He's going coast to coast, clear the runway.

He's coming in, hits a helicopter, slammed Tam to pull up from three.

Watch this guy go wheel drive, backs it in and gets it.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the wheelchair championships here on Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Nice to have you along on this Saturday morning.

It's going to be a great one.

This is going to be one of the most unique events you probably have ever seen.

It's the Henry County wheelchair team against Harleston County.

And we bring in Tommy Storms, who is the co-founder and director of operations for the American Association of Adapted Sports.

And Tommy, we want to thank you for being a part of our broadcast today.

Thank you, Tommy.

And that's part of why I like to sit in just at the beginning to say thanks to GPB and also to the Georgia High School Association and and you for your wonderful talent.

And Leslie, our 10th year this year of this broadcast, Leslie, you didn't think you'd be sitting at that table that long, did you?

She's been she's been through a lot of men.

Tommy Bennett, I think she likes you best.

So I'm pleased to hear that.

That's exactly right.

Very good.

Tommy, thank you for being with us.

Thank you.

We look forward to this event.

I know it's going to be a great one.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

And good luck to both teams.

Thank you very much.

Well, let's go now to Leslie Sweat.

Let's talk a little bit about what this is.

This is the a S.B.

Georgia wheelchair basketball championships in cooperation with the Georgia High School Association.

Absolutely.

Year number ten.

We're really, really pleased to have been able to bring this to the citizens of Georgia, you know, to watch this great competition, which a lot of people don't have an opportunity to see.

So we're thankful for that.

We've got six, eight minute quarters.

It's a running clock.

We will have halftime.

And there are some unique things about this particular game that we will kind of bring you up to speed on as we go through this.

Right.

So let's take a look at some of the key players and take a look at the coaches for each team's legacy.

Okay.

Well, brand new to us this year.

Who?

First time in varsity level sports.

Okay.

All right.

Well, we'll go to Houston first.

And we've got Jack, Jacqui Billingsley.

You can see him on screen.

Their number 42 is their top player, their top scorer.

He also plays able bodied football and is going to be going to college in California to do so.

We'll be talking more about him.

But he is a very unique player.

He is.

Most people don't realize he started at defensive tackle for the North side.

Warner Robins Eagles this year in football.

Great player.

Absolutely.

And we'll explain that.

Yes.

All right.

Let's talk about the Henry County coach.

Okay.

We have as head coach for the Henry County Hurricanes Chris Vernon.

Chris is a science teacher with the middle school there in the county.

He is himself disabled, the result of a car accident.

And he has been coaching this team, I believe, since its inception, seven years in the league.

Also, a very unique situation with the coach, coach for the county and the coach coach who is in a wheelchair himself.

He actually works for Parks and Rec.

His name is Harlan Mathews.

Harlan started out life without the wheelchair, but had some an infection that affected his spinal cord.

And so now he uses a chair.

I think one of the most unique, one of the most unique things is most people think this is a paraplegic event and it's not.

We'll explain that as we go through the game.

Sure.

Let's take a look at the starting lineups now for Henry County.

For Henry County.

Here are your starting lineups.

We've got Darvin Chatman, number 21, Chris, Darius Gibson, number 33, Cameron Haley, number 25 deteriorates Jones, number five, Jerome Payne number 20.

And those are your Henry County starters.

Now here for the Houston County Sharks who come into this game at seven and you've got Faith Baker number 14 Jacquie Billingsley who we'll talk more about as well, 42 Jordan Kozlowski, who is number ten, Braxton Robinson at number 11, and Jeff Sweeney, number 31.

And we will explain as we go through this game, there are some very unique opportunities, opportunities to get a new perspective on a basketball game.

Absolutely.

We are ready to play.

Leslie, going to have the tip at mid-court.

Jacki will tip it off for Harleston County and for Hendry County.

I did not catch the number, but here we go.

Get ready for some action.

Jackie Up and good right off the break.

Excellent move by Jackie.

And let's talk a little bit about what's traveling and what is not what you're allowed as far as your dribbling is concerned.

LESLIE Absolutely.

In wheelchair ball, you are allowed to pushes up your chair and then you have to dribble the ball.

A lot of the kids in varsity will dribble simultaneous to pushing.

There is no rule about how far you can roll.

If you push twice and you roll the whole length of the floor, then you never have to dribble.

Attempted shot now by Henry County is up and no good.

We're just underway and it is a running clock.

Three eight minute quarters constitute a first half of play are period of play whistle and I believe we got a foul I think we've got some illegal contact there by number five on Houston and do they keep the five fouls and you found out of the game they do on your fifth foul you're gone from the game just our officials today Alvin Jackson, Leon Porter and Stephen Lewis and they are good officials.

They are regular GHC officials who also officiate for ESP Schott is up and no good.

And a follow up look at the lane action down there, folks.

Up no good.

Here we go again.

And we're going to have the ball going out of bounds.

Harleston County with an early lead here in the wheelchair championships from the Macon Center.

Blacks.

And by the way, 3 seconds in the lane is called in this particular game.

It is just like an able bodied ball What you've seen under the basket there just now is Jeff Sweeney really fighting for four those rebounds.

He was not able to put it back in, but he was fighting hard.

You'll notice that he only uses one arm.

He is what we would call a hemiplegia.

So he only has use of one arm, but boy, does he use it.

Excellent, excellent athletes here.

Now we need to talk about what if somebody falls out and what happens.

Right.

Occasionally players will fall out of their chairs.

They're really nothing happens unless they're hurt or unless the action is so close to them that another wheelchair might be close enough to run over them or something.

So then we would stop play.

But otherwise we don't stop play.

They either get themselves back up and in their chair on their own power, or if that's not possible, during a stoppage in play, a ball goes out of bounds, the basket to score, what have you.

Then we would call a coach out onto the floor to help them.

I think one of the most interesting things is the way they put the ball in play.

Here's a shot down and the lane no good.

The follow up is no good.

Excellent rebound there and back up and no good as well.

Jeff Sweeney, 147.

Houston County now four field goals.

Yeah and this is our experienced team I think we've got a little jitters happen in there they're trying to find that rim but they will not to worry and don't be alarmed but when you see them go really tooth and nail at each other with these wheelchairs, because there are some serious collisions out there.

There are.

There are.

And some some contact we would refer to as incidental.

Meaning, you know, there's ten wheelchairs on the floor.

They're going to bump each other.

But when an unfair advantage is gained by that contact, then you'll see our officials blow the whistle.

Is that like a flagrant foul or is that just terrible?

Well, it's a verbal foul.

It could be a flagrant foul.

But generally it's just it's considered a contact foul.

The wheelchair is considered part of the body.

So if you ramming your wheelchair into an opponent's wheelchair, then that would just be like a regular contact foul, an able bodied basketball, Aston County going to trigger it in play here.

Jordan Kozlowski triggered it in.

And here we go into for court Jackie Billingsley under the basket up.And good.

He, of course, is the leading scorer.

Yeah, Jeffrey is a is a really interesting young man.

He is a stellar athlete.

He plays able bodied football for Northside High School down in Harleston County.

In fact, he is a senior, will be attending college in California also to play able bodied football.

He has a single leg below the knee amputee Got a fast break coming now from Houston County and Henry County trying to cut him off at the pass.

But up in in a little bit too late there and a whistle over there.

What was then.

I believe we have a time out actually.

Time out.

Okay.

Time out on the court.

Houston County leads by a score of four to nothing.

So let's take a look at a couple of the replays.

Nice lead pass up to Jackie Billingsley up and got the good shooter's roll Leslie.

He sure did.

