West Georgia Wolverines at six and oh, and a good afternoon, everyone.

Dave Gardner alongside Leslie Sweat and Leslie.

I can't believe it's been six years you and I have worked together, but we are looking forward to a great game today.

We are this sure this looks like a very well matched game.

This is going to be a lot of fun today.

Let's talk a little bit about the Atlanta Wolfpack.

This is a team, of course, that has been to this championship game a couple of times over the last couple of years.

And they're led by a guy and Reece Johnson, who we have come to know over the last seven years as a leader, and now he's a senior at high school that that he is and he has really grown into this leadership role on this team.

It's really fun to see kids develop that way.

And of course, you see Johnson right there, 17 points per game, has done a great job on the year.

And of course, looking forward to seeing the Atlanta Wolfpack out there.

And there's a starters Lacey, Todd Terreno, Newton, Aboubakar GABA, Rodriquez, Griggs and Reece Johnson.

Some names you might have heard before if you've seen these guys boy, over the last couple of years.

And we're certainly excited to have the Wolfpack with us here today.

Meanwhile, the flipside, Leslie, the West Georgia Wolverines are here once again, as they have been over the time, and they've got some great athletes on their side of the ball as well.

They do their you know, they, too.

We've watched them grow up as they go as they go through the years.

And there you see Eric aggressively.

And she's one of their team leaders as a senior.

Six points per game has done an excellent job.

One of the tri captains on this West Georgia Wolverine roster.

And they're going to look Laura Ray, of course, the sophomore Lesley-Ann Hutchins, Erica Gravely, Douglas Johnston and Eugene Layne, an eighth grader right here playing for West Georgia today and looking forward to a great matchup this afternoon.

Of course, both sets of coaches have done a wonderful job with these programs and of course, the championship here today, six and oh versus a five and one.

And incidentally, the Atlanta Wolfpack, that one loss coming to West Georgia.

Let's go and take a time out.

We'll be right back with the opening tip when we return from the Arena Gwinnett Center.

It's Atlanta and west Georgia.

Coming up this back here at the Arena, what, etc.. Let's go courtside at Gerald Olive, the other member of our team today.

Gerald, what's up?

The throwback to 2006 when these two teams faced off in the championship game, The Wolfpack won that game.

However, today the Wolverines are undefeated.

When I talked to Coach McIntyre before the game, he stressed to his team not to get overconfident.

They want to make sure good pass is nothing lol and he reminded them if they're going to win, today's game is going to be with good defense.

Back over to you, Dave.

All right.

Thanks, Gerald.

We'll talk to you throughout the day here today.

Dave Carter, Leslie Sweat and courtside with you along with the rest of our GPB crew is championship weekend continues right here on GPB and looking forward to it again the ASP wheelchair basketball championship year number six right here on GPB, where we're going to be joined later in the broadcast today by Scott Hollenbeck, a former world class wheelchair racer.

And we'll talk to him a little bit.

And of course, we're going have plenty of basketball action here today.

Reece Johnson tipping at midcourt alongside Douglas Johnson and Reese with the basketball is quite the ball handler, but lost the handle on that one there along the line see Atlanta, of course, in the white West Georgia in the yellow here today we have six, eight minute quarters with a continuous clock.

So three periods in the first half, three periods in the second half, as you see west towards a battling, trying to get it across in a jump ball call it all possession hero will stay with West Georgia.

It looks like they might have a little early in the game jitters some ball handling issues there I'm sure they'll settle in Laura will inbound it one of those Trier captains the sophomore from Flint River Academy and you see the officials there, Leon Porter, Alva Jackson, Steven Lewis.

And I know, Leslie, as an official yourself, you're pretty familiar with these guys and they've wrapped a lot of GHC basketball games.

So certainly something different here today.

They have.

And, you know, the great thing about that is that as an official trainer, which I am for this organization, I don't have to worry about teaching these guys positioning and signals.

But I do have to teach them is to watch a little lower than what they're accustomed to.

A lot of the fouls and wheelchair ball happen way down low and it's you got to sort of retrain your eyes where to watch as a referee.

And the first two points of the ballgame belong to them and be focused on a stop of today's broadcast.

Reece Johnson, averaging 17 points a game.

This senior from Douglas High School and the Wolfpack leads A to nothing and Atlanta pressing early here they are aggressive defense take another look at that last score there Johnson Nothing but net right there along that baseline.

Johnson Back on the other end frozen four shot off the mark that that ball hit off Rodriguez's arm or chair or something That's why he didn't handle that pass Nice job by Laura to get down there and get that loose ball.

Something you alluded to off camera before we came up here today.

Leslie, it was the fact that as an official, you've got to watch your Achilles a little bit, too there.

You talk about looking a little bit lower.

You got to watch out.

You don't take a wheel from the back of a calf.

Oh, yeah.

If you've ever been in the grocery store with your child and they've run over your heel, you know what it feels like.

There's Douglas Johnson, the eighth grader from Manchester Middle School with the first two points of the game for West Georgia.

Now, as we mentioned, these two tangled earlier in the year and Atlanta's lone loss was a 2422 defeat to West Georgia, sees Johnston putting it in there to tie this ballgame up.

So these two have some history this year.

And basically the rematch from a regular season thriller that came down to the very end, that shot by Johnson off the mark.

That's unusual, Chris.

That was a nice look right under the basket.

He doesn't normally miss those.

The Wolfpack, of course, and why the defending state champs won it in 2006 and of course last year averaging 27.6 points a game offensively and allowing just ten.

Meanwhile West Georgia in the yellow averaging 20 points a game and allowing ten So statistically both teams pretty much at the same ballpark.

Nice look inside already trying to put up a shot off the mark rebound Johnson who pushes ahead and gets into the hands of Aboubakar Garbo the sophomore from North Atlanta High School.

Nice defense by Laura Rea and knocked away and it will stay with the Wolfpack.

Leslie One thing we do want to mention is that not all of these athletes are confined to wheelchairs.

Some of them, of course, do a lot of other things there.

And I know last year at a situation where a player fouled out, actually got up out of the chair and walked off the floor.

And some of the viewers might have been thinking, well, wait a minute, what's going on there?

Right.

As it turns out, that was not a miraculous healing and that a lot of these kids do walk in their everyday life.

They do not use the chairs all the time.

But that is, of course, a requirement of wheelchair basketball.

You do have to be in a wheelchair.

So they give him the chance to play.

It's a piece of sport equipment like shoulder pads and helmets for football players, but they're shot by Johnson, a little too strong off the glass this time.

Johnson gets it ahead once again into the hands of GABA.

Now for Rodrigues, Griggs will pick it up.

Griggs, a junior from Maynard Jackson High School, puts it up and in the race with his first two of the night averaging a little over three points a year, a game West Georgia with a two point lead for two with three and a half to play here in this first period.

We're talking about Laura Rea and some of these players that we've seen for several years, but yet some of the early freshmen, freshmen and sophomores in high school.

But they've been playing since they were in fifth and sixth grade.

And that's how we've gotten to know these guys so well, because basically it's pretty much one through 12 first grades.

Yeah.

So we can have them playing for a lot of years, which is really one of the best things about working with this organization is watching them, you know, grow and develop and become more confident through sport and learn their own abilities and know where how that impacts them throughout their life.

Not just out here on the basketball court.

Tell you what, Eugene Lane had one block nearly got the foul though the break comes up a little bit short.

Now back on the other end.

Johnson trying to beat Lesley-Ann Hutchins to the ball does so.

Hutchins, a freshman from Callaway High School.

Oh, we had Riggs out of the chair.

He was a little too had a little too much action around him.

Now, when a child athlete falls out of a chair, we don't necessarily stop play unless they're in a spot where the ball or the chairs are going to get too close and they become been in danger by being on the floor.

And that's another point to bring up to Leslie, is that you're not able to use your legs in any way to the booster position in the chair.

Correct me if, in fact you do that.

That's a special foul that's unique to wheelchair basketball hall The physical advantage.

Well, let's take a look at the West Georgia Wolverine coach.

Is Jimmy Roberts to your right in the second season with Atlanta and also Andrea Arnold's third season with the Wolfpack.

Dual head coaches there, both of them up off the bench right there.

So, you know, if you're an Atlanta Wolfpack player, you're going to hear it from two different angles there.

When you come over towards that bench.

They have done a great job, a magnificent job with this Wolfpack team five and one on the year.

And it's its second ball going against the Wolverines.

I thought that full court pressures having some impact there.

