketball team since 2003. The current seven-player roster is: |
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Al Greer is the Head Coach and CEO. The team practices every Wednesday evening at Gaisman Community Center. |
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The Road |
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The Rollin' Grizzlies compete in NWBA Division II, a step up from where they started. The schedule takes them to Auburn, Birmingham, Arkansas, and Indiana to play against programs including: |
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The team finished the 2022-2023 season ranked #8 nationally and qualified for the National Tournament. This season's record stands at 4-5, with wins over the Lakeshore Storm (64-57), the Charlotte Rollin' Hornets Teal (64-28), the CAST Iron Skillets (45-44), and the Tampa Bay Strong Dogs (47-32). This upcoming season's national tournament will be held in Arizona. |
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Regional One Health, and How Patients Become Players |
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The Elvis Presley Trauma Center at Regional One Health is the only Level 1 trauma center in a 150-mile radius of Memphis. It serves patients from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri, and is one of the busiest Level 1 trauma centers in the country. When those patients transition to the Regional One Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital, physical therapists sometimes bring them to a Rollin' Grizzlies practice as part of their recovery. They come to watch. What they see is people with the same injuries they are adjusting to playing basketball at a national competitive level. Regional One Health's Foundation has featured a patient who made the transition from the inpatient floor to the Rollin' Grizzlies roster. |
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Peer Mentorship |
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The Rollin' Grizzlies partner with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to support people adjusting to life in a wheelchair. |
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The Youth Program |
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Kids ages 6 to 18 have been practicing with the Rollin' Grizzlies since 2022, when the team launched its youth program. About half a dozen kids are in it now. Coach Al Greer runs both sides with help from volunteers Chris and Karoline Neely. Youth players train alongside the adults every Wednesday at Gaisman Community Center, have their own practices, and compete on their own schedule. Some of them also play in the adult team's games. The program helps families cover the cost of sport chairs, equipment, and travel expenses for athletes to compete locally and nationally. It can't always. |
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 Hosted by The Arc Mid-South Follow the Rollin' Grizzlies: |