Is it all that all that long arm is a real big advantage because there's no jumping.

And now the last basket before we took a break up and in nice fast break basket there.

And then those contested shots are so much more difficult than you might realize.

Excellent defense.

The ball dished it out.

One arm shot off the boards.

Nice.

That takes a lot of time.

It does.

It's a long shot, even though he's just under that basket.

Because when you're sitting down, you know, everything is harder.

Full court pressure here.

No.

Got three people bringing it down.

Yeah, they were ready for full court press.

They were.

Here we go.

By the way, Henry County is in the green and Houston County is in the wide.

This is, as we mentioned, I think in the opener.

This is Henry County's first trip to the big game.

In fact, they have never even played at the varsity level for the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs.

They previously played in our Junior Varsity League and that they belong in varsity.

Well, sure they did.

And of course, we've got a turnover here by Henry County, Houston County, with the ball going to trigger it in here at mid court and a good lob pass Jordan free to the basket doesn't quite make it no gun to go out of bounds and will go to Henry County going the other way I like to watch the speed with which they take off down the floor.

That's amazing in itself.

Leslie Yeah it is And it's it's really fun.

As a ref, I wrote a lot of games to watch them get through spaces you don't think they can fit.

And somehow they managed to squeeze through a lot of traffic right here at midcourt.

Henry County really having a problem breaking this house.

Ten county defense.

This has come county defense is tough.

They they get after it really hard.

They cover every player on the floor.

They don't give you an easy open pass if they can help it.

Very well-coached in that regard.

Free.

I'm asking another question and I'm full of them today.

How often will they practice?

Do they practice daily much as a regular basketball team work?

Well, because they're being pulled from more than one school.

Understand that this is a county team and so the kids are coming in from several different schools, which makes it a little harder to practice every day.

But they practice generally two times a week and then games on weekends.

So typically three times together as a team, although a lot of teams will do more than that.

But that's what's averaged out in the league.

Here we go.

Jordan Kozlowski fires it up.

No good Billingsley there for to follow.

He's got a rebound.

I mean, those arms, the length he's got, it's such an advantage.

He was not in position to make that rebound.

But because he's got such a long reach, you have to reach out there and grab it.

And he's averaging ten points a game through the season.

They're undefeated seven oh.

And Harrison County really off to a great start here, traveling, going to be called on Henry County.

Let's watch this basket for Jackie Billingsley.

There's the shot up by Jordan then the follow up and good he was under the basket.

Yep.

He posted up.

And when when his man went over to cover Jordan, he just moved back into the basket, took the rebound.

There is Billingsley again up and no good and the follow up a whistle and a foul.

Jordan Kozlowski, both Billingsley and Kozlowski have been very active here for Houston County early on, yet very much both very athletic, both very quick in their chairs, excellent wheelchair handling skills.

You know, in basketball and wheelchair basketball, you not only have to be able to handle the ball, you have to be able to handle your wheelchair, which means that your arms, shoulders are doing the work that in able bodied basketball, your legs with your legs and glutes they be.

And so it takes a tremendous amount of upper body strength.

You're going to have to do that.

And that is that is like a three point shot for an able bodied player because you're seated and you cannot use anything but arm on this shot.

Jordan Kozlowski, second shot up, no good rebound, good.

Ooh, nice move from the lane Just came across and put it up and in Austin County is really having their way right now they are in this this Henry County team again remember they're not quite used to this level of play.

This is this is more than what they've seen in the past.

And that was their eighth turnover of the game thus far, right up by Houston County.

No good fighting for the rebound and the first period of play.

They're not called quarters.

We have six of them.

And that's a period.

It's been an interesting start here.

Houston County Sharks undefeated and obviously for a reason.

They're having a great jump start here, housed in County 11.

Henry County, nothing.

Houston County leads it heading into the second period.

But we have to remember that Henry County not experienced at this particular level, certainly never having been here to the making center.

Blake Yeah, you've got a couple of things to consider.

Never having played in varsity until this year.

This the speed and the strength and the size involved is very different.

You can see Coach Vernon on the bench over there drawn some plays out, talking about posting up, protecting the ball.

I'm sure these are things he's talking about with his team, the turnovers are hurting them.

They're going to have to correct that.

They're going to have to get some more shots up.

But it's a it's a different level.

And yes, they've played varsity throughout the season, but they have not been in a big policy.

This is intimidating.

It is you know, this is a big venue and their record is three and three at this point in the season.

They've had success and once they get kind of settled in here, I think we'll see a little different approach to the game.

But you've got a block out in the lane down there.

That's one of the keys if you get do, especially when you've got to play on the other side of the ball.

I mean, you know, with the reach he's got and the size and strength that he has, you've got to keep him outside.

When he gets inside, he's just deadly and a couple of shots up and it finally in now by Houston County.

And that shot was up by Jeff Sweeney.

So it's been Sweeney Kozlowski and of course, Billingsley really on fire here early for Houston County.

And that's sort of what we're used to seeing when we watch this team play.

Now, Jerome, who is bringing the ball down right now for Henry, there's one of their stop top players, high scorers.

But again, he's having to adjust to this intense defense that he has not seen a whole lot of prior to today.

Obviously, they've scouted so they know who can play because you've got Henry County, who is I think just oh of two in field goal attempts here.

Right.

They're not even getting close enough to the basket for an easy shot at this point.

Almost out of bounds and Henry County is going to come up with it and then lose it.

Jordan is going to come up with it.

We got a whistle and I believe another foul here.

Yeah, we had some contact coming in, too, to get that ball.

A little too much contact in the opinion of the official.

So we've got the whistle.

That'll just be a turnover.

Kyle Blake with the foul, just a turnover and we'll head the other way.

Houston County, Jordan Kozlowski.

Nice.

Right?

Move.

Yes.

Get away from that defender Jordan Light.

Jacqui is a single leg amputee and there's Billingsley the flames.

Yeah, that was a beautiful shot.

One of the things you have to remember is that we're across disability sport.

And what that means is that we have young people who are like Jaquan Jordan, single leg amputees, which of course means they have full function of their core musculature and arms and all that.

And then we've got some kids who maybe have cerebral palsy or spinal cord injuries that may have less strength and control and all that contributes to the speed with which they can maneuver and their endurance towards the end of the game, this defense of Houston County has really it has paid huge dividends.

Henry County now in full court, fighting for some territory here.

And you're going to move around a little bit now and try to move forward toward the basket, only to be batted away and got to go in the back court.

The last touched by Houston County.

Same rules apply.

Yeah, Let's watch the spin.

Move here.

Excellent spin Move your top like to tell played defense and then watch your spin away from it Jordan Kozlowski with a nice move and Billingsley followed up under the basket.

Here we go again on the fast break for Houston up and in Braxton Robinson is having some success now Nice shot by Robinson.

That's tougher to do than it looks.

The you know, the because in the chair you cannot adjust your speed or your lateral movement like you can when you're on your feet.

So making that approach line up the way you want it is sort of the trick.

And you see he's got it lined up perfectly there.

I like the way he looked left, look right, but it was a great lead pass also.

It was great outlet pass to allow him to go in uncontested.

And that's what you're seeing here, uncontested shots being taken by Houston County, whereas Henry has not been able to get that fast break and be able to get that uncontested shot yet.

Stephen Robertson is the co-head coach of the House.

Done county Sharks and Robinson.

So let's talk a little bit about him.

Well, you know, Robinson, one of the interesting things about him is he is a competitive bodybuilder.

Isn't that great?

Yes, it is.

Yeah, That's fun.

That's a fun fact.

That's a fun fact about this coach.