But you're also going to see a fatigue factor set in as you deal with a full court press there.

You're going to look at Coach Richard MacIntyre, eighth season with West Georgia, and a lot of them refer to him as Coach Mack.

And his Wolverines squad has a two point lead here with a minute 30 left in this first period with a timeout on the floor.

I also see over there in that West Georgia huddle some alumni that are given some coaching tips as well and they get out of the floor.

The situation before they had some words of encouragement for their opponents or their up and covers on their face.

Well, just a reminder again, the games from this weekend being streamed live on the Georgia Public Broadcasting website.

That's J.B. WWE, our GPB.

Org.

Again, all of the games will also be archived and played at a later date.

Again, GPB Ford streaming live championship basketball from the arena at Gwinnett Center and also from the Macon Coliseum this weekend as well.

So all the crews, the high cheerleaders in the house, they're lending a helping hand as well.

Of course, a lot of things to check out here, including this wheelchair game.

So we want to remind folks to log on to w WW dot gpb dot org.

So after the time out, number two, Lacey Todd, a fifth grader from Burgess Peterson Academy, will inbound it for the Atlanta Wolfpack.

Todd three years of playing experience with a 3.2 GPA, two time honor roll student It looks like number 22 three no Newton Junior, the sophomore being a help.

His coaches were called out on the court to help get him up because the coaches know the disabilities better and know any any issues.

You know the way you lift a child depending on their disability might might be harmful.

So we let the coaches come out in a system that because they know the players better.

And also there is a obviously a responsibility on the officials too to know these players a little bit.

Yeah, it really is an advantage for the officials to get to know the kids through the regular season because with the varying disabilities you there are different impacts that that you'll see and look for and it can actually impact how you call a foul whether or not something was was it truly illegal or was that a part of their disability that they could not help inbound into Griggs over to Johnson feeding it inside.

And the one thing I've really been impressed about here so far in the early going, Leslie, is you see Griggs with another shot.

He's got four points in this first quarter and it's now a62 Atlanta lead.

But the Reece Johnson, another example right there, certainly not shy about giving that basketball up, playing very unselfishly, looking for his teammate.

First, there's that leadership that we were talking about.

Right, Right.

Whistle on the floor.

It looks like that one is going to be called against Ann Arbor or really just like an able bodied ball.

You have to establish a position in order to have a legal block.

And he did not do that on that particular play bravely on the other end, bravely, a member of the 2008 handball championship team from West Georgia, C Douglas Johnston, working towards the hoop, has had a couple of open looks here today and nasty related for the Wolverines.

Only two points here.

This first period looks like you're going to call some contact there on Leslie in Hutchins.

We're going to get her four back in.

And that's that's pretty much an automatic whistle every time you see it in the final seconds rolling away here and period, number one from the arena, again at center in this 2009 Aspen wheelchair basketball championship.

And boy, that one nearly went in the crowd there listening to a foul that he called on gravelly not like of that call right there.

But nonetheless I like that one on the end the first period.

Here we go back here at the arena, go that center.

You see the crowded here today to check out the 2009 Ask State wheelchair basketball championship and the Atlanta Wolfpack with a92 advantage over the West Georgia Wolverines.

Rodriquez Grigg's knocked down all three free throws during the break.

They waived Greig's Grigg's back out and he was able to knock down all three.

So that sort of why the gap here a little bit.

And the Wolfpack will open the second period with a seven point advantage and the basketball they have gone are Leslie Sweat when I'm with you Jared all very courtside with us today along with the rest of the GPB crew, Bruce Johnson, number 23, the star, if you will, for the Wolfpack.

Off the mark on that last shot right here.

But I think even Johnson would agree that without a supporting cast, the Wolfpack would not be in this position right here today.

Johnson, of course, the senior from Douglas High School, had 22 points in a game earlier this season.

Oh, Eric has got to add a nice move there.

But Reece is so quick.

She wasn't I thought she's going to the fast break there and get clean to the basket.

But he caught up to her.

Terry Chambers, good Look ahead to Johnson who goes behind the back there a little bit, puts up the shot would not go Douglas Johnson got a hand on it It was last touch by him.

So the ball will stay with the Wolfpack.

Yeah.

That behind the back move is somewhat become his signature, but I think it cost him in that one.

I think he lost control of the ball a little bit as he brought it back around the front of his body.

And that's why that shot didn't come off like he had hoped.

But, you know, Leslie, with the TV cameras on today, I mean, you know, it's a state championship game.

I think reasons he's want entertain the crowd here in the viewers at home.

Absolutely.

And we'll do that and you can get away with that when you're up when you got a lead right now like the Wolfpack does.

But Alabama, let's go to that one out of bounds to the Wolverines.

Meanwhile, West Georgia, as we mentioned, a perfect six and oh this year.

Just a great season under coach Richard McIntyre.

All right.

Doug Johnson doing a nice job of getting out around that crowd, had Justin Jones open underneath.

Of course, they had Reece Johnson between him and his and his teammate.

I'm not sure if he felt like he could make that pass over his outstretched arms or not.

But this early in the second foul on Terry Chambers, number 13, there you see Terry, a seventh grader from Sylvan Middle School.

Oh, good.

Look right there by Johnson.

Oh, able to hit the shot right there and back the other way.

That's Griggs with the basketball Atlanta with a two on one situation here.

That was a good no call on that contact by the referees there Rodriquez Griggs open Look at the hoop.

How about grapes today, Leslie Nine points here in this first half for Rodrigues.

GRIGGS That's lighting it up and averaging just over three points a game.

And of course, well above that here today you'll see that Rod primarily only uses his right arm.

His left arm.

He uses a little bit to push the chair, but all passes are caught and made and all shots are taken with that right arm only.

I don't know why it doesn't just want to fall off by the end of the game.

Time out West Georgia.

The Wolverines want to talk things over right here trailing by nine.

They've certainly got their work cut out for him.

But what a job here, Leslie, by this Atlanta team of the first half to put some distance between themselves and the undefeated West Augustine.

Yeah, they needed to get off to a quick start, I think, to boost their confidence up after that one loss coming from the West Georgia state.

We saw Richard McIntire there.

You going to look at Andrea Arnold and Jimmy Roberts, the two co-head coaches for the Atlanta Wolfpack Hawks.

Coach Mack is the younger son of Rick Junior, also over there as well, dressed the same way in the dark shirt with the khaki pants there.

Rick Junior had a nice taste of what his athletes go through.

He had a bad break and his foot has been in a wheelchair and only got permission to get up out of his wheelchair within the last couple of weeks.

One, two, three, one.

Really trying to fire him up.

Plus, Georgia need a little bit of a boost.

Rider trailing by nine, but still plenty of time to go.

And I believe over the last couple of years, if memory serves me well, we've had some games where it might have been a double digit lead at one point, and then all of a sudden, you know, things came right back.

And of course, we do want to remind folks for additional information on adaptive sports, please visit their website WW w dot adapted sports dot word very nice website.

I know last year I think it was redone there a little bit and a lot of information on there Nice layout easily navigable and certainly want to encourage folks to check out adapted sports talk so much good information on the here and now there's a little bit of history on there as well is looking back of course, the first were played in 2000 for the first basketball championship.

And so the websites also fill it up a little bit more with information, too.

Over the years.

Oh, yeah.

We've added some teams.

I know that Scott Hollenbeck, when he joins us, is going to talk to us a little bit about that job.

I'll just add Jones had it knocked away there by Reis but I believe is going to get a foul call on it.

Will Reece Johnson's good here, His teammate Erika, encouraging him that he had done a good job.

He's new to the team, not as experienced as the other players, getting some good advice and leadership team capped off their results.

And you see initially you saw it.

It was all ball right there.

But then Johnson came back, got the risk right there.

And so now Jones will be at the line here, can just add a sixth grader from Manchester Middle School.

We will see if Justin has the arm strength to get that.

That's a that is a long way to throw a basketball.

It's input from a wheelchair.

It is.

Yes, it is.

It doesn't look that tough sitting here on the sidelines.

But having been in the chair myself, I can tell you it's tough.

And you got it.

Oh, they're going to wait up for it right here at Unfortunate because Justin, one of two on that trip, he hit the second but a lane violation called on the Wolverines and yet smiling as he goes down the court.

Oh well you know, you have to respect the officials decision.

But boy, from a sentimental standpoint, you just hate to see that, you know, having been in the ref shoes, I do know where they're coming from.

It's not easy to make that call, but it's the right call.

Absolutely.

