COVINGTON, Ky. — Coming off an undefeated championship season, a basketball coach from Northern Kentucky is reflecting on his journey up to this point. Rather than hold him back, a disability he acquired when he was young has propelled him toward success.
What You Need To Know
- Jake Counts became wheelchair bound when he was 13
- He first struggled to find opportunities to continue to play sports
- Counts went on to have a successful wheelchair basketball playing career, and then got into coaching
- He started a club in the Cincinnati area to give kids the opportunity he wished he had
Jake Counts made the transition from being one of the best players in the Northern Kentucky-Cincinnati area to one of the best coaches. He just happens to play and coach a different type of basketball than most are used to watching.
“I would say wheelchair basketball is very similar to becoming good at basketball, and then becoming a good skateboarder, or BMX rider. You have this whole other component with the wheelchair that you have to master,” Counts said.
Counts grew up in Covington. He acquired his disability in 1993 when he was 13. He didn’t play basketball again until he was 19.
“There weren’t a whole lot of opportunities for kids with disabilities to participate in sports,” he said. “It was really eye opening to me to get to play a sport again after like six years of not playing any sports.”
Counts went on to win three collegiate national championships at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. He played for team USA in the Beijing Paralympics, and then professionally in Europe for five years.
When he came back to the Cincinnati area, he helped start the Greater Cincinnati Adapted Sports Club to give kids the opportunity he wished he had when he was their age.
Kerwin Haake from Lexington is one of those kids. He moved to America from Haiti with his family when he was 6 years old. Haake plays for the Dragons, the club’s varsity team, which just completed a 28-0 undefeated season, winning the national championship in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association Junior Division.
“I love basketball. I love the dragons team. I have a lot of fun, really enjoy it all the time. It’s a great sport to play,” Haake said with the help of an interpreter. “I learned how to play the right way, fundamentally. We were very focused this year. We really improved as a team.”
Counts said it was a talented, gritty team, whose players were able to grow together the last four years. Having a coach who’s seen it all didn’t hurt either.
“I think that’s my favorite part of being involved with the Dragons and coaching is just being able to pass that on, and being able to pay forward a lot of the experiences that I got,” he said. “Because it really, it changed my life for the better. I’ve lived an amazing life, and a lot of that is attributed directly to my participation in wheelchair basketball.”
The Dragons start back up full speed again in September. Counts said the club, including the rec league team, is always looking for new players.