He is a competitive bodybuilder.

Let's talk a minute about the American Association of Adaptive Sports Program.

This is a partnership with not just Georgia, all across the nation.

Absolutely.

They're a concerted effort to start teams throughout the nation.

Georgia is unique in this program that is statewide through the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs as an as a after school interscholastic competitive sports program.

Cross disability, as I said, meaning all different disabilities.

And you'll see in the players on the floor mixed together on one team that is unique normally in disability sport, their group by disability.

So the amputees compete against other amputees and the spinal cord injuries compete against all of the spinal cord injuries.

And the kids with cerebral palsy will compete against other kids and cerebral palsy.

But not in this league.

In this league, we have grades one through 12 cross disability, all on one team pulled from numerous schools into a one county team.

Sometimes multiple districts go in and form a team.

Here's Jordan Kozlowski coming down the lane for Houston County by the way, Henry County whistle, too.

Yeah, she was Henry County was on the end line.

No opportunity for another shot.

Henry County's only taken a couple of shots and the ten turnovers have really hurt them.

But it has been the outstanding play by the handsome county sharks.

Their defense has been relentless.

It is.

And one of the big changes when you move from junior varsity play to varsity play is the intensity of that defense.

They are not used to having to protect the ball the way they have to against a team like the Sharks who are who that's there they are.

They are coached over and over again to reach in and get that ball away from the offensive player.

And you just don't see it as much in Jersey and Billingsley with yet another rebound.

He is amazing.

They've got to figure out how to keep him out of that paint.

He's killing them.

He's eating them up.

All all they're going to be able to do is put three in front of him, which just opens somebody else up.

Yes, that's right.

That's right.

Here comes Henry County and a full court now across the time line.

Excellent position.

Got good movement down there.

Nice shielded shot.

Notice the way he's in the player in front of him to shield the shot.

But again, he's shooting from almost a three point line.

That's a long that's a long shot.

Difficult shot to make on your feet.

It's very difficult to make when you're in the chair.

Want a pass?

Oh.

Oh, my.

Okay, now let's set that.

What what you're seeing there is obviously a hard foul and the player has fallen out.

He's going to need help to get back up.

But when you saw Jeff stand up, you're probably seeing a little bit of anger.

But you notice he controlled it.

This is something we learn.

He's only got one arm, so he's having to use that ball with one arm when this guy reaches in.

Oh, I don't think he meant to necessarily, but he does.

He pulls him over and down.

You see Jeff stand up.

He can't walk a lot of these players can walk, but they use a chair to play.

Let's take another look at this.

This was a hard foul, the reaching.

And then he pulls them all the way over.

I think he got too close and was trying to stabilize.

I think he was trying to save himself.

But in the act of trying to save himself, he unfortunately pulled on Mr. Sweeney.

They take Billingsley out of the game for house and county.

Wow.

That was a collision.

Yeah, I think they're going to give him a break.

Maybe they're sensing some frustration in the spirit of sportsmanship.

Maybe they're going to give him a little bit of a break.

Sure.

And yet another basket for that was Braxton Robinson.

He's had a good day, too.

So let's see what Henry can do without JJ on the floor to to get those big rebounds and to block that one whistle.

Good.

Do we have a foul?

Yes, we do have lots of problems.

Braxton Robinson with a foul when when the contact is enough that it causes the offensive player to lose control of the ball that way, then typically it's going to draw a whistle.

Okay.

Even though it wasn't a hard contact, even a little bit of contact in a chair can be enough to throw your balance off, which if you don't have good trunk control because of the nature, your disability can be a big impact.

That was a nice long shot there by Henry County.

Missed just a little bit to the right.

Wow, That was from downtown.

And it takes so much strength.

I just can't begin to tell you how difficult that shot is here.

Jerome's going to have an opportunity to take a free throw again.

It's free and able bodied sports, but I'm going to be honest with you, it's not that free from a wheelchair.

So difficult shot to me, but this is a three shot.

But it's uncomfortable shot here.

Yeah.

Let's see how he does.

Jerome Payne at the line.

You notice his front casters are over the line.

That is legal.

His on his back.

Josh Hart.

It's only his back wheels that can't go over the line.

However, the rest of the folks who are lining that lane, they have to have all four wheels behind the line in order for it to be legal.

And he's a lefty at time and he gets three shots because he was fouled during a three attempted three.

I was just like before he shot it from a nice shot.

So Henry County has broken the ice here, but that proves that there's no cellophane over the rim right now.

Now, maybe they'll get things turned around a little bit.

We hope.

I don't think we can appreciate how gifted these young people are doing what they're doing.

The strength and stamina is is much more than you might realize until you get in a chair.

We'll run clinics sometimes and we'll put able bodied folks in chairs and let them run and play and, you know, push and cheat and all that.

And they're not only struck by how difficult it is.

The other thing that I get is the next day they tell me that they're so sore they can't lift their arms.

Really, It takes a tremendous amount of skill.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

What a nice shot.

That was a nice shot.

Darvin Chatman with the basket.

So, Henry County making a move with Jackie Billingsley.

Honest sidelines after scoring ten of those 21 Houston County points a foul whistle and a foul.

No.

Stepped down the line.

Ah, yeah, yeah.

Hit it on the line.

Let's take a look at the basket for Henry County.

Almost a steal Gets the ball back.

Nice touch.

We would call that a runner.

Yep.

Nice shot.

Nice spin move there by Henry County.

And I think that's what they need shots from in close Good shot that time Kyle Blake with the basket that time for the hurricanes and got to knock the inbounds pass away That was a good move that was right down the lane and a turn around and there it was.

And you see the difference that not having Jacoby in there, his presence, his size, his reach, he dominates under that basket.

And they finally got a break without him in there.

Yes, they did.

It has been so interesting.

We've played two periods.

We've got another one before a half, 21 to 5.

Alston County over Henry Hurricanes.

Let's talk a minute with the score, 21 to 5.

What effect playing in a big arena like this has on the Henry County hurricanes?

Right.

This energy, this Henry County team has never played varsity.

They've never been to this big venue, this arena is a bit intimidating.

It's the same dimension court, same height basket, same size rim.

But you know what?

It doesn't feel like it when you're the first time in.

So now I think that now that they've scored a couple of points, they're getting a little better flow and feel we might see a little a little more out of them in this reminiscent of the movie Hoosiers.

As a coach, you know, hey, it's the same the arena is a whole lot bigger.

But this is the same size rim, same size floor, 94 feet.

You know, and this Harrison County team has been here, done that.

You know, they've won here.

They they they've proven themselves.

They don't have quite the same intimidation factor as as what you might see from Henry at this point.

And they are undefeated seven and zero and the defending state champions.

Right.

Here's Gaston County up bad no good basket down under right It's not great Bamba swinging at one arm He might only can use that one but by golly he can use it He really can.

You just really have to admire these young people for their tenacity.

Oh, what a nice little break coming around.

Yeah, that's.

That's one of the nicest inbound plays I've seen in a while.

And that was designed and one of the unusual rules about wheelchair basketball is that when the referee, when the official is handing the ball to the inbound or nobody on the offensive court on the offensive team can be in the paint.

But once the ball is given to the inbound, then your teammates can enter the paint and that's what you saw.

He was not in the paint, but he means to it on the inbound and was able to get that nice easy shot from up by Hendrick County up no good off the front lip to the rim and a bounce pass down in the lane and there's going to be a fight for the basketball down there.

Literally a fight for the basketball down there.

All right.

Let's take a look at this inbounds play.

Watch this.

Nice play coming from the back door.

Yep.