Looks like Griggs may have taken a finger in the face there momentarily, but was able to regain possession of the basketball, been knocked away by Johnson.

I'm pretty impressed with Douglas here today.

Number 50 in the goal for West Georgia is really quite a lot of defense has really been one of those guys up and down the floor.

Yeah he has a you know his disability affects his shoulders and so he doesn't move quite as quickly as some, but he knows where to go and that's almost as important as how quickly you can get there.

Saw Johnson's numbers right there.

You know, this West Georgia team, really, when you look at it from top to bottom down the roster, you really don't have that superstar.

I mean, Laura Ray is a little over seven points a game.

Eric is a little oh six, as you see, Richard and Rick, Senior and Junior there on the West Georgia bench.

But they don't have that one standout star like a Reece Johnson.

It's pretty much just an overall team effort.

They come to play, they score enough points to win defense.

It really is.

And Coach Mack really stresses that team, that team approach.

That's something that they work on a lot in their practices.

Good passes, good fundamentals.

He's a he's back to basics kind of coach What you might expect.

But you know obviously it's cold here today before his angles and when you look at Georgia roster three happens all girls excellent excellent back picks on restarts and look where he is behind half court got frustrated frustrating just sat still down there helping get those rebounds right there Woo but we'll stay with West Georgia's little bit of frustration but he had two players back picking him so that he could not get past half court.

Boy, it's like Reece will come out of the ball game substitution right here.

Torino Newton Jr the sophomore from Booker T Washington High school averaging right at six points a game this year.

I think the coaches saw that frustration on just the way he sat back there and they're going to have a little talk to him about it I believe.

I think so.

See the shot right there by Ray would not go, Oh, we talked about earlier, though, again, West Georgia with three try captains, Laura Rae, Erica Gravely and LeAnn Hutchins, Leslie and Hutchins, all ladies out there.

Yeah.

Serving as those upper class leaders.

They're tough there.

You don't have to worry too much about whether they're a boy or a girl and how they're going to get stuff because they're there.

Wasn't that, Hey, we got to travel.

Yeah.

I thought for a second that was going to go by the reps, but they sure did catch it.

A travel and wheelchair ball would be three pushes on your hand rims without a dribble of the ball.

So in the gravelly we got a player down but you see that they're not stopping play and in fact he's able to get himself up to four Douglas Johnston and he has all four of the West Georgia Wolverine points to take another look at it right here Good look inside by Brantley to a wide open Johnston underneath They just need a couple more shots like that to get their confidence level back up.

And though they might be right back in this game, especially if they can figure out how to back pick Reece Johnson a little bit like they just take him out of that defense.

Well, that worked while ago.

They had the open look just good.

Knock it down.

But it's good strategy.

Johnston for rather Johnson Reece Johnson back into the game for Atlanta.

So just a quick chat with coach Arnold Coach Roberts over there on the bench and then quickly back into the lineup and Bradley able to reach in and do Rodriguez had the ball in his lap.

She was able to reach in enough that out the defense that's one thing West Georgia's very good at they will frustrate you reaching in and knocking that ball around it.

JOHNSTON Staying close to Johnson where he's trying to dribble through some traffic, not a lot of open real estate though, throws that one behind out of bounds And back to the Wolverines.

Credit Doug Johnston for that pressure that force Johnson Rich Johnson to make that bad pass go first undefeated basketball season for West Georgia who did win the championship in oh seven and is two teams here today have accounted for the last three state championships.

Fourth one coming today.

First the Wolfpack winning it and oh six and oh eight.

The Wolverines, of course, in oh seven.

Look at inside they look just off the mark kept alive by Jones and no hands of war Ray puts up the shot and hits Laura Ray with her first two for three, three, three.

One of those try captains remember of the oh seven basketball championship team, the oh seven handball and football championship teams.

And you see it right there and a good looking shot there.

And Ray, also, by the way, a cheerleader as well.

Yeah, but on I tell you, we've seen see action back here at the arena at Gwinnett Center.

And we are joined now by a very special guest, former world class wheelchair racer Scott Hollenbeck, joining us here courtside, along with Leslie Sweat.

But I'm Dave Gardner.

Scott, thanks for being with us.

Yvette, Thanks for having me.

Very exciting game here so far.

I know Westword has got a little bit of catching up, but the Wolfpack are off and running here so far.

It's it's going to be an exciting game.

And I think that we'll just see if they switch the tides a little bit here.

Absolutely.

Let's talk a little bit.

I know that you've been involved with adaptive sports, a great job.

And some of you guys have written a lot of the programs doing great.

We've had some an amazing group.

Last year, we had three new districts.

We added a good athlete and they had three sports.

So right here, Gwinnett County to do.

In fact, Oconee and Clark brought a team in which over in the Athens area, that's the the Northeast Renegades, they won the JV junior versus handball championship the whole so they're down in house.

The county also brought a team on.

So we're ecstatic to have out those three new members to the league.

Other area, we've had our different states looking at what's going to work.

This is the model for the two.

That's at least for me as a Georgian.

I'm proud of that.

I think it's exciting that we're leading the country in this type of these types of initiatives.

Well, I know that ASCO is basically the first interscholastic governing body, if I'm not mistaken, for adapted sports.

And so it's great to see that some other states and some other folks are going to be coming on board.

That's great.

It is.

It's exciting and this is going to be interesting.

It's exciting as we continue to go in the state and share what we're doing with others.

And of course, here in the third period, the Atlanta Wolfpack with an 11 six lead over the West Georgia Wolverines, again, six, eight minute periods with a continuous clock.

So the final period, if you will, of the first half.

And I know, Leslie, I know that you've had the opportunity to get to know Scott a little bit.

And it's a certainly a great, great organization to be a part of and a lot of great partnerships.

I guess two are starting to form between adaptive sports and some of the other members of our local communities.

That is correct.

That is correct.

And I got to switch back to the game real quick.

I'm still nursing an injury from a I somehow got suckered into a pre-tournament scrimmage game with the Atlanta team.

Do not let Scott Holland thank you all you suckered in would not be appropriate.

Yeah chomping at the bit to get it that would be closer to right but I can say this much actually.

I had to defend Chris Johnson for an hour and a half last week.

And I'm telling you what, I played college ball and I played a lot of basketball.

It was all I had.

I mean, these guys have really come around this last year and continued to develop and some of their athletes are just they're tough.

Yeah.

I don't envy you at all.

Having to guard Reece for an hour and a half, that's for sure.

I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

They did?

Yeah.

Look inside their whistle.

Yeah.

Leslie, you know he's not fooling us at all, Scott, Because we saw him out there hour before the game.

He's out there talking to kids, getting them ready.

And so, you know, you're fired up.

I know you're fired up.

And.

Well, and knowing his athletic background and his competitive nature, I'm sure that there wasn't a whole lot of convincing that had to go on to get him out there.

Well, my wife gave me a about 400 ibuprofen.

He said, just don't blow your shoulder out again, honey.

Oh, my good.

Let's talk.

For those that may be unfamiliar with you a little bit.

I know you were you you're somebody that competed in an unprecedented four Paralympic Games.

Talk about your experiences and some of the things that you've accomplished along the way.

Sure.

Oh, I was honored to get to represent our country for about ten years internationally.

Paralympics Olympics, world championships and amazing experience.

Absolutely amazing.

And I think taking it back a step further, a as a high school athlete who was paralyzed, I was hit by a drunk driver and I lost an opportunity to participate in in Scholastic Sports and slowly got involved.

We didn't have anything like this.

And I can speak firsthand that having the opportunity need to be a part of your school, having somebody force you to keep your grades up for because you wanted to be on a team.

Sure, it's a life changing.

I sit here today and I feel like I've had some successes as a as a person, and I can give back because of those limited opportunities.

I, I just I love being a part of this program.

I think it's some of the best money that we spend in the state of Georgia.

When you look at the fact that we're changing the statistics and the meaning of what people what historically has been the disability experience, you know, and that's that's still going on.

There's a young man on the brand new Gwinnett teen who has a recent spinal cord injury, recently went to a chair, came right out of rehab, and that program was there for him.

And according to his family, that has that has changed his life dramatically.

You know, he went from depression to that self-assuredness.

That comes from knowing what you can do and not focusing on what you can't do.

All right.

So, Scott story is is happening all over again here in the state because of this program.

They're going to look at Reece Johnson right there at the line, shoots of free throws.

Douglas Johnston on the other in a moment ago.

Got another bucket there for West Georgia.

Johnson at the line right here, knocks down his first free throw making it 13 date.