And an excellent basket that time by Braxton Robinson, who is a very active player, probably one of the more speedy ones in in the wheelchair as far as absolute speed goes.

Yeah.

Very, very good chair handler, which is, you know, half the battle.

You've got to not only handle your chair, but also the ball.

Good defense that time by Halsted.

He's going to get called for backing in any time you move in reverse in a wheelchair and you make contact, that's almost always a whistle.

That's an easy call for the official.

He was backing up to get the defensive position and he made contact with the offensive player when he did it.

That's what brought that foul on.

And the ball's going to go in the lane and now out of bounds and let's see who they give it to.

I think it's going to be Henry County to trigger it in here 23 to 5.

And we do have a running clock, by the way.

Edmunds pretty quickly.

Nice move there up and in nice move again down around the baseline by Kyle Blake He's had some success down around the baseline down yes especially when he hasn't had to play on And for the record, he was the one that took the real bad tumble a little bit.

Yeah.

So he has re-energized himself and they are he and he and Sweeney continue to battle it out.

They are not away from the ball.

They're battling it out.

What is that, a penalty away from the ball.

Oh.

Should the officials catch.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

And it's Henry County.

Here's the way the basket looks up and good.

That was the way it looked when Kyle Blake put it in there.

Gibson with that third foul and it is five fouls on your fifth year gone just like able bodied.

All right.

We're at 23 to 7.

They're going to bring Jackie back in again.

Here's the free throw up and just off the lip of the rim.

Subban in between the first and second shot, just like you typically see in the able bodied sport.

Yeah, it's been a good run.

It's run.

Myles is wearing a helmet.

Let's talk about that.

Let's talk about that.

Yeah.

The young man that's wearing the helmet.

A helmet is not a mandatory piece of equipment, but it is an allowable piece of equipment because you are shooting a basketball, which, you know, is a fairly large, fairly heavy ball.

It's going up ten feet in the air and coming down.

You've got passes that are going all the way across the court.

The potential to be hit in the head by one of those balls is significant.

And if you have any kind of disability where you might have a weakness in the wet neck or the musculature, you might have a shot in your head or something like that, then you need the extra protection and that's why he's got a helmet on.

All right.

Another question for you.

Everybody has to play.

Yes.

The ASP rules say that there is nobody who strictly sits the bench.

Every player has to have a minimum of one full period per half on the floor if they are physically able to play a full period, a full eight minute period, which most in these two teams, everybody is capable of that.

Okay.

We will sometimes have teams with kids whose disabilities are a little more severe.

They may not really have the stamina for that full time.

So they might be allowed to be subbed in and out, but but typically not.

And now the helmet has come off, so we make mention of it.

Now the helmet comes off.

Obviously they were not comfortable with it.

Yeah.

And you know, it may have been one of those things where I haven't seen the team, so I don't know if he's been wearing it all season or not.

That could have been an issue there, getting used to it.

And they you know, that's their decision.

That safety factor is up to the coach and the player and the player's family as to whether or not they need to wear that helmet.

That is not a requirement of ASP.

By the way, Jackie Billingsley missed a shot last time down under the basket.

I wanted to point that out.

And now we've got a timeout on the court with the score.

Houston County 23, Henry County seven.

And this has been certainly an interesting game.

We've had a couple of good runs here.

Allison County off to a torrid start to begin with.

Henry County comes back and then they had a good run where it was a50 run for them.

So we've had some good work by both teams.

And as we see the coach from Henry County.

Yes, working hard, talking to his team.

There's our Harleston County coach on camera right there.

When the timeouts come, it's not time to drink water and just sit there.

Coaches are working, the coaches are working, they're strategizing.

Harleston County leads it 23 to 7 351 left in this first three periods of play and then we'll have three more periods of 8 minutes with the running clock.

Here's how Boston County now inbounding an end to four court and you can have front and back called if you go back over the the full court line.

In fact, earlier in the game we had an over a back call and there's Jacoby coming from the right side and back up and in so he's back in business again and Harleston County now leads 25 to 7 Henry County got to bring it in Henry County came into this match up at three and three on the year but they played through an elimination tournament to earn the right to be there.

That's right.

I believe they might have beaten the Atlanta team.

I'm not 100% sure on that.

Nice shot by Henry County.

And for court there to rebound is Harleston County Braxton Robinson with a rebound being met at half court with some pressure and some serious pressure at half court.

Nice pick by Jake White finds the open Jordan Jordan no good some heavy traffic down in there now Billingsley going to get it back outside and they're going to go right side.

Let's see who's going to get the shot up.

No room for a shot.

That's faith there.

I think this might be one of the first periods on, the floor.

This is going to be 3 seconds in the lane there.

It looked like somebody had really camped out in there.

It happened.

It's a fairly unusual call.

But yeah, you definitely will see it.

Henry County with some good defense that time, the sharks have fallen back to a half court defense and let's see if they can.

Oh, nice, nice steal there by faith that just landed in her lap.

And Jordan Kozlowski on the run.

Let's see that you see her scoop that ball up And then Anderson.

Nice, nice work by Kyle to come in there and get that pass.

Kyle is playing with a whole new attitude.

He really is getting after it out there.

He certainly is.

That move that you saw earlier that Jordan had where she skipped the ball up off the floor is actually something we coach the kids to be able to do.

They pull the ball into the wheel and the momentum of the wheel spinning actually brings the ball up for them.

Like maybe we're going to get a replay of that.

So you got a ball on the ground.

She's she's couch to push up beside it, scoop it into her wheel wheel brings it up for takeoff.

That's a neat trick.

You got to have good hands to do that.

You do Henry County in full court and there's a shot.

Oh, right over Jacqui Billingsley.

You don't get many of those to go in.

Garvin Chapman.

Well done.

That was a nice shot.

Yeah.

Billingsley came out to challenge.

Got that hand up, but it was not enough to stop the shot.

Nice basket by Henry County, and they are handling it.

Great job dribbling and moving through the traffic there.

Bounce pass going to go out of bounds and it's going to be Henry County I think going the other way here.

Let's take a look at the last basket here.

Leslie, you have got the dish.

Here comes Billingsley out on him.

It's not enough.

That was a nice shot by Garvin Chapman there.

That was real nice.

Very pretty.

Driving in the lane, trying to get it up and it's going to be up and no good terms off the board.

And I think we've got a whistle down there.

Oh, that was a that was a tough missed opportunity for.

And they really are mean for a Henry.

They really can't afford to miss those kinds of shots.

I bet Kyle wishes he had that one back.

Gibson with a foul.

His third one in one.

Yeah.

On the seventh or the Yeah the seventh through 10th team fouls we shoot one and one just like in body No change in the rule for that.

No no breaks there now but there was some lobbying for a change in that rule wasn't there because we've seen scores with the right into that you like that rule.

Yeah but I'm going to tell you but we've had some serious fouls here today.

We have it's an intense game.

These these young people are competitors.

Their desire and heart to win is is as strong as anybody's.

Yes it is Henry County with the rebound free throw no good and we are through the first half it's been more than interesting.

We've had some tumbles, we've had great defense and we've had scoring passed and county leads.

Henry County at halftime, 25 to 9 state.

Welcome back to the Macon Center Flex, Tommy Farmer along with Leslie Swetnam.

We're having a great time.

We have played the first three periods.

It has been, needless to say, quite interesting, almost everything you can think about has happened and we've seen stuff.

I haven't.

We have.

Well, this is my second year doing it.

Trust me, I've seen some stuff I've never seen before, so we've seen some hard fouls, we've seen some over back call, some late calls, we've seen some free shots, fast breaks.

We've seen a lot of blocking down low, a lot of good post play and good rebounding and some excellent scoring.

Let's take a look at some of the action from the first half.

Take a look at this excellent rebounding putback by Jacquie Dickey.

There he is again up and good.

He has been something.

I hope we get a shot of that tumble.

There's a nice shot by henry county and yet another one by henry county.

Another look at it.

Nice use of the board there.

You don't see that too much anymore.

No, you don't.

But, you know, that's why they put it up there.

Here are the stats for the first half.

Henry County, four out of 11, Houston County, 12 out of 20, not no.

Three point goals, one out of three for Henry County as far as free throws are concerned, Houston County Hurricanes one out of six rebounds, 22.

Jacquie probably has 21 of those and six rebounds for Henry County.

Turnovers have been the difference so far.

And here's some of the action you need to see.

This is hard hitting action.

Watch this.

The amazing thing to me is is that he didn't go out of the basket.

Out under the basket right there.

That was the biggest surprise to me.

And there was no belt there to hold him in.

I don't know how he did it.

Yep.

And some some athletes wear those belts at their life and some do not.

It's personal preference.

There's no rule regarding it.

It's a rule.

And now they're honoring the seniors.

And I believe you have a list of them there, Leslie, that they are being honored today.

We do.

We've got who are they starting with?

This is with Cameron Haley from Henry County.

He's from Locust Grove High School.

We've got Jerome Payne from Henry County.

He is at Griffin High School, Chris Gibson from Henry.

He's from Lula High School, and Jeff Sweeney from Houston County, who was at Warner Robins High School.

Jeff Sweeney was the one that was amazing that he did not tumble out of the back of the wheelchair.

And I just that was defying gravity in itself.

It was.

And I don't know how he how that one arm does that It does pushing him up and down the floor repeatedly and taking the shots and getting the rebounds and fighting off hard, hard contact and all that he does, We hope you're enjoying it.

We're having a great time today in this wheelchair championship.

And it's, of course, in conjunction with the GHC and the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, which is a great nationwide program.

It is.

And this is our 10th year hosting this game together through Georgia Public Broadcasting and GHC and ASP, and we're excited about it.

And Henry County, starting the first or the second in three period has and the shot is up and no good.

Kyle missed that open shot hard pass that was just a little bit too much for Jordan to be able to handle and some hard passing.

The thing that probably when I look at this and think about it is how much strength there is from the sitting down position of how they pass the ball, how they shoot the ball from the distance that they shoot.

Yeah, I don't think people appreciate how much of that strength comes from your legs and your momentum, and you just don't have that when you're seated.

It just makes it all arm and shoulder strike, which is great.

And that's like in baseball.

Most coaches will tell you your fastball or your strength comes from your legs and they work on your leg strength and right and your hips strength.

So Billingsley up to Sweeney to see how Sweeney handled that pass to another office.

He got it over his head, one handed it never even brought it down.

Just took the shot another day at the office.

But that's just great.

He's impressive.

He's an impressive young man.

He is.

He?

I still like the fact he didn't come out of the wheelchair with that tumble.

I won't forget that one soon.

You won't either?

I won't either.

I'm glad.

When he stood up, it was just to take a deep breath and gather himself.

Tell me to know what we're about to see.

Do it.

And out we go again.

Is that Sweeney?

Is that.

Yeah, that's Sweeney.

He's.

What's this?

Hello.

How are you?

Like, never even brought the ball down.

No, no, no.

Put his head and just immediately went into the shot.

Just very casually scored two points on a on a break there, Jacqui, Of course.

And here's the young man that took the tumble with Sweeney.

Yeah, trying to get out of that traffic there.

He's broken loose fit.

Now, I tell you what, if we had an isolation camera, we would probably put it on Kyle Blake.

Just watch what he's doing.

He is working really hard, and he's up.

Watch this either way or Sweeney to, you know, some of the biggest players out there.

And there's Jacqui taking that partnership.

You see that Carl holding the chair for Jacqui?

Yeah.

They allow him to climb back in a little more easily.

So these guys, you know, they play hard with all their heart and all their soul and all their muscle, but they also, you know, look after each other.

So that was great, great sportsmanship.

And Kyle Blake was talking to him.

And Jacqui, I don't think was buying into what he was.

They're not sure.

But it and the shot is pretty good tested shot.

Kyle in his hand right in front of him and he shot it up over him.

Anyway.

Well done.

Jacqui Billingsley is really something to see in this this particular environment.

A great defensive tackle on the high school football team.

Yeah, here's what my 18 year old daughter would call a beast champ.

Yes.

Yes, indeed.

And heavy traffic on Henry County shot goes up and no good.

And the rebound is going to come out to Gaston County traveling, going to be called here.

Here's the basket Billingsley.

They use the backboard.

Well, they do.

And when you're when you're seated, you almost have to a little bit because your angle is change.

Yeah.

You don't have the vertical you're not shooting from, you know, six and seven feet in the air like for a jump shot.

So it just becomes a little easier to to make a basket if you're willing to use that backboard and Billingsley goes tumbling yet again and here comes Henry our house and county now and forecourt right up and no good rebound comes out to Henry County nobody for an outlet pass.

Yeah he's he's stuck under there Yeah a race now he's going to be fastest Braxton and he's going to tumble Has the speed of the game increased here in the second half.

Plus we've had three just total tumbles here in the second half and we only had the one in the first half.

Yeah, it could be the speed.

It could be just a little more fast breaks.

You know, I've seen some some players breaking away a little better and so they're able to build up a little more speed.

Um, you know, maybe the defense hasn't quite caught up.

Oh, wow.

What a nice shot by fake.

Is that he.

That is fake, Baker Yeah, that was a great shot.

That was an outside shot.

Great shot.

Just very smooth.

I don't I don't think that they were ready for her to shoot that.

I don't think they were prepared to see her shoot from that far out.

I don't think so either.

31 to 9 at the 320 mark here and period for it.

Let's take a look at it again here.

Leslie Roberts pushes away, free from the defender, takes the shot.

Nice follow through.

Watch.

She was a little closer in than I thought, but that was still a pretty good little shot.

Yes, it was definitely one.

And in a battle down under, unless they get Billingsley out from under the basket, it's pretty much hopeless down there.

It feels a little hopeless.

Yeah, because they're getting one shot done because Billingsley is getting all the all the rebounds, all the Jerome Payne will go to the line for the hurricanes.

And remember, they can put the foot pads over the free throw line, right the front casters, the little wheels on the front, and the foot plate can be over the free throw line.

But where the large wheel touches the floor has to be behind the line for the shooter.

How do they how do they lock it in at the at the free throw line?

They have to do it with body.

They just yes, they just have to be stable because these wheelchairs do not have brakes on them.

I was going to sport chairs so they don't come with brakes.

Okay.

Break your hands.

The first thought is, do they lock it down?

No, they don't.

I do not know.

They just have to get positioned.

And sometimes the body them.

Nice shot That time by Jerome Payne.

Nice visit to the free throw line that shows a lot of maturity on his part because those free throws are tough.

They look like they should be easy because they're not contested.

But that's a long way to shoot from a seated position with no momentum.

Henry County in double digits.

Now it's 31 to 10.

Shot is up by Houston County.

No good an outlet.

There he goes.

His call the ground telling him to go her own pain from Kyle Blake nice pass but oh a little too much though and out of bounds since Henry County scored it's been 1010.

It's been an even game so maybe some of those jitters are are starting to wear off and they're feeling a little better although trust me Houston County has absolutely no jitters.

But Jacqui and Sweeney down there, good grief, they're just under that bucket.