I know Scott as the director of partnerships and outreach for ask but talk a little bit about your your roles and responsibilities and in what capacity you've come into this organization.

Sure.

And we continue to work with a variety of organizations, companies here in Georgia and nationally, example, and you got UGA sports chairs, manufacturers, a lot of chairs that are out here and works with our programs.

And so I try to go in and strengthen those relationships as we move.

And we work with our systems and our existing systems.

We set up partnerships.

Something I'm working on right now is Athens is going to host the football championships and we're hoping to do some things with the university football program.

And you just trying to tie together those pieces in the community where there are programs.

And as we develop new ones, a couple of initiatives with some foundations that I can't talk about, what can I talk about to keep them under wraps right now?

But bottom line is you guys got a lot of things working, though.

Oh, you saw the video.

You know, we've reached out with some small production agencies to try to improve the way we communicate.

Our message is out there.

And I think that was a classic example of the things that I do.

I work on our websites and our promotions and just trying to share what's going on here so that, you know, based on U.S. Department of Education statistics, it's 37,000 kids in the state of Georgia who could be participating in this kind of program.

And we've still got a long way to go with that.

And I'm excited to be a part of that for, you know, as long as I can.

How much do you think the partnership with the Georgia High School Association has helped, especially with the exposure of events like this one?

I'm glad you brought that up.

We couldn't do what we do without the GHC support and the and their leadership being there for us in our clients could do without the same thing with the Department of Education.

You know, those are the two foundational partnerships of our organization.

And we're we just can't we couldn't do what we do without them.

That's just the end of it.

We could not do those three new districts that I talked about.

Those are all from a grant that came from Department of Education.

They said, Go out, help us find the districts.

We want to start these programs and we give small grants to get going.

And and that makes a big difference, especially in these times.

You know, schools are cut back and, you know, when I come knocking on the door, say, hey, what do you think about ADD for new teams?

But with things like Department of Education support, we you know, they take a look at it.

We've got three districts here today.

I'm not going to mention we're watching.

We're looking at what's going on and what we could do.

This in the break.

And so that's that's only through GHC and and Department of Education.

And ultimately it really comes back to our legislators to, you know, they see and understand the value.

They see that if we keep one student in school, the highest risk population in the state, I don't think people realize that oftentimes.

And if we if they do fall through the cracks, will they end up on disability income and and Medicare for life for.

So let's throw a uniform and a coach out and they actually get jobs.

So it's it's well-spent money I think and those are the two groups that make it happen.

You saw Reece Johnson with another two there a while ago restarting heat up.

He's got six points on the night and all of a sudden it's just a six point ballgame.

It's got another thing.

And Leslie, you can chime in on this is the fact that one thing when I look at these these athletes right here on the floor, I mean, you know, their GPA is most all a 3.0 or beyond.

They're most all of are involved in church or civic groups or volunteer at homeless shelters or involved in other activities.

And I think that says a lot about the caliber of the kids that are also coming in these programs.

And this speaks to the confidence that they gain as they you know, again, I hate to harp on it, but they began to learn their strengths and they don't have to be like everybody else.

They still have strengths and contributions to be made.

And they find that when they, you know, find somebody who's willing to help them, when they in turn are willing to give back to their communities.

JOHNSON Take away looking inside to grab he puts it up off the mark.

We would not go for a walk back ball as I watch that female duo from the Wolfpack, the field out there, one of the partnerships that we've been very proud of in the last year and a half has been with the Women's Sports Foundation, and it's exactly what Leslie said.

This is about empowerment.

This is about about about building self-esteem.

And when you can come out and you can get on the court, you can put your game out there, it's it's so much easier to do it in every other area of your life as Laura Ray goes for another two points.

So, you know, Women's Sports Foundation came down.

Watch what we were doing and we continue to work with them.

And they love this programing because it's it's no different than sports for any group.

It's just this is a higher risk group who has more challenges and absolutely can do it to remind folks WW dot adaptive sports dot org very informative website go ahead check that out as well we're in bonus here.

It looks like we're going to go to a one and one on that last foul on Johnson Johnston excuse me Douglas Ricketts for any families or friends of families who are out there, if they're interested in getting a real handle on what we do, we have a parent information section on our website where we've created a parent downloadable pack.

They can get up to speed very quickly on on how this could benefit, you know, their family or friends or their family wherever they live in the state.

Craig's missing on the front end.

They're trying to get the ball back, go scramble underneath there.

There's nowhere to put up the shot clock, the Johnson with eight points.

Now, he and Griggs have accounted for all 18 of the Wolfpack points here in the first half.

Still just an eight point game, though.

That's a little bit demoralizing.

They were coming back and doing nicely and then all of a sudden he missed that run into that free throw.

But then they got the ball back and scored nice is getting a piece of that again.

He's really dominating in there defensively right?

Final seconds ticking down here in this first half, Scott, certainly.

I want to thank you for coming by and talking us here today.

And I'm sure your five medals are going to inspire some of these kids and seems like you got a pretty good relationship with some of them out there.

So thank you.

It every once in a while I get to share that with them.

Then they take it that much more fight it with in school.

Be what I know I absolutely love.

Thanks so much for having me.

Got to have it.

Thank you for coming here today.

Enjoyed it right there.

Indeed.

And again, the second half coming up here a little bit later on.

But let's go ahead and go to Courtside Joe Delivery standing by with the leading coach, Darryl.

Thanks a lot, Dave.

I'm here with Coach Roberts.

What was the key to your team coming out with such a fast start?

It just worked on consistency defense early.

The faster you score, they usually ask you to lay back in the game.

I noticed the Wolverines were starting to press at the end of that first section off third period.

What do you plan to do to combat that?

We're going to work on stepping and using two block set pick so we can work our way through this.

All right.

Good luck in the second half.

Back over to you.

Date.

All right.

Thanks, Gerald.

Going to take it back here at the Arena at Gwinnett Center as we welcome everyone back to the adapted sports 2009 wheelchair championship.

We're at the half of the score, 8 to 10 in favor of the Atlanta Wolfpack over the West.

Georgia reads A today.

AFP is honoring the cheerleaders from CUSA High School from county schools for six years of spirit and volunteer service and helping to enhance the quality of the annual Wheelchair Basketball Championship event.

They get to look at the names.

They're again all from Coosa High coach Amy Jo Hill and Laney Cruz, as you see all of the cheerleaders there.

Certainly appreciate those young ladies being with us here this afternoon.

And I know we always have some of those players there.

Indeed cheered on by those groups of high cheerleaders.

Let's go ahead.

Courtside to Gerald Oliveira.

He's standing by for special guest Gerald.

Oh, that's right.

I'm here with a couple of special guests.

I have Dr. Ralph Swearingen, as well as Jeff Hoffman.

We're going to come back to Jeff this doctor swear about the alliance that the Georgia High School Athletic Association has with asked.

Just talk about that for a second.

We are extremely pleased to have this alliance.

We've had it since 2001.

We recognized that Ashe was probably the foremost authority on school based athletics for disabled athletes.

And so right here they're in our backyard.

We've worked with them.

It's been a great growing situation where we're able to provide for disabled athletes the same kinds of experiences and lessons that we provide for our able bodied athletes.

Talk for a second about the influence that this program and this alliance has had on the national level.

Well, I think that we've we've been able to open the doors and to the vision of a lot of other state associations who never knew exactly how to deal with the issue of incorporating disabled athletes into their program.

So many times the door got forced open because of threats of litigation.

What we're showing is a model where the state high school associate and its schools can take the lead of recruiting these athletes, recruiting the coaches as well, train them, provide the structure for competitions.

And it's a win win for everybody.

Now, how do you see this alliance growing in the future?

Well, we really don't know.

That's exciting thing.

We start with track and we've now incorporated the the basketball into our program.

There's a lot of different ways we think that our schools can get involved if we get more and more schools involved, then we may have less regional teams, more school teams themselves, and we can help open up brand new sports.

And to be the head of the Georgia High School Association.

I'm proud of you to have spearhead this alliance.

Well, I'm very pleased because I wear two hats, because I'm also on the board of directors of Ask.

They were very gracious to ask me to come on.

And we've been able to work together.

And they have taught me so much about the world of disabled athletics.

And I'm just happy to be in this.

All right.

Well, let's find out a little bit more about as we talk to the board chairman, Jeff Hoffman, talk about the benefits that the participants and I have had by playing the sport.

Certainly, you know, there are 1.5 million kids in grades one through 12 that are physically impaired and those kids just get left on the sidelines.