They're there every time.

Every time the court that's where they are and are getting those rebounds and put back shots on offensive boards and then they're getting the rebounds and taking it away and they're blocking defense.

Yes.

And see their camp down there right now.

SWEENEY And yeah, yeah.

Watch where they are.

They're already sitting there.

There's the shot.

No good.

Then there's Billingsley.

Pass them off.

And right back in third found Dumont.

It's up and no good.

A little short.

Billingsley going to knock it out of bounds.

Look where he's camped.

Right in the middle of the lane.

Yeah.

They really need to work on posting up on him and, blocking him out a little bit better.

But he's so big and strong and fast, he's just getting there.

And once he's established for the people who missed it in the first half, how about repeat he is the state power lifting champion at the for his age group at an international level for the Paralympics.

He is the world champion power lifter.

He bench presses 400 and I want to say 14, maybe pounds.

Yes, That's amazing.

He's a beast.

Yes.

Yes, he is.

And I mean that in the best possible way.

I'm sure.

So is Henry County with the interception here and the lead pass.

Nice move the layup.

Good.

Yes, good move by Henry County.

Well done.

Darvin Chatman on that.

Nice shot.

Nice move.

When you can get out of traffic, you can make some headway, right?

This is a great learning experience for Henry County in their first visit to the center flex here.

That was almost a nice, nice steal, but they got a hold of it.

Keep hold of it.

Oh, misses the shot.

Nice dish.

Nice shot.

Just wasn't enough Rebound Henry County out of bounds off Houston county and will turn and go the other way now and we have completed the fourth period in Oh golly and making some progress Houston County 33 to 12 at the end four this is the second period of the second half and there are six eight minute quarters.

We just to you what you're seeing here is a bit of an equipment issue.

We just had a wheel fall off of a wheelchair.

Faith went down to push and she found she only had one wheel.

We it's a strange technical difficulty to have for a basketball game, but yes, it does happen.

We do have equipment timeouts that the team can use so that they don't have to burn a team timeout sometimes.

These are chairs have axles that lock in and sometimes you'll get a bump on the tire and it'll it'll, it'll mess up the locking mechanism on the axle.

You see how it's just sliding in and out?

The coach is trying to get it to lock up and he's not having luck.

Let's see if he can get it along.

What do they got it now?

These are personalized chairs for the individuals, are they not?

Do they keep the same chairs?

Usually these are team chairs.

So the team will fundraise.

They will buy these chairs.

These chairs are built for court sports.

They are specific to games played, you know, out of court.

You see the camber of the wheels, the way they're wider at the base and narrower at the top.

Sure, there's multiple reasons for that.

But they have no brakes.

They have a welded fifth caster, an anti tip.

There are specialized chairs and they take quite a bit of abuse out here on the floor.

They get banged up quite a bit.

You'll see spokes come out, you'll see tires come off, you'll see all sorts of crazy stuff happen.

And then you've got a specialized chair like Jeff Sweeney, who is pushing with only one arm.

So he has you see, if you look at his chair, he has two rims on one side, and you can either push both rims, which makes him turn one way or just inside or just outside, which makes him turn right or left.

Okay.

So you'll see sometimes he grabs one rim, sometimes he grabs both, and that's how he steers his chair.

Henry County in for court.

A lot of pressure over near the sideline.

Got a jump ball called here, tie up.

That was a nice play.

Jerome Payne forced over to the sideline.

Now we're going to get it triggered in again.

And just like able body, we have an alternating possession era.

So this time the jump ball went to Henry.

But next time it'll go to Harleston.

Nice interception on the inbound pass Sweeney to Billingsley he now up and good sorry say I wasn't sure who shot that he was that big William Moore I believe is that who was was it 33?

We'll give it to him anyway.

Yeah, we'll give it to him 100% Sure.

It was William Moore, number 33 for Henry.

Hurricanes.

Hey, well, 33 would have been Chris Gibson.

Oh, oh, you're absolutely right.

I'm looking at 33 for the wrong team.

And there's yet another basket by Billingsley.

16 points now for Billingsley.

And you also I mean, it's pretty obvious.

But just to pointed out, again, we have coed teams.

We have ladies on the floor on both sides right now.

And that is, again, sort of unique to the wheelchair ball because we collect these players from all over the county.

They're not just from one school like you're used to seeing with the HSC.

And we have people grades one through 12, although you typically don't see those younger kids on a varsity team, male and female, all cross disability, all of one team, if memory serves me correct, we last year had a third or either a fourth grader on one of the teams, did we not?

We did.

We did.

And, you know, it's it's intimidating for them because they're out there with these you know, 16, 17 and 18 year old young people.

But it's such a great learning experiences for them.

Yeah.

Biker faced biker whose wheel came off earlier has the front wheels sparkle.

Yeah.

So the kids have lights that go on those front casters and they light up when they roll, which is just a little bling to put on your chair.

Kind of fun.

I was going to ask if there was any rule.

No rule against, no rule against it.

Okay.

So of like wearing sweat bands and basketball.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Some of that something that's your own personal little style you want to throw in.

She's got style with that chair and there are rules about the chair itself.

The seat rail can only be a certain height.

The foot platform has to be no more than five inches off the playing surface.

So you can't have brakes on it.

You can't have auxiliary, you know, things just hanging on it.

You have to pad certain parts of it.

So there are rules about the wheelchair itself, but wheels that light up is not one of the rules you can have.

That kind of surprised me.

Sorry.

Oh, no, this is not going to go.

But it does.

It does.

Yes, it is.

Inbounds for Henry County hurricanes try to fight through traffic.

Nice move.

Their shot is up on no good fight for the rebound literally pulled down by Houston County and in the four corners it was out of bounds to Houston County, 37 to 12 over the Henry County hurricanes making their first appearance here in the wheelchair championships at the Macomb Center.

Plex spent seven years in the league, first time in varsity, first time at the championship shot up and all ball goes now to the hurricanes missed shot there.

We have a time out on the floor Houston County going to call timeout clock shows 4 minutes and 10 seconds left in the second period of the second half.

And Houston County leads it 37 to 12.

Houston County with a 12 to 3 run here.

As we watch the coach design plays on the sidelines for the hurricanes and then the Houston County coach, Coach Roberson talking to his man and Coach Vernon talking to his players as well.

What are they saying, Leslie?

Well, they're strategizing on issues like ball protection, where to set up.

They're probably, I would imagine Henry is talking to them about, hey, we've got to get some we got to get some good post action on Jacquie.

Get them.

Get him out from underneath the basket.

He's killing us and his rebounds.

They're talking about finding an open shot.

You know, all the things that you would typically look for, how to run a back door or a pick.

What about the setting up designed play as well as just reacting and reading the defense and reacting to that is on the fly kind of thing.

Billy's Lee's day so far 16.6 Rebound four assist Sounds like a pretty doggone good That's good day Yeah real good.

That's a good day at the office.

That's a good day at the office.

Yes, it is for sure.

4 minutes left in this fifth period.

Henry County.

Oh, for one, Houston County, two for four.

From the floor.

Chris Henry County dishing it off to Jerome.

He's going to find Jacqui.

Look at it.

He got around, got around to green.

Nice shot.

No good rebounds.

Going to come out to Braxton I believe ain't going to be thrown and a four caught and here goes lively taps it back to Jordan Nice play Jordan looking trying to get it in no good trying to take a shot in can't and Henry County going to bring it out of there and then Billingsley going to steal it back Here comes Jordan Kozlowski back to Billingsley now to Sweeney who's going to fire off.

No good rebound.