And the result of that is they wind up with a very the lowest graduation rate when they want when they go out into the world, they have a 68% unemployment rate.

They many of them wind up living on Medicaid, Medicare and disability income.

So this program gives them a chance.

Through our association with GHC, with their association with the Georgia Dome, to give them a chance to bring these sports programs into the schools to get these kids involved, We see through these sports programs, through their inclusion in the bigger picture, the experience that you take for granted in high school that these kids don't get as brings these programs affordably and seamlessly into the school.

These kids become a bigger part of the bigger picture.

Their graduation rate increases.

We see an increase in employment rate and self-esteem.

It really impacts the entire life and well-being of the student and the community.

Now, Scott Hollenbeck was talking about the growth that you had this year, a lot of growth.

What's the mandates in terms of a program participating with asked?

Certainly, you know, it's interesting because a lot of states right now they struggle just to meet the basic federal mandates.

And the ASK program done right here in Georgia really goes well above and beyond.

We involve the community, the parents, the referees that you see today.

We provide a program a lot bigger than just the physical mandates and the excuse me, the federal mandates.

And there's no way we could do that without our association with the HSA and the DOE.

So we really want to thank them for their involvement.

And the community that you see here today that supports the program.

Now, a lot goes into that support.

Also, from a financial standpoint, how has the economy affected how you've been able to put these sports together?

You know, there's no doubt everything gets affected.

We get hit, too.

But it's part of the educational curriculum.

And education doesn't stop during a recession.

We still keep going to school and we still keep getting educated.

So we'll continue to fight with the help of our partners that you guys have here today.

Keep going.

Thanks a lot for some time us and getting this information.

Jeff Hoffman, Dr. Swearengen.

Back over to you, Dave.

All right.

Thanks, Jerrold.

Again, here at the half 8 to 10, the Atlanta Wolfpack over the West, Wolverines, they have gone out alongside Leslie Sweat and right here.

Let's go ahead, Leslie, take a look back at that first half.

Some exciting wheelchair basketball being played here today at the Arena Gwinnett Center, the Atlanta Wolfpack doing a great job in that first half.

They really did restarts and lighten it up.

A little bit of a surprise with a Rod Griggs also putting some good points on the board.

They look very impressive.

Johnson of course, as we mentioned, averaging 17 points a game this year.

They're going to look at Griggs in your living room a lot, of course, with the open look able to knock down the bucket.

The Wolfpack lead 9 to 2 after first quarter and there you see another bucket right here.

Of course, the West Georgia Wolverines would mount a little bit of attack in the second period.

Douglas Johnson with six points in that ten, a couple of his buckets there cut the gap to a five.

But then, of course, Atlanta pulling back out to eight here before the half.

And you're going to look at these numbers, three field goals, six of 14 for the Wolfpack, five of 24 for the Wolverines.

We're trying to pick it up and you see the percentages there.

Free throw six of eight for the Wolfpack, creating opportunities off line rebounds almost even turnovers 7 to 4 in favor of West Georgia, getting Greg Smith 12 points and two rebounds.

He's had a remarkable first half of basketball.

So there you go.

The stage is set for the second three of play here from the arena, big win, etc.

and we are looking forward to it as the Atlanta Wolfpack and the West Georgia Wolverines second half Coming up.

When we return, back here at the Arena Gwinnett Center, let's go courtside to Gerald Oliveira.

Darryl, Coach McIntyre, your team came out a little bit low.

They got a fast start on you.

What changes do you plan to make in the second half to compact that full court press you picked up?

Exactly on us.

We are a slow starting team.

You saw us pick up a little bit in that second period and hold them and come pretty close.

In that third period.

I told them we've just got to get faster on it.

They are a good team.

They hold us real good, but we're going to get fat free and we're just going to have to do a lot better shooting than we did in the first half.

All right.

Well, good luck in the second half.

Thank you.

Back over to you, Dave.

All right.

Thanks, Geraldine.

Yeah, and Coach Mack hit it on the head.

I mean, that's a field goal shooting percentage, just over 20%.

Probably not going to get it done against the Atlanta Wolfpack.

Remember, the Wolverines were the team, but six and Oh, but it's the Wolfpack who has come in here today and played like they're the undefeated team.

Well, I'll tell you what, from what I've watched at this Wolverine demons in the season, the two ladies that are part of the co-captains do not miss some of the shots.

I've seen the miss today.

So maybe they'll warm up here in the second half of half of what they shot had fallen.

It'd be a different ballgame.

Douglas Johnston, The highlight for West Georgia there in the first half had six points and now make it eight as he opens up the second half with two more play that numbers advantage real well.

Race was going back and forth but they managed to pass it to the open player and get a good open shot.

Just a six point game right here 18 to 12 Atlanta wolfpack again the fourth period.

But remember, there are six periods.

So we're not in the fourth quarter.

It's not really quarters, I guess when you have six.

That's right.

Again, four out of six periods here today, still two more left here to play as we open up the second half all lose there.

Johnson picks it up.

We talked about Douglas in his play there in the second half.

There you get a look at Eugene Lane who has the shot in and out right there.

Laura Wray on the follow would not go rebound Wolfpack and jump ball call possession here Stay with West not Eugene Ryan can surprise you he he can hit a ball and by that arc Johnston part of the oh seven championship team also seven handball and football chance and the bucket that's two more for Gramley she's got four on the day Bradley with a 3.2 to get done That's one of the things we're athletes out here who are also very scholastic as well for along with the athletic but absolutely like every other student athlete out there, the academics that they're going to be able to play and that that applies to these guys as well.

And that can be very motivating for players who, you know, have finally felt like they found their niche of being able to play wheelchair sports.

And then the threat is, well, hey, those grades aren't there.

You're not going to get to play, you know, some impressive academics as well.

Play it like it.

If you go to Mass Effect, your play as a team and play your man is the message from notes back there on the sideline.

And you can see that if if some of those about to fall like they have, that's what I'm used to seeing from this team.

And they got it to a 4.1.

This game's not over three.

Coach Arel and Coach Robert what earlier team and Coach Mack same course we talked about wheelchair basketball spanning back six years now they're going to look at the GHC state champions over the years the wolfpack of last year champ West Georgia the year before last year before that group making Bears taking the two in 2000, 2005.

And we've had all of them for you right here on GPB.

So that's a boost to this program when it sort of initiative began and the play was there and it was all wonderful, but the crumbs and so that three five takes a little baseline at the fastest time.

Oh, still loose GABA bad luck they're all tied up by B and also of all the follow the C Lacey Todd who has handled most of the inbound duties here today.

We're talking about Eugene Lane of West Georgia being kind of a little guy there.

Number two, how about number two for, Atlanta, Lacey Todd, fifth grader Burgess Petersen Academy, a part of the dance team modeling and fashion design with a 3.2 GPA, Isn't that awesome for this?

Todd's a pretty busy, busy player there.

Number two for the Wolfpack, obviously this third, you might notice one on that offensive inbound there.

But no Atlanta player was in the free throw line on the inbound.

That's actually a rule that while the ball is being presented to the inbound or no offensive player can be in the lane and that's to prevent, you know, an unfair advantage because there's no jumping obviously and wheelchair ball.

The height issue becomes such that we get a little action here close to the day Boris Johnson and I don't know who that was.

It was Laura right?

Was it?

Lauren Yeah, They were both careening closely towards us.

It threw me off track there.

Let's see what Laura Ray is not afraid to mix it up.

No, that's for sure, is not.

And talk about growth.

When she started on this team as a very young girl, she did not want to touch the ball.

She wanted to play defense.

And if you threw her the ball, she just this look of tear came into her face and she's hot potato to get rid of it.

Look at her now.

Team captain, one of the leading scorers.

And it's it's really great to watch that kind of drive her to traveling You know one of the triathlons for that West Georgia team, 3.2 GPA.

Oh, Erika sitting at the top of the key because she couldn't be in the lane gap that was left open.

That was a nice look at these two tangle for a 2422 game earlier this season.

Both seem to be on target for that or better here today as far as scoring goes, even though West Georgia's been off a little bit from the field breaks hands it off to Johnson.

He has not had a lot of real estate to operate with here today.

Of course, Johnson will pick up another foul, but that's obviously part of the game plan for Coach McIntyre is to surround work with somebody.

Yeah, when you have a player of that caliber, you know he's going to command a lot of attention.

That's one of the tough things about figuring out how to play West Georgia.

There is no one player.

The key makes the strategy a little harder to come up with.

Well, it really does.