Going to come out to Henry County.

Did he touch it?

No, he didn't.

So.

So hurricane's going to go the other way here.

That looked like they were trying to set Sweeney up to attempt a three pointer.

I think so, Yeah.

He's got that nice soft touch.

He does great touch on the ball.

Here.

We got Jerome.

Bring the ball down again.

Oh, Jerome trying to get past traffic pass Sweeney and going to get it back in the lane.

Nice pass.

Good basket in the open, man.

That's what they did.

That's how you have to do what you got to do.

You got to get that open shot.

It's just too tough.

Otherwise, eight points now for Chapman.

And what they've got to do is they have to get behind Billingsley and shoot it over in because he's camped under that basket.

Here goes Houston County in full court.

Gordon Kozlowski up no good out and rebound comes out.

The Houston County.

That was a unique pass, wasn't it?

Over his shoulder, somebody back there might have been a little bit of desperation.

Let's take a look at this Henry County basket.

Jerome drew the big boys over.

You see, Sweeney and Jacoby are both on him.

He finds the open man in the paint.

Easy bucket, Nice bucket down the lane.

Same play again.

I think we're going to run the same thing.

Yes, we are.

All is this time, Jacoby wasn't over on them.

Yeah, we didn't quite go for that.

Yeah, he was.

He was play in the middle that day.

I think it's interesting.

They're.

They're kind of playing a chess match here in the fourth quarter.

And another thing that's a rule that ASP has is that you're not allowed to play his own defense really.

Right.

You have to play a man on Randy here.

Well, I am sure that that makes Carl Blake's day because of Blake.

Last man to man role.

Danny Yeah, Yeah, I think he does.

He likes that contact.

I'm not sure what that call was either.

I did.

Oh, we had a foul on 11.

Okay.

Was the second team town, right?

Oh, my.

What a long shot that was.

He was outside the arc for well behind the three point shot line and be a three.

It's in three four.

Go Henry.

Bringing it back down from our point man again.

Enough time.

30 seconds left and they're going to lose it out of bounds and it's going to go back to Houston County the other way.

Oh, that's Houston County with the ball and the lead got up and got away with one there.

That could have been a hook, could have been over in back for Houston County earlier.

And I believe hurricanes will not be able to get the ball inbounds.

And I think that's going to end period two in the second half, 37 to 14.

House and county sharks over the Henry County Hurricanes.

This is the wheelchair championships from the Lincoln Center Flex.

We'll be back with a final period after this timeout.

Championship basketball from the Macon Center plagues Houston County over Henry County as we go into the final period of play, American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, What a great atmosphere we've had today with these players.

Henry County getting their chairs under them, as we say.

And then, of course, Houston County, they have just you can tell they're seven and oh heading into this game.

Yeah, they didn't they didn't go undefeated throughout the regular season for no apparent reason, right?

No, they didn't.

They really have the full package.

They've got strong defense.

They've got ridiculous ball handling and wheelchair skills, beautiful shots.

They're rebounding like crazy and the package.

And they've managed the lane real well, too.

They've they've really kept Henry County out of the lane.

They have they have it when you can't get those easy inside shots, this game becomes a lot tougher to win.

A very tough way to win the three.

It is the sixth period up play six no corners investment yeah six then final period running clock if you've just doing this and of course Houston County the sharks defending state champion seven and and coming in Henry County three and three this is their first visit.

Nice shot there over the rim however.

Hey there you go Alston County is in white and Henry County is in the green with the orange and the ball's going to go in the back court and Jacqui Billingsley is going to bat in a way over back.

I was a good golfer.

Good.

Go catch that one.

But they did.

Those officials are Alvin Jackson, Leon Porter and Stephen Lewis and they call some of these games throughout the regular season.

They do.

They call for us.

They're also GHC refs so they call able bodied ball as well.

Some of our referees are GHC refs, some are not.

They haven't ref for GHC, but they maybe have Wrexham or Rift, some rec ball or something like that.

If anyone out there in TV Land is interested in volunteering, we do train refs in the local communities.

You can be a part of this program and come help these kids enjoy being active and competitive in their various athletic sports.

There is one of the most energetic players on the court today, Kyle Blake.

He passes over to Chris Gibson and out of bounds on the Sharks a little short on that shot.

But it has been interesting, needless to say, to see Kyle Blake and his energy in this effort.

It has really been good.

It has.

And you'll see some fatigue factor begin to set in.

You know that you're you're using your arms and shoulders again for everything.

You're pushing your chair with it.

You shoot the ball with it, you know, and able bodied, you're using your legs a lot here.

You're not using those large quadriceps muscles in your legs.

You're just using your arm and shoulder muscles.

And Billingsley, I think, wanted to try a three.

He's made most of his from inside and wanted to try three and was just a little bit short on the last one.

Yeah, you might see him keep trying that up because he really wants that.

He really wants in his resume.

Laughs Yes he does.

Dwane in a three in the championship game, I think he and Kyle had some words that, Oh my God, look at the expression.

I was like, I totally didn't mean to do that.

Look angry.

You're a very large person.

Look at Jerome Payne.

Just bounce the ball off of Billingsley, said at this.

Look, he's a happy young house classic.

He smiles a great deal that he shot is up and good.

Nice move down around the baseline down there.

And he was that was that Chapman Chapman.

Yes.

Chapman's had a good day today, ten points for Chapman.

That was a nice touch on that ball.

We got another foul and then Chapman ironically gets a foul First tell us watch this.

Let's watch it.

Certainly look at him.

He's like, okay, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Look at that.

No, lose it.

All right.

Here's the basket on the inbounds up and good, nice, beautiful.

So you have seen it.

Also, we've seen some potential temper situations.

We've also seen a lot of great sportsmanship and everybody stayed under control throughout the game.

So kudos to them.

I think we've seen a lot of sportsmanship today, Leslie.

We really have.

We have.

And that's that's great to see in our young people.

You know, one of the things you gain through athletics is, you know, self regulation, self monitoring, keeping your temper in check, you know, being a part of something bigger that you are.

And if you're a young person with a disability, sometimes the world revolves around you because the adults around you cater to you.

Sports takes that away.

This is an even field out here.

You have to adhere to the rules just like everybody else.

So those are great life lessons to help produce productive members in this society, as opposed to people who are looking to be taking care of everybody.

Now, William Moore taking that free throw and drilling that.

I'm going to bring up something here.

You are an official.

I am.

You are a referee.

I am.

Do you are you like an umpire or?

Are you a referee?

Do you do it all?

I do basketball and I do a team handball, which is like the Olympic sport team.

Handball.

We used to it soccer, but now we call it team handball.

I also do a little wheelchair football.

Do you and I have some experience in the wheelchair track and field as well?

Very good.

Very.

Do you ever second guess officials?

Oh, yeah, because I have one.

I know what I'm thinking.

I absolutely know I miss things, and I know they do, too.

But that's just a part of the game.

It is.

Nobody's perfect, but That's right.

That's right.

People do expect officials to be perfect in every call they make.

They do.

And would that we could you know, we'd love to be perfect.

We like to be invisible.

We like you to not even know we're there because we we work so seamlessly that, you know, mistakes are made on occasion.

And that's that's just part of the game.

Shots up by Henry County.

Yeah.

Steve Steve Graham, our producer just talked in my ear said the umpiring is the only profession where they expect you to start out perfect and then get better as you go along.

Right?

That's absolutely true.

Great line.

Thanks, Steve.

And officiating a wheelchair game is a little different, especially these guys coming from GHC, where the fouls are usually occurring pretty high up in the air.