And we talked about that a little bit.

That's really been the key for this Wolverine team in Yellowcard has been their balance scoring.

As you see, Johnson brings Johnson did a nice job of drawing that foul.

That was all upper body action that brought that chair over.

But saw that two team fouls on West Georgia here in the second half.

So we'll take a moment to get Reese repositioned back in his chair.

Johnson, of course, a member of the 2009 Georgia Eagles all star team there it for additional information on ASP you can log on to the website WW dot adaptive sports dot org where would encourage everyone to check it out.

The series is getting all the straps readjusted and wheelchair ball.

There's only one strap that's actually mandatory.

That's one that goes behind the heels.

But you'll see a lot of players with extra straps that help them whole maintain a proper position in the chair.

And it also allows them to use their body to little body English to make the chairman of the way they want it to without having to touch the wheels.

Good looking five Johnson White Cross Court.

They're trying to find Newton but Johnson came up with fires in the middle to gravelly.

Now back to Johnson who has an open look here Gray underneath trying to put up the shot does so and gets the ball for Ray with his second field goal of the day and it's just a four point Volga or two point ballgame now at 1816.

But all of a sudden, the West Georgia Wolverines, Leslie, have made quite a run here in the second half.

And they are we had the coaches and the captain screaming for a time out.

There was a seven point game after the first quarter.

Now here in this fourth period is just a two point game at 1816.

Remember, there's still periods five and six to play here.

So this, of course, this final 213 is not till the end of the game.

As you see the Wolverines coach, Richard McIntyre calling a time out right here.

His team beginning to rally and they can feel it now.

And, you know, I guess that's the mark of a good team, Leslie, you know, you get down early to stay behind pretty much the entire game.

In fact, I don't think they've led, but they've never panicked.

And I think that's the mark of a of a good team.

It is.

It definitely is.

And that a lot of that is the coaching that goes on here are some of the additional sports that are offered through Ask here you're looking at track and field, some field event shot put in the wheelchair races there in the racing chairs to do this, the kind of chairs that used in the Paralympics.

It was a really tough to control there.

We're looking at I believe it's handball, wheelchair, handball.

Now we're looking at football.

We've got a training coming up tomorrow for coaches and refs for football.

Lots of fun, lots of great sports.

I believe we're in our second or third year now of football.

And you're looking at, you know, a couple two players here today in this basketball game took part in those football championships.

The last couple of years.

There was one of our jayvee teams and that's handball they use a a volleyball in fact is this is ball type that you use for that sport.

So a lot of things going on.

It's got Oh, yes.

Oh, yes.

Oh, that was elaborate.

I see the coaches shaking their heads no louder from here.

Oh, you got to take some chances, I guess, especially in a tight ball game right here.

You know, things have certainly gotten a little uncomfortable, if you will, for the Wolfpack here in the last few minutes with West Georgia being on the run.

They are so Greece just trying to create an opportunity right there.

Yeah, That pass was too little, little too tall for the receiver.

I guess one of the things really have to know, it's sort of an interesting aspect of coaching and playing wheelchair ball and that is you've got to know the long range of abilities of your teammates.

You take like Rod Griggs, who basically uses one arm when you throw that ball to his weak side and he's not going to get that.

But if you know him and you know where you you know where you have to put the ball in order for him to be able to handle it, I'll see about into Laura rea I think Laura could see she's coming up on the other side.

There's a lot of bodies and chairs between the two of them talking about Ray and handball and some of the other championships.

Football, of course, member of the oh seven handball and football championship team, member of the oh eight handball team, along with Eugene Lane, a couple other members there, Justin Jones and so Lesley-Ann Hutchins, all of course, of was in Georgia to her.

It's going to be two fouls on Lisa Todd again.

Todd just a fifth grader or a younger players on both teams When your rosters which is impressive as far as they've gotten this year.

Yeah when you you know the better teams do that they've got kids of all ranges in it they develop those young kids by making them play in these eight division teams when they are so young and give them a few years and you'll just be astounded at how well they can play.

Eugene Lang is a prime example of that.

He'd be a J.V.

player anywhere else, but his team is in a division and he's had to learn how to hang with the big boys.

But a lot of the players on these teams this year were JV players last year.

You see Johnson thought he had the foul right there.

Although the Wolfpack does get the ball.

I think that's one reason to get shot because he thought he was going to get the whistle and to be the ball right there.

And most of that allows that issue.

Looks like Reese's chair.

He might have had a bend.

So that bar that goes across the front by the toes looks like it's bent, maybe digging into his wheel.

You have some unusual issue.

Go fly up the Coosa High cheerleaders in the house here.

They cheering on both the Atlanta Wolfpack, the West, Georgia Wolverines again, 2216.

The score of the Wolfpack of Atlanta leads it five and one, of course, coming into this championship game.

West Georgia trailing by for a perfect six and so on the season and trying to get back to the championship level.

They were at 2007, of course, the Atlanta Wolfpack, the defending state champs as we get set for period five of six here today, Dave Gardner, Leslie Sweetman, along with the rest of the Gp-B team, Gerald Oliveira courtside with us this afternoon and indeed some good basketball being played here.

Grant's available for 2010 and I know ASPs are already looking ahead to the future in some of their partnerships.

I know Scott talked about they're out there in a moment and we'll talk more about that in a moment.

But I do want to remind folks that these basketball games are being streamed live on the Gp-B website.

Again, UW Dot, GPB, Dawg and all of the games from Championship Weekend will be archived and can be viewed at a later date.

So if you're looking on GPB Dawg, to be able to watch back your favorite games favorite highlights from the weekend, there have been a lot of them here in this game especially, and we look forward to everyone being able to check that out.

On Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!

GPB Ford Yeah, Bet Rod Griggs is on there watching himself after the time left.

What a big ballgame here for Bruce Blake.

He's got 40 points now on the afternoon there in Atlanta.

Wolfpack who could change the week's game.

But a big surge by West Georgia in that fourth area to get right back in it right now.

It's anyone's morning.

Here it is.

It's a close one.

Back to those grants that you mentioned early and Scott Hollenbeck as well had mentioned them there.

That's how all that growth occurred this year with the new teams that came in.

And there are grants available for next school year.

New start up programs could be starting all over the state.

And those grants are outstanding.

The the money that's there covers all the the start up cost of the buying of the equipment.

You know, buying these wheelchairs is very expensive.

That's a major cost.

And starting a new team.

These grants take away the cost prohibitive mess that that might be there for some areas.

We'd love to see a bunch more school districts stepped up to match those grants.

Absolutely.

Well, it's been amazing over the years.

And like we said, up top here today, Leslie, it's a can't believe it's been six years that you and I have sat here together and that is hard to believe.

Call this state wheelchair championship.

It's been a lot of fun, though.

Here's Laura Ray with a shot inside off the mark would not go.

And as you mentioned, kind of uncharacteristic because these players haven't missed a lot of shots this year, especially from that distance.

You always have those when at arena nerves, I guess kicking it here in the state championship shot.

No lot of opportunities here.

Unfortunately, they have not made them.

Leslie Hudgins, number 15, took that last shot, a freshman at Calloway High School, averaging about two points a game.

Hutchins, One of those three captains, the West Georgia team, that one off the mark.

That's just not something you normally see.

Erica does not miss shots like that.

Talk about the GPAs.

And speaking of Hutchins, 3.5 for West Georgia and number 21 of which is BURNETT, an eighth grader at Sylvan Middle School for Atlanta with a 3.5 as well.

I think they're currently the GPA leaders right now.

So some of those three O's and three twos, you know, they need to step up their game there a little bit.

Good student athletes out there today on the floor again, period five.

That was a treble.

He touched the wheel.

He knew he had done a deal.

He pulled his hand off the rim, but it was too late.

He had already start initiated that push to look at lower right.

He will inbound it sophomore averaging 7.6 points a game.

Here's an open look inside for Erica Gramley puts it up.

It was a tough shot.

She was almost a little too far into the basket, but she managed to get that one in.

That was that was big to pull back.

We're down to a two point game here bravely.

The senior from Manchester High School using the glass well, 2018 Atlanta by two they've got the ball so field goals here Atlanta, seven of 19 West Georgia nine of 38.

So they've certainly taken a lot more shots than the Wolfpack as very uncharacteristic to have that low percentage for this time around.

No, it was a track on the other end.

We're talking about a quickness.

Burnette, number 21, he's on the floor right now for the Wolfpack team.

Terry Chambers, 13 also out there as well.

Sport near the Mohawk.

There is I don't know if he wears that all the time or if that was a Dame game.

Did.

Yeah, that might have just been for the championship right there at all right again took an inside job by Rod Griggs reach up and knock that pass away That was an open look for them.

Takes it back out look at inside kept alive by.

I thought she had a little touch on that.

I couldn't see it, but yeah, Hutchins lost the handle on it four and a half to play in period five and they're going to look at the sideline there.

Johnson Of course, with this chair being looked over and some work being done on that, it's like a like pit crew over there working on that chair.

Now we're seeing the press by the Wolverines, which they were not doing earlier in the game, taking it back out, knocked away by Johnson.

And they're going to look at Reece Johnson.

Looks like he's strapping back in and should be ready to come back into the lineup here any moment.

He's certainly a guy you want on the floor for sure, especially when he gets this time.

Yeah, exactly.

And you know, a guy he's got to watch out as Douglas Johnson, I believe he's playing with four fouls.

Number 50 has really been the highlight today for West Georgia's the leading scorer.

It's done a great job here today.

And if he picks up another one, that might be it for him.

That would be a very, very big blow for this West Georgia state.

I'm sure he's been well worn to play clean and keep his distance.

Yeah, it's got Johnson's back and I guess they got his chance first.

Yeah.

Something happened at the end of that fourth period that caused Johnson to come off the floor.

Did you see his numbers?

Six points today with ten rebounds.

Senior for Douglas High School.

I'm not sure exactly what they were working on, though, to be honest with you.

I believe that the bar, those bars down by their their feet, that the foot restaurant can get beat up.

And if they get bent too much, there's not much clearance there between the bar and the wheel.

And if it gets bent up, it will dig into the we'll go going toss it down to Jared.

Oliver.

Courtside drill.

What do you got?

Hey, we were running.

Well, what's going on with Reese's cheer?

They were just tightening up the break.

That's all that was going on with this.

That's why he's back in the game now.

Just tightening up so he can stop.

All right.

Thanks, Joe.

There you go.

To answer, I tell you that game with Gerald, he's got it accurate.

That is.

You know, these chairs don't actually have brakes.

Not the not the chair caught chair.

So maybe what they were saying was that that metal was was making him break.

He didn't want to break.

Right.

But you'll see these chairs aren't like everyday chairs.

There are no regular you know, a regular chair.

You have a break that you engage with your hand that these chairs don't have whatever it was at work because Johnson just picked up his last two there on the other end shot and selfless What a selfless pass by Johnson that over control and Justin Jones with his first points of the day the sixth grader for a manchester middle school first year on the team that's huge.

How about that boy he is all smiles.

He had a free throw taken away from a player in the first half on a lane violation, but comes back here and gets his first field goal.

Griggs with the basketball from two feet chambers inside going to take the shot now would not go and here's Jones trying to chase it You get to it down the floor throws up a tough shot maybe got a little excited right there because he had an open look.

I'll be honest with you.

I didn't know he had that kind of speed.

That was a nice job on his part.

But Jones, again, just a sixth graders, got seven good years left in him, that's for sure.

It's a nice ovation from the crowd there as well for his hustle.

And see Jones, of course, 2008 handball team champion right there, 3.25 GPA now down to a minute and a half here and period.

Number five, five of six here today in this ASC wheelchair basketball championship bounce pass to gravely feeds it off to Jones lost the handle and out of bounds.

I want to add my post Coach McIntyre's if you will, over on the bench there, senior and junior.

See who they're going to call.

That looks like a flooring.

All right.

Got that one?

I wasn't sure if they'd call it on her.

On Jones Jones chair was put there for a second reasons.

Disengage them it the period 15 seconds off the about here wolfpack with under 42 seconds to work with here now and chambers ran into a wall and Douglas Johnston over there looking inside Johnson open look knocks it down shot down does it for Reece Johnson Oh what a steal right there Takes it away throws up another back to back buckets for Johnson That's the big moment momentum builder that Atlanta needed right there in a close game they've wired it back out to a six point advantage and West Georgia cannot allow that kind of that kind of quick scores Johnson there at midcourt and wow, how has Reece Johnson picked up his game here in this second half?

He's trying to pop up by himself.

He's going to use just in here to get himself up.

But his coach has come out to help the team work right there.

And I like that Even by an opponent.

Yeah, exactly.

It's nice to see sportsmanship is alive and kicking.

Final 8 seconds here in this fifth period, time winding down.

Johnson Just going to throw it up and that will do it.

Assignments.

It's a six point game.

The Atlanta Wolfpack 2620.

The Atlanta Wolfpack leads the West Georgia Wolverines as we head to the sixth and final period of play here today at the Arena ad good, etc., but a great ball game West Georgia every time they seem to make a run.

Leslie, the Atlanta Wolfpack has had an answer.

They have those two real buckets with Johnson having right for the end of that last period were were tough.

That'll be hard to overcome.

Johnson Content dribbling the basketball right here covered up by Laura Rae and Lesley-Ann Hutchins.

I didn't know if Johnson was trying to kill the clock there.

What Hey, maybe a little bit.

Yeah, it would hurt the situation with a six point lead.

Remember West Georgia beat Atlanta 2422 earlier in the season, but the Wolfpack looking for revenge here today in the state championship game, trying to hand the Wolverines their first loss.

Three still is having a problem with that bumper guard that they will fix on his chair.

Twice now he's been hung up on another player's chair and had to work to disengage himself.

That takes him out of the game, always having to do that.

Equipment becoming a bit of an issue.

Gray with an open look right here and a little too strong off the glass rebound.

JOHNSON He's in double figures today in rebounding the cross-court move the dribble out of traffic go and finds Griggs open underneath great play all the way around just aren't able to hit the shot Griggs with a dozen points here today He and Johnson accounting for all 26 of the Wolfpack points in this game.

Meanwhile, West Georgia is pretty much been the source of their gameplan all year long.

They've had four different layers score here today.

That's kind of what they've had happen all year long.

That's sort of their M.O.. Yup, hard to balance.

They haven't had that one go to person necessarily all year.

So several different players stepping up, playing as a team.

Johnson certainly had a big game with the basketball right now, eight points here, traveling, also playing well here today with six.

Kristen Whitt, number three of the game for the Wolfpack, an eighth grader for Price Middle School that last up missed by West Georgia.

That's a that's another example of buckets they just can't afford to miss.

They get that open look like that boy going down a little bit hard on her tailbone.

She's laughing and now she's laughing.

She's okay.

Remember, as we explained earlier, that many of these athletes do not use chairs in their everyday life.

That's why you're able to see Lori stand up and get back in her chair right now.

And there might be folks that and we explain that earlier.

But for those folks that may have joined us late.

But exactly why that is, I guess there's certain definitions that allow to play this particular game.

That's that's true.

In order to be eligible, not only do you have to be, of course, enrolled in attending grades one through 12, but you also have to have a documented physical disability or orthopedic in nature, etc..

But that doesn't mean you can't walk right in.

Some of these athletes, as we've talked about.

Do other things.

A dance club, you know, obviously do a lot of different things with their high schools.

I know that traveling as a soccer player on the Manchester High School team plays volleyball.

So I like at Gravity, very busy student athlete.

Yeah, absolutely.

Folks are pretty familiar with spinal cord injuries and things of that nature.

What they're maybe a little less familiar with are disabilities like us cerebral palsy, which can look very, very different.

It can be, you know, a disability that leaves you very impaired or very minimally impaired.

And so that's why, you know, you see some things like that joint issues, hip problems, shoulder problems any of those might make you eligible to play Johnson at the line right here for 48 left in the contest Mrs. on the first we'll have another the you'll notice the way they line the lane the shooter on a free shot can have their front casters over the free throw line as long as their rear wheels do not touch it.

Those lining the lane for the rebound, however, have to have all four wheels behind the lane line and on a three point shot the same thing.

The front casters can be over the three point line, but the rear wheels may not have fresh faces in the ball game.

Joshua poured in over 15 for the Wolfpack, also a mega mid sixth grader from Bryce Middle School.

Number one in for the pack and number one for West Georgia.

Logan Bojinka Oh, boy.

This is second grader West Georgia's tough.

That was a desperation pass and you need to get rid of it or is going to get a ten second count, not a hurry.

And that would be the terror is that we're talking about.

Logan.

We'll get to the second grader there, Georgia Virtual Academy, number one or a West Georgia out there.

I think we're pretty much seen all of the Wolverines here today.

Atlanta, meanwhile, addressing out to about 12 players on their side there.