I level the fouls on a wheelchair game tend to happen way down low.

As you can see the official looking as he watches, watch those eyes go.

They go down low and there's there's there's Sweeney with a long ball.

I think they've got something going here on the house Cam County who can hit the three.

I think we're playing a little bit of who can hit the three.

You don't.

You got a contest going on here too.

You can drain that three.

Yeah.

217 left in this one house and county 38 Henry County 16 Henry County has really shown great character and courage in coming back from what, an 11 to nothing deficit, I think early in the game.

But they warmed up and it's gotten much better in Henry County's played very very well down the stretch here for the first time here.

I think it's been remarkable.

Yeah, the score looks really lopsided, but, you know, watching the competition, I haven't felt that it's been that lopsided, the score is.

But, you know, we've seen a lot and down the floor we've seen a lot of tough competition, a lot of individual effort as well as team effort there.

We've got a shot of Coach Roberson for a house county r0ra bodybuilder coach, which is a fun fact, but it's part of your job, right?

Yeah, Yeah, they do.

They do a great job of being here in Coulston County.

I think you tell me it's not one of the oldest programs in the show.

No, not at all.

Harrison County came on the scene I don't know how many years they've been doing this now.

I don't know, maybe seven or eight, but they came on.

We used to have a making team that is no longer in existence.

And then the House and county team began, which is of course, near Macon, down near Warner Robins.

And they have just done the community support for that team is outstanding.

They're fundraising.

You know, they just have really grown quickly and they've monopolized these sports.

They've been state champs in almost every sport, I believe.

Yeah, they I would say so.

Sure.

Not bad at all.

When we look at the field goal percentages, Henry County, 31%.

Harrison County, 39%.

The problem was Henry County didn't get one shot in the first quarter and a half.

I remember their first score was actually a free throw as I recall.

It was Yeah it was it was such a clamp down defense with with housed and county.

Henry County could not get the ball down to shoot up opposition, right?

Absolutely.

First points game with 159 left in the second before they even scored right So they fought back valiantly.

Yes they have and played well.

They got a player down on the floor.

We're going to stop play with the ref is calling using his own timeout in order to help this athlete back up.

You'll notice some of these athletes can just pop right back up.

Some are going to need a little help to get up.

Um, that's just the varying levels of physical disability that you see.

Again, we are a cross disability program, which again is pretty unique in the world of of a disability sport.

We do that because we want the most opportunity for kids to get involved and become student athletes because we just know that the benefits of playing organized athletics are just, you know, it's so well-documented study after study after study about what the benefits to this kind of a program are.

Oh, by the way, Chris was the one who took the tumble.

Right.

And he had his coaches out there to help flip him back up.

Didn't take them long to get there either.

I mean, immediately.

Oh, yeah.

There and there.

You know, there's a method to getting them back up in the chairs.

There's, you know, certain ways that they flip and turn the chairs and you got to know where to hold the wheel versus the chair.

And there's technique to all this nice block there and going to be bounced away by house and county.

That pass was just a little bit low.

And when it hit the wheelchair wheel, the motion of the wheel spun it even faster.

And you want it does take off that does does take what we would call a hot pass.

Yeah yeah.

I would call that a hot pass and they're going to call timeout here yet again Billingsley 16 points in Henry County has 16 points.

The good news for all opponents is Billingsley graduate right He will not be back next year.

He will not.

He's going to go to college in California.

Tell us about that.

He's he's going to play football.

He is going to play able bodied football for, I want to say in Pasadena.

I'm not sure the name of the college.

He's been recruited.

He's gotten, I believe, a partial athletic scholarship to attend school out there to play football with him.

He is a starter on his high school football team, North Side.

Warner Robins, Eagles.

Yep.

Yep.

And he is, as you can see, you know, we've already talked about, you know, his heart and, his athletic prowess.

He's an impressive young man.

He is and has smiled the entire game.

He has enjoyed this immensely.

I think he Henry County, as we come down to the end of this one, going to get one more shot at the basket, trying to set a pick there for and we've got full court pressure here.

Sure did.

And a steal.

And I believe time is going to expire.

They're going to throw the long shot at the end of the game.

What a great effort.

It wires and Houston County is going to win the wheelchair championship for the second straight year.

Yep kudos to them to Coach Roberson and Arnett, their area coordinator, Christy Jones and the Houston County school system for their support, local community support.

There is also tremendous.

Also kudos to Henry County and and Coach Vernon, as well as Coach Mathews, who is the gentleman in the wheelchair who also was the area coordinator for that team.

He worked for the Parks and Rec Department.

First time in varsity, made it all the way to the championship.

Great showing for them as well.

Congratulations to Houston County Sharks.

When we come back, we'll have the trophy celebrations.

It was a good one.

Houston County wins over Henry County, 38 to 16.

Your final score, runner up trophy being presented to the Henry County hurricanes.

Great effort today.

And then, of course, we're going to have the presentation by Dr. Ralph Swearengen, executive director of the Georgia High School Association, to the well-deserving Houston County Sharks, who have been perfect on the year they end their season at 8.0 and win the championship trophy.

LESLIE They sure do.

And kudos to both teams for getting here.

They've had great seasons.

They've worked really hard.

They won't forget this.

You play a championship game in your state in a beautiful complex like here at the Cineplex here in Macon.

That's just really exciting.

Don't you love this facility?

It's beautiful.

Now it's time to honor our champions.

The Houston County Sharks.

Perfect in the season at eight and oh on the year.

I think Henry County is well pleased with the runner up trophy.

Absolutely.

They did well to get here and they played with a great heart.

Here come our sharks and the sharks are going to get their championship trophy here.

You'll notice some of the players, some of the folks that are on the you know, not in uniform, but in the sweats.

They're in the chairs.

We've got a former player.

We've got a community coach both in wheelchairs, contribute, you know, giving back to the community there to support power.

Wheelchair players play basketball.

You have to be in Emanuel chair.

So but he's here you know this this is these couple athletes actually in power chairs are here to support their teammates even though they don't get to play basketball, they join in as managers and and someday, you know what?

They're going to come back here and be coaching.

They're going to be reffing doctors swearing in QUEST Dr. Swearengen, questioning who do I need to give the trophy to?

And he handed the ball, of course, to Jacqui Billingsley.

And now the trophy has gone to can't see his hands it in right now.

We've got too many people standing in front of us, but we've got the basketball championship.

That's Sweeney's.

Is it Sweeney Sweeney?

Got it?

Yes.

Sweeney Sweeney has the trophy.

Yeah, that's Sweeney.

People blocking my view.

Yeah, that is Sweeney Sweeney.

He's got it.

And these two players, Billingsley and Sweeney, along with the young lady who is so good.

Jordan.

Yeah, they have really been so impressive they they have.

They have just been outstanding.

There is Billingsley.

He had a great career here.

And let's take a look at some of the work he did today.

Billingsley Up and good.

I can't wait to see what happens with him with his college football career.

Yeah.

Oh, absolutely.

It will be exciting to see what happens with that, Oh, he has been a rebounding and scoring machine.

Yep.

We need to mention the Bear cheerleaders.

I think that's from House County.

We finally saw some cheerleaders here and I wasn't sure where they were from, but I would say they're they've been cheering their hearts out.

We sure appreciate them being here and their support.

It has been a good time.

I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have.

I have.

I have.

I appreciate it.

All right.

Leslie Sweat right here with us.

This is Tommy Farmer.

Thank you for being with us.

We've had a ball.

Hope you've enjoyed it.

From the Macon Center Flex.

We'll talk to you next time here on GPB by now, you hear me say, it's me who's in.