So they've got a lot of difficult team.

Absolutely.

Kaitlyn McKinnon on the roster there as well as you see right there.

Number one, we're going to the second grader mixing it up, which, you know, we talked about the team size there.

You know, that could be a real deficit for a team that only has a few players.

Fatigue really begins to set in.

Your arms are doing all the work.

They're doing the work on your legs and moving the chair and shooting the ball.

The fatigue definitely sets in in the game.

And you saw Logan there.

Here's Laura Rae.

Kind of go coast to coast right here.

Bravely got a piece of Johnson there look like Rae off the glass gets it to go lower Rae with two more Got six.

They needed that bucket.

Yes, they did.

Now just a four point game.

Two possession game with three and a half to go left.

I think Erica Gravel maybe got away with a little something on that one.

May have.

Yeah, maybe got away with something.

There.

Yeah.

You know how you wonder how much of that, you know intentional or accidental and what they call I mean I guess there's always that little gray area just like, oh, there's THC ball, you know.

Don't think they were going to give her that touch, though.

I tell you what, it's just it's been that kind of day for Reece Johnson.

What a game he has played.

But it certainly had easy.

No, it hasn't.

He's he was trying to get himself up there.

He needs something to hold on to to get the height to flip his chair over.

Now, they've called the coaches out to assistant coach.

Robert's out to lend a hand.

Yeah.

We've seen Johnson hit the deck a few times here today, and credit that to some pretty physical West Georgia defense.

Absolutely.

Some of these chairs to the way they're set up.

Yeah, some chairs are just short.

I don't know if this is a war, but are more tipping than others, which is to say just enough of that upper body strength that you throw your body to one side.

It's enough to actually turn the chair over.

Wolfpack all at a time, at full time out with 316 left in the final period.

Again, just a four point game.

2622 Atlanta jumped out early, led nine two after one Wild West Georgia put up four points in the second quarter, cut the gap to five.

It sports an eight point game at the break in favor of the Wolfpack and then in the fourth period West towards within four at 20 to 16.

But they have not been able to get really any closer than that.

So right now it looks like Erika Gravel over there on the bench might have injured her hand.

It's real easy to get your fingers pinched and torn up when you when you point out every time I get in a chair and play, I come home with, you know what?

The minute I put my hand through a meat grinder and you see additional information W WW dot adapted sports talk.

Okay check out the website right there the Atlanta Wolfpack trying to make it back to back state championships here in 2009 of course the champs and they're going to look at the oh seven champs the West Georgia Wolverines.

I wonder did I miss something has a has Doug Johnson fouled out.

I think Erika is out because she's hurt her hand but I see now Johnstone is also on the sideline.

I don't know maybe he picked up his fifth foul just like everybody ball.

They do foul out when they've committed five personals.

Maybe not, Maybe they're just resting.

I'm not sure.

Oh well again, with not that many players in uniform.

Seven.

You know everybody has to play at least one period per half right.

But with only seven on the roster, I think Westerberg is probably fulfilled.

That's a requirement here.

You see Rae in trouble trying to get rid of the basketball.

And with just about 3 minutes left in this game, that's going to be wolfpack all it looks like unless Rae can pick it up and that ball hit right on the baseline.

She want to dance right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was a great effort.

She did well to go after that ball for East Johnson to pick that ball up that close, that would have been two more quick, easy points made.

Gets it in to Craig's puts up the shot would not go here's Johnson puts up the ball too strong there but last touch by Hutchinson did not secure it and so it will stay with the wolfpack who trails by or leads by four you see grab Lee back in the game.

Yep.

He probably taped her up and just sent her back in there to grab the A senior.

But beyond that, you look down this roster for West Georgia, second grade, eighth grade, sophomore, sixth grade freshman, eighth grade.

I mean, these players are going to be around a while.

This is a Wolverine program.

That's certainly not going anywhere.

No, that's for sure.

And they'll only get better.

They look young and, you know, you see little number one out there and the sixth grader, Justin Jones.

But in just a few short years, you'll see them develop into, you know, excellent athletes.

And we're certainly going to miss those seniors.

Erica Gravely for West Georgia and Reese Johnson for Atlanta.

The ball off the mark.

Protheroe Johnson takes it back, puts it up, will draw the whistle but was going to get ready for that one.

You know Gerald and I were talking before the game of the Wolfpack really in a similar situation.

They've got a lot of young players on their team as well.

Sixth grader, Fifth Aces last who shot a couple of seventh on their three sophomores.

We've got those two juniors and Griggs and Porter will be back to lead next year.

But of course, Johnson, the outgoing senior, is it?

We'll look at Johnson.

Big numbers here today, knocks down the second free throw.

There was a nice shot and makes it 2720 to 5 point game here now certainly and then a take away Rod Griggs just snagged that ball from behind there you see Eugene Lane reach it in there momentarily Riggs hits the shot about two West Georgia players on.

I mean, he still hits it.

Nicely done.

Seven point for the Atlanta Hawks again took it away Here's Johnson he puts it up and in 17 Boris Johnson and now all of a sudden the complexion.

This game has changed drastically as the Wolfpack has opened up their largest lead of the day 3122.

They're struggling to break that press.

And boy, that's the possession you're going to point to looking back on this game right here, because up to that point, West Georgia was just two possessions away, about 3 minutes left.

He doesn't shoot that chase.

Oops.

They're going to get a lane violation.

Dre could not get rid of the basketball right there.

Good defense by the Wolfpack and now they can feel it with just over a minute left, just like they're able bodied peers.

They have a three second count, but they're allowed to stay in the lane on offense Now, Johnson trying to keep it alive right here for the Atlanta Wolfpack, looking like we're going to avenge their loan loss of the season to this Wolverines team here in the state championship What a tremendous late run by Atlanta Erica gravely looking down court finally gets rid of it to Lesley-Ann Hutchins Oh and she couldn't handle that pass stolen by Wright again here's Johnson behind the back little Soto pin draws the foul couldn't get the shot to go but Ray will pick up another foul and that will put Johnson on the line clock at the stop with 45.7.

A bit of frustration now I'm seeing on the faces of some of our Wolverine players, one of the Wolfpack fans.

I'll tell you what, they're feeling it now.

I think the signs out and everything.

Johnson maybe a little excited right there on that free throw, but a little tired.

He should be tired, but yes, maybe a little bit of both.

Both Just upper body strength, though.

He's tremendous, even after a miss like that, to be able to come back and make it strong off the glass is certainly amazing Chris Johnson with 18 points here today it's a ten point lead 3222 final seconds winding down.

Leslie, I've enjoyed it's been another fun game this year.

Great.

Thanks.

Thanks so much, Dave.

And thank you to GPB and GHC working with us to put games like this on the air that shot by island off the mark and that will do it which shows off a little bit of strength and doesn't miss by more time is gone and that'll do it.

The Atlanta Wolfpack defending state champs make it back to back championships here at 2009 as they win it by a final of 3222 over the West Georgia Wolverines Reece Johnson with 18 points.

Rodriguez with 14 scoring all of the points today for the Wolfpack.

An unbelievable job.

2009 GHC ask state champions.

Let's go ahead.

Gerald Olive very courtside with the winning coach.

Gerald.

I'm here with Coach Roberts.

Tell me how it feels to bring home this championship.

This is love.

I've never had a feeling like this before in my life.

Talk about the play of Reece Johnson out there.

He was tremendous today.

Well, Reece has a big heart.

He's we think he's not feeling too well today, but he fought it out and, work really hard.

And I really appreciate that.

And I love him a definite I know you guys were able to avenge that loss.

And I know you have a lot of respect for that West Georgia team.

Oh, of course, Coach Mac and all his staff and his son.

I really appreciate them and I really appreciate the way his team plays.

I would go celebrate with your team.

Congratulations.

Back over to you, Dave.

All right.

Thanks, Gerald.

Again, a great job here today.

The Wolfpack, West Georgia, certainly got to keep your heads up if you're the Wolverines.

Played a great ballgame, fought all the way, trailed early and had to play catch up the entire time and nearly pulled it off, but just couldn't quite got to within two.

I got with it, too.

Well, that's going to do things right here again.

The Atlanta Wolfpack, 3222 winter state champs here at 2009 for, our entire GPB crew.

And for Leslie's website, I'm Dave Gardner saying so long everyone who even Jordan.

Funding for today's broadcast has been made possible in part by sloppy and sad attorneys at law the Plumbers, a Pipefitters local union, number 72, and by the L.A. Hawks.